VIRGINIA BEACH, Va (WAVY) — The Virginia Beach Police Department is asking for money to help cover the costs of a landfill search related to the case of Bellamy Gamboa.
The Virginia Beach City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday night on whether to spend $54,424 to pay for a multi-day search of the Bethel Landfill, according to the agenda. The search occurred in “an attempt to recover critical evidence during the course of a recent missing person/homicide investigation.”
Julie Hill, communications director for the city, confirmed to 10 On Your Side the landfill search was related to the Gamboa case.
It is unknown when the search occurred, or whether anything was recovered from the landfill — which is off Interstate 64 in Hampton. The search “involved a manual search of specified landfill areas,” according to the agenda.
The requested money would help cover costs of equipment, excavation, and supplies — and would come out of the Police State and Federal Seized Assets Fund.
Gamboa, 39, went missing July 1 from her home at the Diamond Springs Apartments complex. Police and members of the community spent the next month searching for the mother of four.
On July 29, 41-year-old Lamont Johnson was arrested and charged with her death. Johnson is Gamboa’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her two infant children.
Johnson later confessed to investigators that he put Gamboa’s body into bags and took them to Chesapeake. To this day, Gamboa’s body hasn’t been recovered.
In August, police called off the search for Gamboa.
