ARCHIVED ARTICLE: Authorities Recover Ground In Search For Reachelle Smith - 10/27/2006

Authorities Recover Ground In Search For Reachelle Smith
Oct 27 2006 8:06PM
KXMCTV Minot

Five months have passed since Reachelle Smith disappeared. She would have celebrated her fourth birthday in those missing weeks.

Now, authorities have returned to the site where her suspected abductor took his own life....... the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge.

There, the recovered old ground, looking for any sign of the missing Minot child.

Abby Wuellner has more.

Spring has turned to summer, and summer to fall in the months since anyone last saw Reachelle Smith, but still law enforcement officers continue to pursue her case...

(Cpt. Todd Keller, Ward Co. Sheriff Dpt.) "The sheriff wanted us to come back before the winter months, before everything was covered with snow, and do another search."

Today, searchers from the Ward County Sheriff's Department, the Minot Police Department, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation retraced their steps at the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge...Where on May 23, authorities found the body of Leigh Cowen, the man believed responsible for the girl's disappearance.

Nearby, yellow tape still hangs on branches where they found things he left
before he committed suicide.

Sgt. Larry Hubbard was among those who found the items in initial searches.

(Sgt. Larry Hubbard, Ward Co. Sheriff's Dpt.) "We've done numerous searches. i was out here the first day when we did the initial search."

But since then, he says other than the color of the leaves, little has changed.

(Sgt. Hubbard) "You can see the line a lot better with the foliage change, and a lot of the leaves off the trees, but still it's difficult walking with the steepness of the hills."

No new leads prompted this search. Rather, previous search parties weren't
able to re-cover the whole area several months ago.

And as the 14 man search wrapped up this afternoon, those involved say they
found nothing new pertaining to the case of the little girl...but added they
don't intend to stop searches altogether.

(Sgt. Hubbard) "It's frustrating. You know, we want to have some kind of closure to the case one way or the other, whether we find Reachelle or have a different type of closure. Everybody would like to have closure."

So as fall turns to winter, and snow covers the leaves that now crunch underfoot, they'll continue to look for Reachelle and seek some closure in this case.

At the Upper Souris Wildlife Refuge, Abby Wuellner, KX News.

In the next few weeks, Reachelle's family will have a dog-search recover
the ground yet again.

Authorities are also asking that hunters be on the look-out for any sign of the little girl.