Ground search. One team along a Fillmore County tree line, as seen from a camera-equipped KAAL drone.
Search for missing woman grows to Houston County
WINONA, Minn. – Phalanges of volunteers – 400 out of Winona and 300 out of Rushford – fanned out in organized search tams through rough terrain in southeast Minnesota to scour inch by inch for clues in the disappearance of 26-year-old Maddi Kingsbury eight days ago. The volunteers were transported to search areas by 40-passenger to 80-passenger school buses in a morning shift. A second shift was scheduled for afternoon. A Civil Air Patrol pilot has flown some areas with spotters.
Widened search
The search has widened from Winona and Fillmore counties to include Houston County also. All together the three counties comprise 2,070 square miles. Asked at a news conference whether there was evidence that Kingsbury’s minivan had entered Houston County, the lead investigator, Police Chief Tom William of Winona declined to say. Williams noted that the investigation was “open and active” which, he said, precluded him from discussing details. The chief did say: “We actually are looking for a larger scale area than what we originally had looked at based on the number of individuals who came out and volunteered today.” The search area, he said, grew to a distance that could be traveled in the given period of time.
Search challenges
At a mid-day news conference Winona Police Chief Tom Williams explained difficulties for search volunteers this way: “We have a lot of bluff country and an awful lot of valleys. Some of those valleys are extremely steep and very difficult to walk up and down.” Aircraft have limitations on what can fly over and how spotters see down into crevices in the landscape, he said.