Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 18, 2006 Search widens for missing 6 Family that disappeared two weeks ago is now an APB nationwide; regional efforts fruitless By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Rose Hill got one good piece of news this week. The mother of Marlo Hill-Stivers, an Ashland woman who is one of the six family members missing since March 4, learned her husband’s cancer has not returned. “We got the results yesterday,” Hill said. Hill-Stivers, 31, her husband, two children and two in-laws have not been seen or heard from since they left for an overnight trip to the coast the evening of March 4. Police released a nationwide all-points bulletin for the missing family, Ashland Police Department Detective Brent Jensen reported Friday afternoon. The notice widened the alert area, which originally only included Oregon and California law enforcement agencies. Police increased the search because of the national media coverage of family’s disappearance, according to Jensen. The Stivers family was traveling in a 1992 35-foot brown and white Dolphin motor home with Arizona plates 171TDH. They did not indicate a direction of travel or a final destination other than “the coast” when they left town, police said. “We have no clue at this time where this family is,” Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said. Hill-Stivers’ disappearance is out-of-character, according to her mother. Hill-Stivers and her husband both have jobs in Ashland, and their children attend Walker Elementary School. Hill thinks her daughter would not have just left because Hill’s husband, Edward, has been ill. Edward Hill, 60, had prostate cancer that spread to his lymph nodes. Doctors worried that a cloudy mass in his belly could be the disease spreading again. Doctors told the Hills Thursday that he is still cancer-free. “It’s all good news,” Hill said. “We just hope the same for Marlo.” The Stivers family — Marlo Hill-Stivers, Peter Stivers, 29, Sabastyan Stivers, 9, Gabrayell Stivers, 9, and grandparents Becky and Ebert Higginbotham, who are in their mid-40s — vanished two weeks ago. There has been no activity on any of the adults’ bank accounts since March 4 and calls to their cell phones go directly to voicemail, according to Ashland police. The police weren’t aware of any domestic problems between the parents and say they do not suspect criminal activity at this point. Hill first reported her daughter missing on March 8, according to APD, and a bulletin was sent out to law enforcement agencies in Oregon and California. A second notice was sent on March 12 to include all six family members. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children faxed fliers about the missing family to Arizona and amusement parks in Southern California on Friday, according to Jensen. The Higginbothams’ last known address was in Arizona, and the children had mentioned a trip to Disneyland to others. NCMEC also posted photos of the family on its Web site and distributed 5,000 fliers in southwestern Oregon on Thursday. “I just don’t know what to feel,” Hill said. “It’s just crazy. You can’t just disappear.” Searchers find no signs A California Highway Patrol plane flew over Highway 96, the route between Redding, Calif., and the coast on Friday morning, but did not spot any sign of the family or the RV, according to Jensen. Active search efforts along Highway 199 and Bear Camp Road, two main routes through Grants Pass to the Oregon Coast, were suspended at 10 p.m. Thursday, Jensen said. “They searched all they could search, and I guess they found nothing,” Hill said. Search and rescue crews ran out of investigative leads, according to Winters. “It hasn’t gone well,” he said. “We haven’t found anybody.” Sheriff’s offices from Jackson, Josephine, Del Norte (Calif.), Siskiyou (Calif.), Douglas, Curry and Coos counties assisted in the search efforts, according to Winters. Using three Snow Cats, a dozen snowmobiles and a helicopter, more than 50 people worked from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. Crews scoured Hwy. 199 from Grants Pass to Oregon Mountain, Bear Camp Road, Selmac, the Oregon Caves National Monument, Cave Junction, the Illinois, Smith and Rogue rivers, Deer Creek Road, Williams, Kerby, Onion Mountain, Takelma, Obrien, Glease Creek Road and the Applegate area, including Thompson Creek, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. But bad weather slowed search efforts, Winters said. Low clouds and high winds grounded sheriff’s department helicopters Thursday and Friday. Searchers also had to deal with rain and snow near Galice. “We’re probably going to do a little bit more of a search when we get the weather clear,” Winters said, adding more direction as to where the family may have gone would improve search efforts. “We need the public’s help.” Anyone with information about the Stivers family is asked to contact the Ashland Police Department at 482-5211 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 and mention Case #103-9791. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 225 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams