Local News

UPDATE: New evidence in case of missing Anaconda woman

Posted: Dec 31, 2012 9:48 AM by Bernie Riggs
Updated: Dec 31, 2012 10:04 AM

ANACONDA - The Anaconda Police Department has found new evidence in the search for a woman who's been missing since Dec. 23.

Police Chief Tim Barkell said they found two large trash bags that they believe John Goldberg, 38, dumped before he committed suicide.

"Inside the garbage bags were several bath towels with a lot of blood, and what appeared to be some human tissue and also some throw rugs and they also had a lot of blood stains," explained Chief Barkell.

Goldberg was found dead near Missoula on Saturday. His girlfriend, Tammy Salle, of Anaconda, was reported missing on Dec. 23.

The Missoula County Sheriff's Office found Goldberg's body Saturday afternoon behind the Crossroads Travel Center at the Wye.

"We'll investigate the death, and in this situation we're confident that it is a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Missoula County Sheriff's Department PIO Jason Johnson said.

Goldberg was asked to come in for questioning in Salle's disappearance by the Anaconda Police Department Dec. 26, but never showed up.

The evidence from Goldberg's garbage will be sent to the State Crime Lab in Missoula for DNA analysis, along with a hairbrush and toothbrush belonging to Salle. A Ruger semi-automatic pistol and a three page suicide note were recovered from Goldberg's truck at the Wye, along with his body.

Johnson told us that Goldberg's letter did not divulge any further information on the disappearance of Salle.

We spoke with several people in Anaconda on Sunday afternoon, who say they knew the couple. They told us they are shocked and saddened about this weekend's discoveries.