Damien Sharp

WARREN, Pa. — More than 16 years after he was last seen in Warren, Pa., Damien Sharp has been declared legally dead.

Damien’s mother, Janeane Shanahan appeared in court Monday afternoon with her attorney, Alan Conn.

She and City of Warren Police Detective Tony Chimenti, who has been involved in the investigation since the beginning, were called to testify in the hearing before President Judge Maureen Skerda.

Shanahan said she last saw her son for Mother’s Day on May 18, 2002. “I had heard from him” after, she said. “He would call every other day.”

Conn asked when she heard from Damien the last time. “May 24 of 2002,” she said.

“I kept trying to call him,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t want to go straight to the police.”

When her sister called and said she had heard “something bad had happened to Damien,” they called Chimenti.

“No one has heard a word,” she said.

Conn asked Chimenti for some details of the investigation.

He received a call on June 3, 2002, and Sharp was declared missing the following day. “It was presumed that around May 25 (2002) was the last time he was seen,” Chimenti said. “We’ve been looking in all directions.”

He said the search for Damien started as strictly a missing persons case. In 2008, the department redesignated the case as “missing person/homicide,” he said.

“It’s still an open investigation since 2002,” he said. The search has involved the cooperation of “many, many agencies.”

“We’ve chased down leads upon leads,” Chimenti said.

Chimenti has previously said that a declaration of death would not change the department’s treatment of the case. Conn asked if there were any leads in the last seven years that indicated Sharp was alive.

“Nothing about him being alive,” Chimenti said. “We have not recently received any reports that he may still be around.”

Shanahan offered some details of actions the family had taken, independent of police, to find Damien. “We went out searching ourselves,” she said. She was contacted by and became a part of the CUE Center for Missing Persons. “Calling friends, hiring a private detective, flyers.”

“It is apparent to the court that no one has heard from Damien Sharp since 2002,” Skerda said.

She said there have been “reasonable and diligent efforts to locate” him.

“This court declares that such missing individual is hereby declared dead,” Skerda ruled. “The date of presumption of death is May 25, 2009.”

“My condolences to you,” she said. “May this event bring you some closure.”