By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Laboratory tests found no DNA on items unearthed in Brown County this month that authorities believe could be clues in the 1996 disappearance of Carrie Culberson.

Culberson's mother, Debbie, confirmed that the items included duct tape, garbage bags and a smiley-face T-shirt that she recognized as Carrie's.

But the Brown County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, is still conducting tests on other undisclosed items found during a two-week dig under a pole barn in Perry Township. Authorities have declined to say what led them to the barn or what they found.

Authorities on Thursday also said they had interviewed nearly two dozen people - including some possible suspects - during the search for Culberson's remains.

Debbie Culberson was surprised to hear how many people had been interviewed. "It just gives us more hope that this is going to lead us to Carrie," she said.

Culberson was 22 when she vanished in 1996. Although her body was never found, her former boyfriend, Vincent Doan, was convicted of killing her and is serving a life prison term.

On April 28, investigators began searching for Culberson's remains beneath and beside the barn on Fayetteville-Blanchester Road. The site will remain under 24-hour police guard until the county prosecutor's office directs otherwise, the sheriff's office said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com