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| 6/29/2009 12:29:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Heather Nellis / Recorder staff
A group of women participate in the search for Kellisue Ackernecht on the FJ & G Rail Trail in Johnstown near Frog Hollow Sunday. |
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| Heather Nellis / Recorder staff
The search for Kellisue Achernect continued Sunday in the Frog Hollow area of Johnstown. The designating sign is held into place with a purple ribbon, Ackernecht’s favorite color. |
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Still searching
Volunteers have not given up on finding missing woman
Heather Nellis
Recorder News Staff
JOHNSTOWN - A group of 28 people weeded through the Frog Hollow area on the outskirts of the city on Sunday as part of the nine-month long desperate search to find missing Johnstown resident Kellisue Ackernecht.
Ackernecht's family enlisted the help of out-of-state search groups, including The Doe Network, 3 View, a K-9 team from Michigan, and other volunteers.
Tony Evelina from The Doe Network said searchers were asked to slowly walk around wooded areas, keeping eyes low to the ground, and use sticks to poke through the brush.
Incident Commander David Lohr of 3 View said this search was a "ground-zero" effort.
"There have been searches done in this area before, but we have to rule it out ourselves," he said. Lohr called the search area "difficult, because it's limited where a body can be disposed."
However, Frog Hollow is situated near the Cayadutta Creek, which is a major concern, Lohr said.
"We always come in with hopes of finding something," said Lohr's wife, Carla. "People have been found before. You don't know until you try."
Lohr said the eight-hour search produced no findings.
"It would have helped if there were more people," he said. "One-hundred people were supposed to come, including 10 team leaders. Only two showed up."
Luckily, Johnstown firemen filled in, Lohr said.
Johnstown resident Shelly Barnum said she's kept up with the search for Ackernecht through the media, and Ackernecht worked as her daughter's bus aide for school.
"Something like this really hits home," she said. "It was important for me to help today. I don't think this situation is random. There is always an answer."
Sunday's event was reported as the final public search, but Ackernecht's brother, Tom Kilcullen, said he needed to set the record straight.
"The volunteers said they wouldn't come all the way here and leave after one attempt," he said. "This is not the last search."
Lohr said in the next four-to-six weeks, side-scan sonar and aerial imaging will ensue.
Ackernecht, a Johnstown resident, was last seen leaving the Rite Aid store on Market Street in the city of Amsterdam Sept. 30 around 9:30 p.m. Within hours of her departure, the vehicle she was driving, registered to husband Jason, was found engulfed in flames in Frog Hollow, about three blocks from her Main Street home.
Jason reported Ackernecht missing after the Johnstown Police officers notified him about the vehicle at 2 a.m. He said Kellisue had been the last one to drive the car, and had not returned home from her job.
Kilcullen said the placement of Ackernecht's car is a big clue.
"I have reason to believe the position of her car is important," he said. "Something's not right - I just haven't been able to put my finger on it yet."
Kilcullen said his sister's absence in the past nine months has been as hard as the day she went missing.
"It's been stressful; horrible," he said. And then, pausing to grip his emotion, "It got worse as today got closer."
"I just want some closure," Kilcullen continued. "Let's find her, let's put this to rest. I'd like to have an answer to give my niece."
Ackernecht has a 10-year-old daughter.
Kilcullen is still urging anyone with tips to come forward. He said the gas station across from Rite Aid has surveillance cameras in their parking lot. He is also wondering if anyone saw anything at Rite Aid during Ackernecht's last shift.
Evelina said he never knew Ackernecht, but this case is personal.
"All missing persons cases are personal to me, especially when you meet their families," he said. "It's no longer just a missing victim. It's like your family is missing. That's why I do this."
Evelina said he has a 15-year-old son.
"If it were my son that was missing, I would want people to help me. It's a pay-it-forward deal."
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Contact Heather Nellis at heather.nellis@recordernews.com.
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