It always bothered me that they called off the search that night. And LE's comment about the only danger is the temperature dropping, well isn't that concern enough?! As a parent, I'd be out there all night long with everyone I know with search lights run by generators and calling out their names with a bull horns while combing the ground and trees.
Sorry this is long. Just to clarify, although LE scaled back about midnight, family, friends and volunteers continued to search overnight. Abby's mom and Libby's grandfather talk about how worried and scared they were that Monday night (Mike Patty even mentions possible abduction). As others have mentioned, it doesn't appear to have been an organized grid search that night, it was very dark with a lot of ground to cover (as seen in the actual snippets of video of the search). The search the next day seemed to be very organized and they had light.
6:20PM Sunset in Delphi (
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6:30PM Property Owner RL stated that this is the time volunteer searchers stopped at his home to ask for permission to go back on his property and that two girls were missing. (
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Evening/Night Search parties scoured the base of the bridge and surrounding trails, but darkness made the searches nearly impossible, Leazenby said. (
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WLFI Report - transcribed some excerpts starting at about :35 (
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- Mike Patty:
Upset, confused, obviously very distraught. Just worried, all I want to do is have the girls get home safe.
- Anna Williams: Getting scared now.
- Reporter: Abigails mom, Anna Williams, has spent hours worrying, just hoping to hear her little girl is ok.
- Anna Williams: Its getting cold, been out a long time, and dont know what time they ate last.
- Reporter: The girls havent answered their phones since around the time they went missing.
- Mike Patty: Missing, abducted, we dont know for sure. Cellphone has been pinging around town here, theres a cell phone tower, but the ping was last noted about 5 or 6 hours ago, they say the phones now dead.
- Reporter: The last snapchat from one of the girls was from 2:07.
- Mike Patty: I saw a text where they got delivered but they never got read.
- Anna Williams: Very scary situation right now, and I just, I just want her home.
- Reporter: Now many are on an extensive search to find them...
Midnight The search for the two missing girls was scaled back by authorities around midnight because of the dark. At this point in time, Sheriff Laezenby said they had no reason to believe that the girls were in imminent danger and crews would resume their search in the morning. (
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Family and volunteers continued to search. (
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Tues, Feb 14
In video, WTHR reporter says good morning, but its still dark. She mentions family and others wanting to help search still coming out (with flashlights). (
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7:40AM Sunrise in Delphi (
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Sunrise In the video, Fox59 reporter mentions the sun coming up, seeing people come throughout the morning to help with search, people searching all night. (
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Morning "With darkness last night, we probably didn't pick up on everything," he said. "With daylight in our favor, we're sending folks back out to basically back track where we've already been." A specialized K-9 group from Macomb, Illinois, aided in the morning's search, Leazenby said Tuesday morning. (
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By mid-morning, the downtown Delphi Fire Department became a makeshift command center for volunteers assisting in the search. Crews were being sent out 10 to 12 people at a time to help cover an area of 20 to 25 square miles, Leazenby said. Officials weren't sure just how many volunteers came, but sign-in sheets appeared to log hundreds. (
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