PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — It’s been almost eleven years to the day since Cindy Ball Dilo went missing in Parkersburg. Her body was found in a shallow grave in rural Wirt County in 2014 by some hunters. Ever since the search for her killer has been on.
This week, State Police arrested and the Wood County Grand Jury handed up an indictment against her boyfriend Gregory Casto for first degree murder and concealment of a dead body.
“Certainly we were aware of him and it continued through the investigative process,” said Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Pat Lefebure.
Authorities immediately suspected Casto, but had to be patient in their search for evidence to tie him to Dilo’s disappearance and then her murder.
Investigators believed Casto killed Dilo in Wood County, but dumped her body in the rural area to hide the crime. The property where she was discovered did not belong to Casto or anyone connected to him.
“It was just a very rural area out in Wirt County,” Lefebure explained.
Although it took more than a decade to make the arrest, Lefebure and state troopers never gave up and he added it was never considered a “cold case.”
“Certainly in any investigation you run into areas that don’t lead to anything, but no it was never what you traditionally think of as a cold case where it was just sitting and nobody was doing any work on it,” he explained.
Investigators added the elapsed time actually helped technology evolve which also played a role in the arrest of Casto who is now in custody awaiting his formal arraignment. The plea hearing is expected to be this week in Wood County Circuit Court and a trial date will be set. Casto remains in custody without bond.