(NECN: Jennifer Eagan, Portsmouth, N.H.) - They are identical twins focused on the same purpose.
Seventy-year-olds Perry and Conrad McKinney grew up in Portsmouth, N.H. Perry runs the boat launch at Pierce Island during the summer months. Now, Conrad drives up from Massachusetts everyday so the two can carry out their own search for missing University of New Hampshire student Lizzi Marriott.
"We are going out to all of the areas where there are piers, there are rocks, there are crevasses, there are coves, inlets, areas that you might not get to see if you are flying over," said Conrad about the pair’s efforts on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Marriott of Westboro, Mass. was last seen two weeks ago. Authorities say she texted a friend saying she was meeting someone in Dover, N.H. Twenty-nine-year-old Seth Mazzaglia has been charged with second degree murder in connection to Marriott’s death.
The search for Marriott’s body has led investigators to the Piscataqua River, where they have used divers and searched by boat and helicopter.
Along the shore, the McKinneys have served as at least two extra sets of eyes. The brothers often walk along the water twice a day now.
"The tide comes in and brings it all in and you got the rain and the snow comes in in the winter here and it changes everything. It all gets moved around. And a lot of people don’t know it. But all of the years we’ve been here, we are familiar with it," Conrad said.
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Conrad, who is a licensed private detective in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, scans the shoreline through binoculars with his brother not far behind. The two hope together they can help bring Lizzi home.
"I’m out here looking and God bless her," said Perry.
The McKinneys say if they do find any possible evidence they will immediately alert authorities.
According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, the search for Lizzi Marriott’s body will continue on Wednesday by marine patrol, and weather permitting, by helicopter.
