The frantic search for the wife of a missing tycoon has prompted Texas police to begin searching a landfill.
Bexar County sheriff’s deputies were seen digging at the waste disposal site near San Antonio on Monday looking for 51-year-old Suzanne Clark Simpson.
They have yet to find any trace of Simpson, who disappeared screaming from his $1.4 million mansion in the city’s upscale Olmos Park area at 11 p.m. last Sunday.
Her husband, wealthy real estate agent Brad Simpson, 53, has been arrested and detained over the disappearance. Brad is not cooperating with police and is being held on $2 million bail.
Simpson’s neighbor heard screams coming from a nearby wooded area shortly after seeing the couple, in the middle of a heated argument, walk into the bushes.
Suzanne Clark Simpson, 51, disappeared from her million-dollar home around 11 p.m. last Sunday after an alleged dispute with her wealthy real estate agent husband, Brad Simpson, 53.
Disturbing photos show the magnitude of the operation as authorities search the landfill
Officers arrived at the landfill Monday afternoon and promised to return Tuesday.
They said they were looking for evidence related to Suzanne, whose mother said Monday she fears her daughter is dead.
In Simpson’s arrest warrant affidavit seen by DailyMail.com, it was revealed that Simpson called his brother, Barton, after Suzanne disappeared and “apologized for all the trouble he had caused.”
The affidavit also revealed that the couple’s youngest daughter told school staff “that her mom and dad were ‘fighting.'”
She told staff that “her dad had punched her mom in the face and possibly pushed her against a wall… that her mom had a bruise on her elbow and that her dad had taken her cell phone.”
The missing mother-of-four’s own mother, Barbara Clark, this week revealed the disturbing phone call she had with Suzanne just an hour before she was last seen.
Speaking at a vigil organized to honor Suzanne at Lourdes Grotto, Clark said: “She called me and told me things that Brad had done to her physically.”
Clark said Suzanne confided in her that around 9:00 pm that night, October 6, Simpson had hurt her arm and back.
This is the fourth location authorities have searched as they search for the missing mother and real estate agent.
Officers arrived at the scene Monday afternoon and promised to return Tuesday.
Suzanne was photographed alone at the exclusive members-only club, wearing a dark knee-length dress with her hair loose over her shoulders.
‘I came up with an alternative plan for her: she would move in with me and take her little boy to my neighborhood elementary school.
“I never got to tell him the plan.”
Simpson is now in custody charged with family violence and unlawful restraint. He is being held on $2 million bail and is scheduled to attend a bail hearing on Tuesday.
While loved ones still hold out hope that Suzanne is safe, Clark said she fears her daughter may have been murdered.
When asked if he believes Suzanne is still alive, Clark said KSAT: ‘I don’t think it is. I haven’t heard anything from her.
‘Suzanne, we love you. We need you. And we are praying for you.’
A neighbor told police he heard the couple arguing from his window and saw the two engaged in a physical fight, with Brad ‘grabbing her upper torso to gain control of her body,’ according to a police report.
Villegas implored Suzanne to return home to her children if she was still alive and well.
An extensive investigation has already been carried out on the family’s four-bedroom, five-bathroom Olmos Park home (pictured), worth an estimated $1.5 million.
Clark said he would like to visit Simpson behind bars “and ask him why,” he said. ‘What happened?’
Simpson, of Olmos Park, near San Antonio, initially cooperated with police after reporting his wife missing, but then remained silent and hired a lawyer.
On Friday, police released a disturbing photo of Suzanne on the day she disappeared, showing her walking through The Argyle in Alamo Heights.
Suzanne was photographed alone at the exclusive members-only club, wearing a dark knee-length dress with her hair loose over her shoulders.
Several hours after this photo was taken, neighbors claim they heard an aggressive fight between Suzanne and her husband.
Brad Chandler Simpson, 53, of Olmos Park, four miles north of San Antonio, was arrested just three days after his wife Suzanne Clark Simpson, 51, disappeared.
Brad allegedly did not cooperate during the investigation and did not show up for a follow-up interview. Authorities said the real estate agent, who worked for Nix Realty Company, disappeared after attending a party at The Argyle in the Alamo Heights neighborhood.
That neighbor claims he saw Simpson hitting and holding his wife, before the two walked away into a nearby wooded area.
Shortly after that interaction, the neighbor alleges he heard screaming in the woods.
Olmos Park Police Chief Fidel Villegas has since confirmed: “That night we believe he was in danger.”
“It is very suspicious, however, that she is obviously not going to work and is not checking on her children.” That’s an obvious problem.
Police released a photo of Simpson’s black van, which he was seen riding in following his argument with Suzanne.
“She may be somewhere, and we just don’t know.”
Investigations are ongoing and local authorities have expanded their search to include other Simpson family properties.
Simpson and his family have an extensive real estate portfolio throughout San Antonio and throughout Texas.
An extensive investigation has already been carried out on the family’s four-bedroom, five-bathroom Olmos Park home, worth an estimated $1.5 million.
Suzanne’s brother-in-law, Barton Tinsley Simpson, described her disappearance as an “unimaginable ordeal”.
“We won’t stop until we find her,” he said.