Family’s unwavering love drives search for missing Amherst woman

AMHERST COUNTY, Virginia. – It’s been over a year since Elsie Wiggington’s disappearance and her family tells 10 News they are finally satisfied with how the investigation is progressing – but they won’t stop fighting until they have all the answers.

“That’s what family does. Family picks up and does what they need to do,” said Elsie’s foster sister Tracey Coleman.

During the search for Elsie Wiggington, one thing never wavered: the love of her family.

“We will get justice for Elsie, we will get justice for our family,” Coleman said.

Her sister, Mary Jordan, said she just wanted answers.

“We have been grieving for over a year now and we want it to happen faster. We want answers. We want to know what happened to our sister,” Jordan said.

On Tuesday, Elsie’s property in Amherst was searched for the first time.

And although it took almost a year for the investigation to get underway, her sister Tracey Coleman tells us they are relieved that things are moving forward.

“This is not like a television show. It takes a while for them to get results from the evidence they may have collected,” Coleman said.

Her family remains convinced that Elsie was in an abusive relationship before she disappeared. And now, says her sister Victoria Seal, they’re committed to advocating for the victims.

“That day, Elsie stood up for herself. And we all know here that domestic violence cases usually end when you try to leave and then something bad happens. There were signs of what happened to her from April 2023 to June 2023. I was told her life was pure hell,” Seal said.

We asked Elsie’s family if they had any future search plans with the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, but they told us they could not give me that information due to the nature of the investigation.