Group comes on board in search for Barstow mother

A search and recovery organization is taking over the Feb. 21 volunteer search for Leisa Hurst, a Barstow single mother who has been missing since January.

Trinity Search and Recovery will offer specialized equipment to the search party and also manage it through an on-site command post, founder and President Mike Melson said. The search will take place in the same Helendale area as the search held on Feb. 7.

The volunteer organization and Debra Walsh, Hurst’s mother, were connected through the Kristen Foundation, a North Carolina-based group that focuses on providing aid to families of missing people, Melson said.

“The missing persons community is a small network,” he said. “We get to know each other quickly, no matter how far we are.”

The organization was founded in 2005 by Melson and his wife Bridget and has since helped about a dozen families throughout California, according to Melson.

Melson said he hopes to bring specialized equipment to the next search, which includes aerial drones for a bird’s-eye view of the area and side-scan sonar, which maps underwater terrain for boats.

Rain cut the four-hour search short on Feb. 7, which turned up no pieces of evidence related to Hurst’s disappearance. However, the 175 volunteers that showed up managed to assemble a makeshift command post complete with dispatchers and call signs, Walsh said. Volunteers also used search vehicles and animals to comb areas muddied by rainfall.

“The weather put a damper on it but we were so grateful for the things the community was able to do and bring,” Walsh said.

Melson said he will try a similar setup for the Feb. 21 search. Volunteers will be organized into groups and briefed before they are sent out to search, where they will be able to radio into a communications station if anything is found, Melson said.

“They had a fantastic turnout for the first search and we already have 40 folks registered for the next one,” he said. “The most frustrating thing is when we can’t stir up enough interest, but so many generous people have responded to this.”

There have been no recent developments in Hurst’s case. Police still believe Jeami Chipaulis was somehow involved in her Jan. 22 disappearance but have not named him as a suspect. Chiapulis, a Helendale man, checked himself into the psychiatric ward of an unidentified hospital days after Hurst was reported missing and remains a patient there, according to Barstow Police Det. Keith Libby.

Anyone who may have information regarding the case is asked to contact Det. Keith Libby at 760-256-2211. Anyone inquiring about the community search party is asked to leave information with Trinity Search and Rescue at www.trinitysearch.org. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the WE-TIP hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME or leave information on the WE-TIP Web site at www.wetip.com.

CONTACT THE WRITER:
(760) 256-4126 or cnguyen@desertdispatch.com