Sheriff releases new information on Bindics on Wednesday | News, Sports, Jobs

Yolanda Bindics

County Sheriff James Quattrone will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Mayville to provide new information in the investigation into Yolanda Bindics.

Bindics was 25 when she was reported missing to Jamestown police on August 10, 2004, after she failed to return home after a work shift at the Family Dollar Store on Fluvanna Avenue in Jamestown. On September 10, 2006, Bindics’ skeletal remains were found in Boutwell Hill State Forest in Charlotte, which is under the jurisdiction of the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office. Bindics’ death was ruled a homicide by a county medical examiner.

In 2022, Chautauqua County cold case investigators told the Post-Journal they wanted to “bring closure” to the nearly two-decade-old murder case by releasing new information involving the father of Bindic’s youngest child, Clarence Carl Carte.

Investigator Tom Di Zinno said Carte left the Kwik Fill gas station at the corner of Fluvanna Avenue and Washington Street in Jamestown on August 10, 2004, at about 8:10 p.m. At the same time, Bindics was seen leaving work at Family Dollar. Di Zinno told the Post-Journal that Carte bought soda and a lottery ticket at Kwik Fill before leaving the store. He said the sheriff’s office wants to speak to anyone — a store employee, customer or motorist — who may have come into contact with Carte between 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10, 2004, and 6 a.m. the next morning.

“We’re trying to close this case,” Di Zinno said, “and there is a legible fact that Carte was at the Kwik Fill the night she disappeared at about the same time she got home from work. That’s been confirmed, if you stand at the door (at the Kwik Fill), you see the Family Dollar door.”

The Family Dollar was located at 194 Fluvanna Ave.

Bindic’s disappearance sparked several searches. On the day of her disappearance, the townswoman told several people that she had good news to share, but what it was was never confirmed.

In September 2006, Bindic’s body was found by hunters in a wooded area in the city of Charlotte.

Di Zinno said investigators want to determine if anyone saw Carte talking to Bindics the night she disappeared. “We’re trying to find anyone who saw them talking or driving together,” he said. “We know they were near each other. … We’re looking for witnesses who saw them together.”

Carte was questioned by Jamestown police after Bindic’s disappearance. During their investigation, police learned that there was an arrest warrant out for Carte in Florida.

In an interview with the Post-Journal two weeks after Bindics was last seen, then-Jamestown Police Chief William MacLaughlin confirmed that Carte was questioned, but said the man was not a suspect in the missing persons case.

“During this investigation, we learned that one of the individuals we were able to speak with may be subject to being flown out of the state of Florida for a robbery,” MacLaughlin said. “Later that morning, we learned and confirmed that the state of Florida has issued an extradition warrant for an individual and is requesting that we arrest and extradite him as a fugitive felon.”

Carte did not respond to a message sent to him on Facebook on Friday. His profile said he lives in Florida.

Di Zinno said information from the public could help investigators check individuals’ alibis with facts already known. He believes there is a possibility that someone saw or spoke to Carte that night and has useful information.

A candlelight vigil was held at Bergman Park in Jamestown on August 10 last year. The date marked the 17th anniversary since Bindics was last seen alive as he left work.

“My family is really hurting,” Anne Chmielewski, Bindics’ sister, told the Post-Journal before the vigil. “The pain is not getting better, but we are fighting through it.”

She added: “It’s extremely painful and I think I really speak for most of the family. It’s getting worse and harder because we don’t have any answers and there’s an arrest and someone is living a free life. It’s not fair – it’s 17 years, which kind of seems like a long time, but it doesn’t seem that long. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

Information can be emailed to [email protected] or called Tom Tarpley at 716-753-4578 or Di Zinno at 716-753-4579.

—Former Post-Journal reporter Eric Tichy contributed to this report.