A group of volunteers searching for Mandy Matula on Sunday morning found several small pieces of facial tissue paper with blood on them.
The tissue was found about 10 a.m. around Scenic Heights Road near Eden Prairie Road (County Road 4). As a result, police closed off the area, including the portion of Scenic Heights Road between Red Oak Drive and Village Woods Drive, to investigate further.
Police have since said the tissue appeared to be unrelated to the Eden Prairie woman's disappearance.
In addition, items of interest discovered in Carver County resulted in a search there Sunday, but did not result in any significant developments, police said.
Matula, 24, vanished after leaving her family home late Wednesday. Her family reported her missing about 8:30 a.m. Thursday after she didn't show up at her job.
She was last seen with David M. Roe, 24, a man with whom she was trying to end a relationship. Police had hoped Roe could tell them what happened to her, so they called him in for an interview. He agreed to talk to a detective, but shot himself in the head after pulling into the parking lot of the Eden Prairie Police Department about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. He was pronounced dead the next morning.
Police, family, friends and strangers began searching for Matula on Thursday afternoon after hearing that she had been seen in Eden Prairie's Miller Park with Roe about 1:30 a.m. Police have also said Roe likely traveled in Stearns County after he was last seen with Matula, and the county sheriff has conducted searches there.
On Saturday, searchers found an unspent bullet near Miller Park that police are calling possible evidence in the case.
