ARCHIVED ARTICLE: Police Trying To 'Think Outside The Box' In Search For 3-Year-Old - 5/30/2006

Police Trying To 'Think Outside The Box' In Search For 3-Year-Old
May 30 2006 12:00AM
http://www.ap.org

Associated Press

Minot, N.D. - More checks and double-checks are planned around the city as authorities seek clues in the disappearance of 3-year-old Reachelle Smith.

"It's going to change day to day, as leads and stuff come in, or things we think we need to look at again," Minot Police Capt. Al Hanson said Tuesday.

Checks were planned in "couple of areas close by town that need to be walked," and possibly some flyovers, he said.

"We've thought about storm sewers," he said. "We may look at some of them this week ... just trying to think outside the box in some cases, to make sure we cover all the bases."

Reachelle has been missing for two weeks. Authorities thought she was with Leigh Cowen, 22, who disappeared about the same time. His body was found May 23, in a van in the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Minot, but there was no trace of the girl. Authorities said Cowen apparently killed himself.

"We're going to be doing some searches north of the Air Force base up to the area of the refuge and on the refuge itself, and then some other areas where the van was supposedly seen in the days prior (to the finding of Cowen's body)," Ward County Sheriff Vern Erck said. "We're just taking the task mainly out in the county, so it frees up city police to do everything in town."

Police Lt. Steve Kukowski said later Tuesday that there was still no sign of Reachelle, but authorities wanted to make sure they left no stone unturned.

"We're going over some of the same areas, and extending them," he said.