But when he found out she was missing in December, he joined a search party to help find her, even though that meant driving more than two hours to the place in Cumberland County where the Hope Mills woman was last seen.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
“I knew nothing about the case,” Clayton said. “I just wanted to give a helping hand to the family.”
That search party, organized by the nonprofit PPP Recovery Program, did eventually find Williams.
But it was not a happy ending. Williams’ body was found in some woods near a volunteer fire department where the search team had set up a base. Police have ruled her death a homicide.
Clayton, 23, said he decided to start working with search teams after doing some research on volunteer opportunities. Searching for missing people allows him to combine two things he likes – helping families and working with animals.
The animal part comes in through his new puppy, Fonzi. Clayton bought the dog to be a partner in his search work. Fonzi is a Belgian Malinois, a dog known for its search skills. He has yet to be trained but Clayton plans to put Fonzi through search classes organized by agencies such as PPP Recovery, a nonprofit in Cumberland County that trains animals and people to help with searches.
“I love animals, so I knew there was a chance for me to get more active with animals and working with them,” he said.
Fonzi accompanied Clayton on the search for Williams, as did Clayton’s girlfriend, Stephanie Lemmings, who also helps look after the dog.
Clayton said that despite the unfortunate outcome in the Williams case, he’s glad the family has some closure.
“They know where their mother is. They know their mother is in heaven,” he said. “I’m honored to have devoted time to finish that chapter in their life. It really hits your heart.”
Clayton works for his family’s business, Clayton Comfort Systems in Rural Hall. So far, his search work has been limited to weekends.
He has trained himself for searches mostly through online courses offered by such organizations as Safe Response, which helps train first responders, and the National Institute of Justice, a government agency that provides criminal justice training.
Rachel Jackson is the senior director and founder of PPP Recovery. She said volunteers like Clayton are hard to come by.
“Bobby has shown he is willing to learn and to do whatever he can,” Jackson said. “We need more people like Bobby.”
She also has high hopes for Fonzi.
“The dog is really going to be a wonderful dog when he’s trained,” she said.
Clayton says the search work can be stressful.
“Your energy level is at the roof,” he said. “Your mind is set on — you’ve got to find this person. This family needs closure.”
Clayton said he was actively involved in the search for Williams but was not among those who discovered the body.
But he felt rewarded just to have taken part when family members came to the fire station and one of Williams’ daughters hugged each one of the volunteers — including Clayton — to thank them for helping find Williams, 50, who had been missing for two weeks.
The first time he took part in a search was last year, when he helped look for clues in the disappearance of Dedrick Smith, a Winston-Salem man who has been missing since 2006.
Volunteers combed the woods near the Davidson/Forsyth County line, looking for any clues that would hint at Smith’s whereabouts or the location of the turquoise 1993 Pontiac Trans Am he was driving at the time of his disappearance. Betty Brown, a local missing persons volunteer who organized the search for Smith, said he hopes Clayton’s volunteer work will be an inspiration for other young people.
“His age group is usually more interested in what they can get out of something instead of what they can do to help,” she said. “He wants to learn and he seems eager to learn.”
Unfortunately, that local search did not turn up any evidence of Smith, who was 26 at the time of his disappearance. That hasn’t dampened Clayton’s desire to help families find their loved ones.
“On a search like this, every day makes you wonder,” Clayton said. “Where could he be, or where could I look next?”
