by Al Greenwood
Senior Staff Writer
For over a week, volunteers have stepped over snakes, weaved around barbed wire and waded through waist-deep water to find any clues leading to 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood. Although hundreds of volunteers have scoured creeks and overgrowth since the night of her disappearance, Smither is still missing.
Smither disappeared after jogging April 3, and this weekend's search was the largest, with 245 members of the Texas State Guard, 600 Marine reserves (a group that included some UH students and alumni) and 2,800 volunteers.
Donations from all over Texas have supplied the search with first-aid equipment, food and helicopters.
"We are surprised," said Terry Arnold, a volunteer. "The donations are overwhelming. We're almost afraid to ask for anything."
When volunteers needed a small, refrigerated truck, Arnold said they received 12.
Joe Devault said he came from Alvin, Texas, to help find Smither. "I don't have any kids, but I have a nephew and a niece. I felt guilty doing nothing. It's getting to the point where you can't leave your children anywhere."
Before going on a search, volunteers filled out an application form and then equipped themselves with a walking stick, rubber boots and a first-aid kit. Volunteers also received a briefing before the organized search began.
"Tetanus shots are given out in case you get caught up in barbed wire," said Gavin Giere, a first-aid volunteer.
Another volunteer, Robert Steeber, said the shots also prevent infection from raw sewage, which runs in several creeks.
Jeremy Arnold, a volunteer from La Porte, has been on 13 searches. "Some areas are extremely forested. They're very thick, very muddy," he said.
"Your legs get tired," said Susan Cathey, a major in the Texas State Guard. "You picked up 50 pounds of mud. I literally had to pick my legs up. Other people lost boots in the mud."
Despite the massive search, Friendswood Police Chief Jared Stout said Saturday, "We are not at the point where we are able to point to one person and discontinue everything."
However, the chief added, "I still believe the person responsible is still 80 miles from where we stand."
Stout would not comment on whether he thought they would find Smither dead. However, if there was only the smallest chance of finding Smither alive, Stout said, "We'll continue working. This is a situation where probabilities don't govern what we do."
Earlier, Stout said a prison tracking dog traced Laura's trail to a portable restroom near some soccer fields on Moore Ranch Road, about a half a mile from her home in the 2600 block of Ware Dairy Road, near the Friendswood and Alvin border.
The way the trail ends hints that someone picked Smither up in a vehicle and left the soccer field, Stout said.
Search parties are following numerous leads, volunteer Kenny Koncaba said Sunday. For example, volunteers would check where "the dirt's been disturbed, where there may be a grave."
Although the Marine reserves scoured tracts of difficult terrain, they did not uncover any leads to Laura's disappearance, Stout said.
Normally, the reserves would have completed their monthly drills at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Instead, they volunteered to help search for Smither.
"I would have been in the office, typing re-enlistments," said Sgt. P. C. Smith, who received his bachelor of science in hotel and restaurant management from UH in 1987. Instead, Smith said he waded through knee-deep water and trudged through brush. "This is a better cause," he said.
Many reserves went from classes to the Marine training center on Old Spanish Trail.
Sophomore hotel and restaurant management major and Staff Sgt. Kent O'Jon found out at 7 p.m. that he was going to Friendswood instead of training at Fort Hood.
"This is a vacation compared to some of the things we go through," O'Jon said. However, he stressed the search assignment has a sense of urgency. "This is real life. There is someone's daughter out here that's missing and possibly dead. This hits hard. This is a reality check."
O'Jon, whose son turned one in March, said he was not optimistic about the girl's chances. "I feel for her family. I hope that she's alive, but I doubt very seriously she is."
O'Jon and UH sophomore mechanical engineering major and Cpl. Carl Krueger both serve in motor transport. O'Jon assigns vehicles, while Krueger transports Marines.
Volunteer Rob Reyes estimated that the reserves covered 300 miles during the weekend. however, they retrieved few leads about Smither's disappearance.
When she left her home the morning of April 3, 12-year-old Laura Smither was wearing a black T-shirt, dark blue shorts and white running shoes. Smither is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 98 pounds and wears braces. She has long, dark, curly hair and green eyes.
Anyone with information can call the Friendswood Police Department at (281) 996-3300. Volunteers can call the search center at (281) 482-3111. A $50,000 reward is offered.