| 19 weeks 15 hours 40 min ago Volunteers search for missing student in Vermont
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(Mia Moran, NECN: Middlebury, VT) - Middlebury College freshman Erin Hansen is helping in the search for her friend and fellow student Nick Garza. The 19-year-old disappeared from campus in February when the University was on winter break.
Erin Hansen, freshman, “we went to my cabin in New Hampshire and assumed to be with us but he wasn't he had never come with us.”
She was one of dozens of volunteers and three k-9 teams that scoured the woods along Middlebury's Otter Creek looking for clues. This -- the eighth large scale search -- was organized by Nick's family.
Tanya Sierra, sister “our heart breaks everyday that the sun is out and everyday there is no snow on the ground and we can't bear so helpful “
The volunteers focused on this wooded area just a few hundred yards from campus. This time they were looking for evidence of Nick, his cellphone, wallet and articles of clothing that still haven't been found.
Natalie Garza “my son had on jeans, red button-down shirt and a size 12 tennis shoe on”
Those things didn't turn up but searchers did find a belt and 3 pairs of shorts -- search experts say it's to early to tell if the clothing is connected to nick.
Gary “Everything's of interest, the searchers are proving that we can find that stuff. right now, I don't make a judgment call on anything we find.”
Peterson says their findings will be turned over to police to be analyzed. As for Hansen
-- she didn't find what she was looking for -- but she isn't giving up.
Erin Hansen, “I think everyone really wants to have some advancement in the process and come up with some clues”
WPTZ’s Mia Moran has more
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