Investigators Fail to Find Buried Corpse : Crime: Sheriff’s deputies dig up part of yard and cut into fireplace of South County home.

Sheriff’s investigators using floodlights and a powerful concrete saw failed Sunday night to find a corpse they think may have been concealed in or around a house in the exclusive Nellie Gail Ranch area.

“One phase of our investigation is over, but (our investigation) is still open,” said sheriff’s investigator Mike Wallace after the mysterious search was suspended about 8 p.m.

Wallace said that deputies gave up their search of the two-story Laguna Hills home, adorned by a winding staircase and statues of black hounds, after they had dug up a portion of the home’s back yard and cut into the fireplace.

Investigators began digging Saturday at the home on Gallup Circle, telling neighbors that they were searching for a body.

After digging a hole in the ground on the side of the Tudor dwelling, investigators shifted their efforts Sunday to an exterior chimney. They chipped away at the masonry at eye level, at times using a hammer and chisel and at times a concrete-cutting electric saw.

They also brought along a bloodhound.

Investigators said the search related to a previous owner of the home.

Neighbors, who asked that they not be identified, said that during the 1980s, the house was occupied by a man, two women and a baby. One of the women was identified variously as the man’s wife or sister. Neighbors said the man who occupied the house traveled a good deal and did not seem to keep normal hours.

The residents kept to themselves, neighbors said, but hosted lavish parties once a year, at Christmas. The parties drew up to a thousand guests and included valet parking, tents, portable toilets and professional dancers who performed on a stage set up in the double garage. Guests--mostly strangers--spilled over onto nearby lawns and blocked the streets.

From time to time Saturday, concerned residents drove by and queried deputies who assured them there was no cause for alarm.

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky and correspondent Frank Messina contributed to this story.