(Lawrence County, AR) It looks like searchers have given up hope of finding 14-year-old Sidney Nicole Randall alive.
Teams from all across the country have flown in to Lawrence County, Arkansas to help find Sidney.
Monday, the operation changed to a recovery mission instead of a search and rescue,
“With each and every day, it doesn’t look good.”
Dave Rader, with “Texas EquuSearch” believes the odds now of finding Sidney alive are bleak, “Being this is the eighth or ninth day now that we’re going into this, we’re probably gearing ourselves more toward a recovery than finding somebody alive, unfortunately.”
Rader’s search and rescue organization is working with Lawrence County deputies to find the 14-year old Walnut Ridge girl, who was last seen March 9th.
Randall was believed to be with her stepfather, John Cornell, after she was missing from her home in Walnut Ridge.
Cornell was found dead March 10th and there’s been no trace of Sidney.
Joining the recovery effort are members of Southeast K-9 Search and Rescue in McEwen, Tennessee.
The team has also been involved in the search for missing nursing student Holly Bobo from Decatur County, Tennessee.
Chris Williams, who handles a search dog named Bear, says so far there’s only one similarity between the two missing persons cases, “The only thing that you could really say is that there’s no trace of them, and that remains to be seen. I mean until everything’s covered, you can’t rule out anything.”
The disappearance of Sidney Randall has been heartbreaking for people in Walnut Ridge.
“We don’t know where she is. We don’t know whether she is alive or whether she is deceased.”
Mayor Don House says more volunteers are expected to join the search no matter how long it takes, “We need to keep people out there just as long as we can, until we find this young lady.”
Mayor House says his town has never experienced anything like this and he’s overwhelmed by the number of people searching for Sidney.
