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Crews tear up floor of Lomita restaurant in search for missing woman
Dawn Viens of Lomita has been missing for 16 months. Her husband, David Viens, has been implicated in her disappearance. Detectives began digging up the concrete floor of David Veins' restaurant on March 2, 2011, looking for her body.
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Susan Valot/KPCC
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Crews dig up the concrete flooring of Thyme Contemporary Cafe in Lomita, looking for Dawn Viens, who's been missing since October 2009. The restaurant is owned by Viens' husband.
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Susan Valot/KPCC
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Work crews have spent all day tearing up the floor of a Lomita restaurant in the search for a missing woman.
Firefighters and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies used jackhammers and concrete saws to break through the floor and back patio of Thyme Contemporary Café at 24427 Narbonne Ave.
It’s a small restaurant near Lomita City Hall that is popular among locals.
Sixteen months ago, Dawn Viens, the owner’s wife, disappeared. Soon after, husband David Viens remodeled the restaurant.
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More than a week ago, David Viens survived a jump off a Palos Verdes cliff. Investigators say it was a suicide attempt – and perhaps linked to Dawn’s disappearance.
They ordered crews to start digging under the café.
Mary Legg, who lives nearby, stood with about a dozen people watching the work.
"I’m shocked. Literally, in shock. Pretty sad, to think that, you know, we can live right around the corner and eat at a restaurant knowing that now this has happened," Legg said.
But Dayna Papin, Dawn Viens’ younger sister, said it hasn’t always been this way. She remembers when Dawn met David nearly two decades ago.
"They were madly in love," Papin said. "I met him when I was 15. She was 21. And he was like a father to me to a certain extent. So I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that I loved this person. I still kind of do."
Papin said David Viens had a temper, but she didn’t notice signs that her sister might have been in an abusive relationship.
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"I saw fights, you know, always. But who doesn’t argue? And I know he has a short temper," Papin said. "I remember the first time he yelled at me when I was like 18. It scared the bejesus out of me. ‘Cuz he’s not the kind of guy you want to tick off and when he’s angry, he’s explosive. Do I think he intended to kill my sister? I don’t think he intended to. But I know he intended to hurt her in some way."
Investigators say David Viens has confessed to killing his wife, but so far the digging at the Lomita restaurant has not turned up a body.
Papin said she hopes whatever detectives find will bring her family some answers – and some closure.
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