Murder charges may be filed as search for missing grandma continues in Liberty County, deputies say
Although a body hasn't been found, investigators have been open about the fact that they believe Sheryl Ann Siddall is dead.
LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Investigators are changing up how they search after a grandmother was reported missing in Liberty County last week.
Murder charges could be filed despite the fact that a body hasn't been found, officials said.
Investigators say they discovered a bloody knife and human bloodstains in her home, but there has been no sign of her body, which they believe could be somewhere around Horseshoe Lake. Human blood was also found inside a boat that was dragged from her home to the lake.
Horseshoe Lake backs up to 57-year-old Sheryl Ann Siddall's home. Family members said they haven't heard from her since Sept. 12.
Capt. David Meyers with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office said after boat crews with sonar equipment, cadaver dogs, and game wardens searched the area on Tuesday, investigators will now focus on going door to door, talking to neighbors, and looking for surveillance video.
Meyers said the lake is very murky and approximately 4 feet deep all the way around, more like a pond than a lake.
"Keep (Siddall's family) in our prayers because they're going through a real rough time right now," Meyers said.
Investigators are zeroing in on one suspect in Siddall's disappearance - 52-year-old Donald Lee Hassler.
Officials have been pretty open about the fact that they believe Siddall is dead, despite her body not yet being found.
"Do you think she was murdered?" ABC13 reporter Courtney Fischer asked.
"At this time, we are leaning more towards that," Meyers said.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Liberty County deputies searching for missing woman after blood evidence found in her home
LCSO said there is evidence in Siddall's backyard that suggests something was dragged into the water.
When deputies went to Siddall's home on Monday to check on her after she was reported missing, they said Hassler answered the door. He told investigators Siddall left to go see her sister in Oklahoma.
When investigators looked around the house, they reportedly found a bloody butcher's knife and a bloodstain on the wood floor. Siddall's purse and car were still at the house, and her phone last pinged to a cell tower nearby.
Hassler told deputies he was staying there and in the process of buying the home from Siddall -- which her family thinks is a lie.
"She loves her grandkids, all the kids in the family are her pride and joy. [She] loves her house on the water, [it's a] place that she really loves to be," Siddall's niece, Amanda Turner said. "This is not something that she would have given up."
Deputies arrested Hassler, who is a parolee with several burglary charges, on an unrelated charge -- felon in possession of firearms. He's being held in the Fort Bend County Jail without bond until he appears before a judge.
"We've never heard of this man until his name was released (Tuesday)," Turner said. "We don't know a thing about him."
Hassler hasn't been charged with anything in connection to Siddall's disappearance, but the Liberty County District Attorney's Office said they are considering filing murder charges.
"That's not very common. You have to have a pretty strong case to jump to murder without a body," Fischer said.
"Yes ma'am. So, in speaking with the DA's office and all of that, there is a whole lot of investigation still left and still pending," Meyers said.
Hassler reportedly exercised his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and has requested an attorney.
"Once they started asking the questions about her specifically, he pled the fifth," Meyers said.
