No sign of missing Midland man
Ruth Campbell
Midland Reporter-Telegram
09/09/2007
More than 100 volunteers turn out to help search for Jon Shadden.
A daylong search of the area around E.V. Spence Reservoir and surrounding area on Saturday turned up no sign of missing Midlander Jon Shadden.
A little more than 100 volunteers came out to search a two to five-mile area around the lake.
Ten people from Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search & Rescue Team of Dickinson bought side-scan SONAR, horses and all-terrain vehicles to look for Shadden, who has been missing since June 9.
"We covered about one mile and found absolutely nothing," EquuSearch case manager Cindy Wisdom said. "... There's a lot of cactus. It's hard hiking and hard searching."
Also scanned was two miles in the lake, located near Robert Lee about 100 miles east of Midland, but there were no hits, she said.
More help will be needed today as some people returned home on Saturday and the group plans to look until midday today. About 20 people stayed on location overnight, Wisdom said.
"We're only going to put about four hours (today) so we need to cover a lot of ground in a very short time," Wisdom added.
As of about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the search had been suspended. Searchers had started at 8 a.m.
"We're pretty much done tonight because everyone is just flat exhausted," Wisdom said.
Food and water were provided by the Red Cross, the Wink community and Alamo Heights Baptist Church, where the Shaddens are members. Wisdom expressed her thanks to the people of Midland for turning out in such numbers.
"It was a great response from there. We're very, very pleased. You can be proud of your community," Wisdom said.
Stephanie Shadden said she was not holding up well, but she, too, was glad for the help.
"I've been crying a lot. When you see people do this for you -- sweat and just about pass out because they're looking for something that means something to you."
Wisdom said it's "really impossible to tell" if they will find 36-year-old Jon Shadden, a Teppco Crude Pipeline instrumentation technician.
"If he's here, we have an 85 to 90 percent chance of finding him," she said.
The Shaddens were married Aug. 9, 2003, in Monahans where Shadden worked for TXU Gas for 13 years. They moved to Midland in October 2004.
The Shadden Memorial Fund has been established at Wells Fargo Bank to benefit the couple and their children, 16, 12, 4 and 8 months.
Even if her husband is not found, Stephanie Shadden said given the effort put in this weekend, it's enough for her.
"That's closure for me," she said.
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