BENTONVILLE -- Danielle Doyle can quit hoping.
She's hoped for 10 years that someone would see her mother. She hoped that Cerilla Doyle would return home. She hoped it wasn't her mom every time an unidentified body was found.
The Iowa Criminal Investigation Division notified Bentonville police Monday that human remains found in May outside Mason City had been positively identified through DNA and dental records as Cerilla Doyle, according to a news release from the Bentonville Police Department.
Cerilla Doyle, known for years in Pea Ridge as "Officer Friendly," worked for the Pea Ridge Police Department for nearly 13 years. The 51-year-old sergeant was second in command when she retired in August 2008.
She disappeared from the Bentonville home she shared with Danielle in October 2008.
"Honestly, I was hoping they would find her alive," Danielle Doyle said. "They said they found the bones, and it looked like she had been there about five to 10 years."
Danielle Doyle said the skull was found in May in a rural area, intact with about 40 percent of the skeleton. She said her mother's glasses, shoes and a coin purse containing coins -- none newer than 2007 -- were found nearby. The Iowa medical examiner's office examined the remains, according to a news release by the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
"There was no grave. It was all on top. There was no sign of trauma," Doyle said.
Mason City is about 25 miles south of the Minnesota state line. Charles Thomas, Cerilla Doyle's former boyfriend, told Danielle Doyle that her mother said if she killed herself, she would do it in the woods in the middle of nowhere so no one could find her body for a long time, according to court documents.
"If anybody would know how to hide, it would be someone in law enforcement," said Doyle, a dispatcher with Benton County Central Communications. "She was distinctive with her crooked teeth, crooked nose and curly hair."
Doyle reported her mother missing to Bentonville police. She said she last talked with her the morning of Oct. 27, 2008. She returned home that day and found her mother's two vehicles parked in the backyard. The title to one, a power of attorney and a check made out for $27,067 to Danielle Doyle were left behind, according to court documents.
A receipt for a certified letter Cerilla Doyle sent her son, Cameron Clayton, was found in the home, according to court documents. Clayton is Danielle Doyle's half brother.
Bentonville police learned Cerilla Doyle withdrew $1,000 from an ATM on the day of her disappearance. Police found searches on her computer for bus departures from Rogers to Tulsa, according to court documents.
Rogers lawyer Brent Johnson filed a petition in Benton County Circuit Court in April on behalf of the Doyle family seeking to declare Cerilla Doyle dead. Danielle Doyle still lives in the house at 503 N.W. B St.
"At first, you keep hoping," said Betty Counts, Cerilla Doyle's mother. "Then, after so long, I just knew she wouldn't leave us so long without something being wrong. Her and I worked on quilts together. She wouldn't have left me like that. She wouldn't have left her kids.
"I think somebody put her there," Counts said. "My daughter was a strong, strong person. Anybody that knew her would know she wouldn't commit suicide."
Counts said Bentonville police collected DNA from her, Danielle Doyle and Counts' other daughter, Deborah Bradford, a few years ago, and she released the dental records.
"We now know she didn't come home, not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't," Bradford said.
State Desk on 10/03/2018