Have you ever helped search for a missing person? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

ShaniFaye · 05-12-2005, 11:23 AM

I didnt want to muck up the missing bride thread with this question....

I was involved with one search many years ago, in fact the baby went missing the day after my 24th birthday

http://www.mupress.org/webpages/books/white1.html

Quote:

On July 3, 1992, seven-month-old Haley Hardwick was reported kidnapped. Her father Kenny Hardwick told police that he had stopped to assist two stranded motorists and, upon returning to his own vehicle, discovered his daughter missing. The case became a media sensation overnight. People in the metropolitan Atlanta area became obsessed with the mystery of the baby's disappearance. Huge searches by hundreds of volunteers produced no trace of the child. Although they spent hundreds of man-hours following up leads about the kidnapping, the police began to believe that the father was responsible and, with the media, began a campaign to pressure him into revealing the truth.

Numerous interviews with the lead investigators and the child's mother have provided in-depth insight into the case from two very different perspectives. While the police followed one lead after another, the child's mother was torn between believing a husband she loved and the authorities who kept telling her he was responsible for the baby's disappearance. As the investigation dragged on, Haley Hardwick became everybody's baby.

It turned out that the father had killed her and buried her body in an area where lots of people, including me as a teenager, went "parking" known as the "duluth mud flats" (yes its the same Duluth as the wilbanks case)

Has anyone else here ever participated in a search (of any magnitude) for a missing person? If so why did you decide to participate? What was the experience like? How did you feel afterwards? What was the outcome?

I will answer my own questions...

Yes I have participated in a MAJOR search, the experience is one I will never ever forget. The media coverage on this was insane. The family lived right up the road from me and I had even driven accross the very bridge she was supposedly kidnapped from 4 times the night in question. The next day I was even stopped in a road block on the bridge and questioned by police as to if I had been in the area the night before. I cant tell you why I chose to help, other than I just felt I needed to help in some way.

The search itself was VERY difficult. It was July in Georgia, that equals HOT. The searchers were going into wooded areas and areas filled with kudzu, we were required to wear thick socks, heavy jeans, long sleeve shirts and boots. Thee would shuttle us from a near by school that was the staging area in SWAT vans to search an area then take us back to the school to rest and have food and drinks provided by local area places, then we'd go back out again. We searched pretty much from sunup to sundown. The media was every where, they followed the vans and interviewed the searchers. Kathy, the mother, wasnt allowed to leave the school...she sat in the gymnasium the entire time and it was horrible to look at her. She was SO helpless and they wouldnt even let her look, she had to wait for the teams to come back to find out anything. I wasnt a mother then so I had no clue what she was really feeling but you couldnt help but be enraged when you looked at her face because nobody was finding anything.

It was very frustrating to go home that night knowing that no one had found anything at all, and even more frustrating to find out later that my team had indeed searched the area she was found. The father had hidden it so well we didnt notice a thing. For the longest time that area was a shrine, its now been developed.

I honestly dont know that I would go thru that again for a stranger, but I have learned in my 36 years to never say never.

BigBen · 05-12-2005, 11:34 AM

In the Army, we are called on to search for missing people often, especially if it is a small child and near (about 1 - 2 hour drive) our base.

You have physically fit people who are used to being out in bad terrain and who naturally work as a team and take direcion very well.

When a civilian (usually a cop) is in charge of the search, it doesn't go as smoothly, but having a Major bark orders at civilian volunteers is not much better!

There was a bad one where our extended line found a body. The little girl was mauled by a bear after wandering away on her bike. It broke my heart. Years after I realized that at least we FOUND HER, and although dead, there was some closure.

I think about those poor families where the loved one remains missing, and I am thankful that we could do this for them.

Demeter · 05-12-2005, 11:46 AM

I have never had the chance, but if ever needed, I would oblidge. I would want people to help if a loved one of mine was lost.

tecoyah · 05-12-2005, 02:17 PM

I worked the Mop Ops in Yosemite Nat'l Park for a couple months....not so much search as .....find the parts and clean the mess. After a particularly nasty experience I asked to work only SAR backcountry . There were seven searches after that.....and no death, a welcome relief.

clavus · 05-12-2005, 02:56 PM

The cops refused to search for my girlfriend because A) she wasn't gone long enough B) Her boyfriend (me) was the only one asking about her, C) she was out with her phtographer, so they assumed the two of them were off doing something naughty. So I was a search party of one.

It must have been 2AM by the time I found the photographer's van, abandoned in the Sierra snow. There were tracks leading all over the place. I'll never forget following all those tracks; a flashlight in one hand and a .357 in the other, looking for blood, drag marks or other signs of a struggle. I feel sick right now as I type this.

I searched though the snow until daylight, then went back to the local police to plead with them to help me. Even though I told them about the abandoned van, they politely told me to fuck off. Then I went to the Forrest Service. They took the same position as the cops.

I've never felt so utterly hopeless in my life. I turned to leave, to go back up into the mountains, but broke out bawling before I could get out the door.

Good thing I was a total, crying pussy. My tears motivated the Forest Service to convince the cops that it was time for a search party. The search party found her alive and well in less than an hour.

Years later, I'm married to that girl.

05-12-2005, 11:34 AM	#2 (permalink)
BigBen Comedian Location: Use the search button	In the Army, we are called on to search for missing people often, especially if it is a small child and near (about 1 - 2 hour drive) our base. You have physically fit people who are used to being out in bad terrain and who naturally work as a team and take direcion very well. When a civilian (usually a cop) is in charge of the search, it doesn't go as smoothly, but having a Major bark orders at civilian volunteers is not much better! There was a bad one where our extended line found a body. The little girl was mauled by a bear after wandering away on her bike. It broke my heart. Years after I realized that at least we FOUND HER, and although dead, there was some closure. I think about those poor families where the loved one remains missing, and I am thankful that we could do this for them. __________________ 3.141592654 Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

05-12-2005, 11:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
Demeter Psycho	I have never had the chance, but if ever needed, I would oblidge. I would want people to help if a loved one of mine was lost. __________________ I am not bound to please thee with my answers. William Shakespeare

05-12-2005, 02:17 PM	#4 (permalink)
tecoyah Illusionary	I worked the Mop Ops in Yosemite Nat'l Park for a couple months....not so much search as .....find the parts and clean the mess. After a particularly nasty experience I asked to work only SAR backcountry . There were seven searches after that.....and no death, a welcome relief. __________________ Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

05-12-2005, 02:56 PM	#5 (permalink)
clavus pow! Location: NorCal	The cops refused to search for my girlfriend because A) she wasn't gone long enough B) Her boyfriend (me) was the only one asking about her, C) she was out with her phtographer, so they assumed the two of them were off doing something naughty. So I was a search party of one. It must have been 2AM by the time I found the photographer's van, abandoned in the Sierra snow. There were tracks leading all over the place. I'll never forget following all those tracks; a flashlight in one hand and a .357 in the other, looking for blood, drag marks or other signs of a struggle. I feel sick right now as I type this. I searched though the snow until daylight, then went back to the local police to plead with them to help me. Even though I told them about the abandoned van, they politely told me to fuck off. Then I went to the Forrest Service. They took the same position as the cops. I've never felt so utterly hopeless in my life. I turned to leave, to go back up into the mountains, but broke out bawling before I could get out the door. Good thing I was a total, crying pussy. My tears motivated the Forest Service to convince the cops that it was time for a search party. The search party found her alive and well in less than an hour. Years later, I'm married to that girl. __________________ Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.