Police have bailed three men arrested in connection with the murder of Deborah Steel.

Cambs Times: Deborah SteelDeborah Steel (Image: Archant)

A 72-year-old and a 49-year-old man were arrested on Tuesday and taken to March police station. A 70-year-old man answered bail after being arrested on suspicion of murder earlier this year.

Police also searched addresses in Ely and Sutton.

Cambridgeshire police announced today that the trio had been bailed.

A spokesman said: “The two men arrested on November 18 and the 70-year-old man answering bail, have all been released on police bail to return to March police station on January 6, 2015.”

Ms Steel was 37 at the time she was last seen at about 1am on December 28, 1997. She was the landlady of the Royal Standard pub, in Fore Hill.

Forensic teams have carried out a search of a house in Longfields, Ely, in connection with the case during which a number of “items of interest” were seized.

In September, Ms Steel’s half-sister Virginia Strecker spoke for the first time of the “heavy burden” carried by Deborah’s family since she went missing in 1997 and said she felt sad that her father died before the truth could be uncovered.

Ms Strecker, called for witnesses to come forward.

She said: “Debbie went missing 17 years ago under strange and in unexplainable circumstance.

“I knew in my heart of hearts after the first few weeks of her disappearance that she was no longer of this world, as she had made no contact with either myself or other family members.

“At the time, the police exhausted every line of enquiry but to no avail. I find it so very sad that our father went to his grave without knowing the truth of Debbie’s whereabouts.

“Now the case has been reopened I plead to anyone who knows anything however minor it may seem to them to now come forward. We are convinced that someone knows about her fate.

“It has been a heavy burden to carry all these years and all we wish for is the answers so we can lay Debbie to rest at last.”