Volunteers, law enforcement search conservation area for missing Randolph County teen
RANDOLPH COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Law enforcement officers and volunteers spent Friday searching for a missing Randolph County teenager in a massive conservation area southeast of Higbee.
The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said Kayla Huff, 16, has been missing since Wednesday. Investigators focused Friday’s search efforts on the Rudolf Bennitt Conservation Area, where dozens of volunteers joined deputies in hopes of finding clues connected to her disappearance.
Randolph County Sheriff Andy Boggs told ABC 17 News that despite searching throughout the day, crews did not find Huff or any major evidence connected to the case.
Across Randolph County, flyers with Huff’s photo have been posted in store windows and along roadways as the community searches for answers. The poster describes Huff as 5 feet, 7 inches with long-braided hair. Flyers say she was last seen Wednesday walking in her Moberly neighborhood with a male.
Boggs later wrote in a press release that Huff was last seen with a 17-year-old Columbia resident.
"Reports from the community and family indicated Kayla was in the Rudolph Bennitt Conservation Area, in southern Randolph County and northern Howard County," Boggs wrote in the release. "A multi-jurisdictional search was held on today’s date. Law enforcement officers from the area, with the help of volunteers, scoured the area, with nothing located."
Volunteers Natalee Kirkendoll, Julie Plaster and Jennifer Mixon spent nearly eight hours searching the area for Huff. Kirkendoll said when volunteers arrived Friday morning, law enforcement provided only limited details about the investigation as crews prepared to begin the search.
According to volunteers, about 50 people joined the effort early in the morning, with others arriving throughout the day as they became available.
“We got the call last night off of Facebook, and they needed equine volunteer searches,” Kirkendoll said. “So we all congregated at the lake this morning at 8 (a.m.) and waited for direction from the sheriff and the conservation office.”
The conservation area covers more than 3,500 acres and stretches across parts of Randolph, Boone and Howard counties.
Boggs could not comment on the circumstance of Huff’s disappearance. Boggs said another search effort will likely be organized once investigators gather more information in the case. Authorities are also asking for additional volunteers to assist in the search.
"The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Moberly Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control and many other agencies are currently investigating Kayla’s disappearance," Boggs' Friday evening press release says. "To maintain the integrity of this investigation and provide respect and privacy to Kayla’s loved ones, no further information will be released at this time."
