For two days this week, officials from law enforcement were at work, digging on property in Chesapeake in connection with the case of Samantha Burns.

Multiple agencies were attempting to determine if there was any validity to a claim made by a poster on social media regarding the location of the body of the Marshall University student who was abducted from the Huntington mall parking lot in 2002 and murdered by two escaped inmates.

The body of one of their victims, Alice Donovan, of South Carolina was found and identified, but Burns’ remains have never been located, despite numerous searches of Wayne County, West Virginia, where those convicted of killing her said they left her.

While the investigation this week made national headlines, ultimately, the search did not turn up any remains and many parts of the poster’s story were quickly discredited.

Regardless of the nature of the claims in the video, it is a testament to the dedication of those in law enforcement and criminal investigations that they took the time to look into the matter.

It is often said a parent’s greatest fear is to have to bury their child, and one can only imagine the pain felt by a family when, faced with the unthinkable tragedy of this case, they are denied even the chance to give their loved one a proper farewell.

We commend agents from the FBI, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and the Huntington Police Department for making the effort to get much-deserved answers for this family.

Our thoughts remain with the Burns family and we hope that, one day, they are able to finally give their daughter a resting place and the resolution they seek.