I disagree.
With that kind of thinking, that would increase by at least twenty-fold the number of (eventually determined to be un-necessary) searches. 99.9% of missing teens like this are either runaways (which LE would have quickly ruled out in this case) or they may have assumed the girls made different plans/walked back/got another ride)...or it was a body recovery operation not a search for the living. Why further endanger the searchers late at night when they could regroup in the morning when they had light to resume? How are you going to search a creek at night with a bunch of volunteers?
There are 460,000 kids that are reported missing each year. 460,000! There is a good reason why paid professionals make rules for when and how to do searches. 50% of missing teens are found within 3 hours. Who would have thought that one of the world's most bizarre and sinister double murder cases would have taken place on two teenage girls there on that trail in a little town in Indiana?
In my opinion, I think they had to exercise the best judgement they could given what they had at the time. It's easy to second guess when you are on the sidelines and not the decision maker.
Here is what I believe LE knew at the time:
1) The girls did not answer to when yelled out to by dozens of people searching that area that night. Imagine how far some of their voices would have carried...all the way up the creek and all the way down. No answer. Crickets chirping. No cell phone pick up. Two people.. if one was hurt, the other would have answered.
2) Given that, you could almost presume they had either (a) left the area on their own or (b) they were already deceased (drowning, fall from bridge, etc. in which case a search for finding them alive or at all in the dark was not the case).
This is just my (informed) opinion though...
I am in a totally different area of knowledge, but I agree.
Truth is, we can’t predict human behavior, nor circumstances. You are afraid for one kid because of his/her behavior, and something bad happens to another one…how often have we seen it?
The days the girls were killed, another kid in Indiana disappeared, and they announced Amber Alert for her - probably, her previous behavior or circumstances indicated there was a reason to.
With A@L, going by normal algorithm, two normal, athletic girls, friends, one obviously very strong, walking in an area super close to home. And maybe, the police thought, the girls did run away - they were teenagers, right? And there were two of them. So, two girls being attacked by a killer and dying, and then some ugly PM staging, 5 minutes away from their homes, who would have thought of it? Falling, trauma, cold, elements, yes. Some weirdo in the forest? Probably, no.
I don’t think anyone could blame either DG, or the relatives, or the searchers, or the police at that time. And we don’t know, maybe the police did an excellent job, they seemingly tried. It is another thing that LEO are not succinct, verbose and there are communication issues. (Like, “twist” meaning that instead of two alive girls, they found two bodies? Give me a break, it is not a twist, it is horror and nightmare).