Phoenix police to begin landfill search for missing woman next week

PHOENIX — Police will begin to search a Phoenix-area landfill next week for the body of a woman whose boyfriend was arrested on homicide charges.

The search at the landfill near State Route 85 and Patterson Road in Buckeye was expected to begin Monday.

The Phoenix Police Department said it has allotted nine weeks to search a certain part of the landfill for the body of 34-year-old Christine Mustafa, who was reported missing more than five months ago.

About 30 officers will be involved daily in the search, which will run from daybreak until the late afternoon Monday to Friday.

Mustafa was reported missing May 11. Her live-in boyfriend, 37-year-old Robert Interval, was arrested four days later for homicide.

Family members told police that Mustafa feared Interval and planned to leave him.

Police checking on Mustafa at her family’s request found her car, purse and cellphone at the couple’s home near Deer Valley and Cave Creek roads.

The Arizona Republic reported June 8 that court documents said police investigators found pillowcases and bedsheets containing a small amount of “possible blood-stained material” during a May 15 search.

The documents also said a chemical sprayed on the walls as part of the investigation had a reaction that indicated the presence of blood or other biological material.

Interval has pleaded not guilty in the case.

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