'Frustrated' volunteers search for missing Crystal boy
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Updated 6:20 p.m. | Posted 4:08 p.m.
About 80 volunteers met at North Mississippi Regional Park Thursday afternoon to search for missing 10-year-old Barway Collins along the banks of the Mississippi River.
People involved in the search said on Facebook that they recovered a pair of red shoes and a red backpack.
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The Crystal Police Department said in a statement all items recovered during the search will be analyzed over the next few days "to determine whether they have any evidentiary value."
Four mothers who met on Facebook organized the search for Barway, who disappeared after being dropped off by his school bus March 18.
The mothers met Monday night and decided to set up a Facebook page for the fourth-grader. "As soon as we did that it just spread like wildfire," said Penny Castano, one of the organizers of the search. "We met on a social media site, concerned and frustrated by the lack of searching and the lack of keeping the word out there — not hearing a whole lot about it."
The Crystal Police Department recently raised the reward for information on the disappearance of Barway to $12,000.
Castano said the search for Barway appeared to be "fizzling and not really seem like enough's being done about it."
"We want to find him," she said.
The volunteers wore yellow vests, and some came with long sticks to search the underbrush. Castano divided the volunteers into five groups and told them not to touch any evidence they found.
Paula Gunderson, her grandson and daughter had taken part in previous searches for Barway.
"I feel very sad," said Gunderson, standing with her daughter. "Hopefully, somebody will find him today and bring him home."
Also at the park was Virgil Poore and his 9-year-old son. "Any time you have a missing kid is a terrible thing and I think people should rally together to see if we can find him," he said.
Liberian-American Magdalene Menyongar of Plymouth, who has a 12-year-old daughter, said Barway's disappearance worries her as a mother.
"It's getting tough and scary," she said.
The volunteers made a circle and prayed. Then they fanned out to begin the search.
MPR News reporter Riham Feshir contributed to this report.
