On the 21st day of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi student Caleb Harris' disappearance, search and rescue crews deepened their search of the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve for the missing New Braunfels man.
He was last seen walking his dog in the early morning hours of March 4 at his off-campus apartment complex on Ennis Joslin Road.
Members of one group, Search and Rescue SATX, spent Monday gathered next to the fields of prairie grass and wetland surrounding the Coastal Bend Pain Management Center near the intersection of Williams and Rodd Field Road to look for clues, including Harris' phone.
Wearing rubber boots, two volunteers climbed a donated rescue ladder down a utility hole to search for the phone in a storm sewer. Though the search didn't turn up a device, the group's founder, Nina Glass, stressed that the effort will continue.
"This case is heartbreaking," she said. "A lot of the searchers are parents. Local residents have been helping, and a bunch of people have made recommendations online about where to look. We're going to keep searching."
More people have gotten involved in looking for Harris since the Corpus Christi Police Department conducted a preliminary search March 6 outside his residence, The Cottages at Corpus Christi.
Texas Search and Rescue, a nonprofit first-responder organization headquartered in Austin, began sending out K-9 units and dirt bikes in coordination with the Corpus Christi police the week Harris disappeared.
Search and Rescue SATX has employed all-terrain vehicles to cover a wide ambit of roads, shorelines, nature preserves, and heavily vegetated and secluded areas of North Padre Island and Corpus Christi, sending boats and underwater drones 300 feet into the waters of Oso Bay and walkers into the mudflats of Cayo de Oso.
Many searches are being coordinated through social media. College students, residents, friends and family interact frequently to share news, pictures, snaps and chat logs intimating details of the case.
Priscilla Carlisle, who helps run a missing persons group discussion on Facebook, "Missing: Talk of Caleb Harris," encourages people to visit the page if they want to organize a group search or join an upcoming one.
"We want to publicize the callouts to get more people involved in searches, to come out on weekends, if they're available," she said.
"We've gotten suggestions from people about places that need searching and to let them know where we've looked," Carlisle said. "We're working to cover as much ground as possible while making sure people are prepared, come in protective clothing and don't search alone."
She said several people are monitoring and adding information to the site, so someone will respond to a request to participate in a search.
Around 11 a.m. Monday, a helicopter carrying Randy Harris, the father of the missing man, descended on a patch of field near the waterway at Rodd Field and hovered to search the area below.
The Harris family posted a $25,000 reward last week for any information leading to the safe return of their son by March 31 in hopes of generating leads.
Detectives from the CCPD Criminal Investigation Division continue to interview Harris' roommates, friends, family members and acquaintances. At this point, they have found no reason to suspect these individuals were involved in the student’s disappearance.
An investigative team consisting of CID detectives, the CCPD Organized Crime Unit, the FBI, U.S. Marshals and several civilian crime analysts formed within days of Harris’ vanishing and continues to work full time to solve the case.
CCPD reassured the public that the police investigation is rigorous and ongoing. Teams of detectives are persisting to interview potential witnesses in Corpus Christi, San Antonio and New Braunfels.
Located at the Saratoga Station Shopping Center, a billboard displaying an LED sign of Harris is visible from the road to encourage drivers or pedestrians to engage in the search and report what they know to 214-244-0553.
Harris was last seen wearing teal pants and a white shirt. He is 21 years old, weighs 180 pounds, and is 5 feet, 11 inches tall. He did not have his shoes or his wallet. Family members reported the student missing when his roommates were unable to locate him.
CCPD encourages anyone with information concerning Harris to call (361) 826-2950. Those who would like to keep their identity secret and still provide information to detectives should call Crime Stoppers at 888-TIPS (8477) or submit the tip online at https://www.p3tips.com/TipForm.aspx?ID=343&C=&T= .
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Search for missing Texas A&M student deepens in Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve
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