WINONA, Minn. – Three weeks after 26-year-old Maddi Kingsbury’s disappearance from her Winona home, her brother Steven has organized his own search team. These have included volunteer kayakers on the Root River from Lanesboro in Fillmore County. Kingsbury has asked for more volunteers. Although has looped police into his searching, Kinssbury’s Root River and ground searches are separate from the ongoing investigation led by Winona police. Kingsbury, who is in emergency leave from the military overseas, said he remains hopeful of finding his sister. “My function is best served doing what I’m doing, serving my family, helping advise search efforts and executing them personally,” he told a KTTC reporter. He’s been covering around 15 miles of rough terrain a day on foot. He said he uses some speculation to guide him.\
Check is a signal: “Yes, you can search my land.”
Blue checks
A new development to help in the search is a blue check sign for willing property-owners to to post to indicate their willingness to allow searchers on their land. The signs are meant to go on mailboxes to expedite permissions, Kingsbury said. To searches, he said: “Don’t be a lone ranger: “Do some sort of liaison with the volunteer group just for safety and awareness reasons and accountability purposes.”