A church parking lot buzzed with activity Wednesday afternoon as about 200 volunteers prepared to resume their search for a Liberty man missing since he left home for a run Monday evening.
Police had asked them to hold tight while a fresh K9 tried to pick up the scent of 30-year-old Chad Rogers. Another dog followed his scent Tuesday before tiring after four hours in the heat.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
Liberty police have asked all volunteers to work with the Liberty Community Emergency Response Team, which has set up a command post at the Liberty Christian Fellowship Church at 1815 W. Liberty Drive.
The volunteers hope to finish searching the area at Birmingham and Ruth Ewing Road by using 10-person teams to walk grids through the area. All volunteers have been asked to sign in, provide their cell phone numbers and say how long they can help.
Local companies have donated snack food, pizza, sodas and water. Bug spray, gloves and other items line a hallway leading to the church sanctuary.
“We are trying to remain hopeful but this is becoming more difficult as time passes,” said the Rev. Tim Fritson, the church‘s youth pastor and a childhood friend of Rogers.
A police K9 picked up Rogers’ scent Tuesday afternoon and followed it. After working for about four hours in the heat, the dog was allowed to rest, said Liberty police Sgt. Bob Kumpost.
A fresh dog joined the search Wednesday. An officer has been assigned to follow upon various leads and reported sightings, some of which have come in from out of state.
“We are going to focus our search in different areas where we are getting viable leads from people,” Kumpost said Wednesday.
Kumpost said several surrounding law enforcement agencies have offered assistance in the search.
Police received and followed up on various leads throughout the night. They continued to follow leads Wednesday and focus their search efforts on several targeted areas, Kumpost said.
Rogers is a marathoner who frequently runs up to 15 miles along different routes. He was last seen wearing a bright orange visor with Newton Running printed on it, black running shorts and red running shoes. He was not wearing a shirt and reportedly did not carry a phone.
He is white with a shaven head, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 175 pounds. He has tattoos on both arms and forearms, across his upper chest and on both thighs and right calf.
Rogers and his wife, Sarah, have a 13-month-old son, and he is a stay-at-home dad, said his father, Greg Rogers.
“It is obviously been a roller coaster but we are people of faith and knowing that God knows where he is,” Rogers said. “But He (God) just needs to show us (where Chad is) at some point.
“We are just dealing with it with our faith and with a lot, a lot of community support.”
Rogers was hired as a full-time youth director at First United Methodist Church in Jefferson City in August 2011 and held that position until moving to Liberty last fall, said his father. His son’s family had recently moved back to Liberty and was living with him until they sold their house in Jefferson City. Sarah Rogers works for the Missouri Department of Social Services.
Kumpost said they still do not know what may have happened to Rogers.
“At this point, we are still going on he took off jogging from his house and it is unclear what happened after that,” he said.
