Outside agencies help police expand search for missing student

Wade Steffey

Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Indiana State Police, as well as the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have each provided one or more officers to help, bringing the total of reinforcements to 16, said Jeanne Norberg, university spokesperson. The center has sent two former FBI agents from Team Adam, a group of retired criminal investigators.

Steffey's information also has been added to the database for the National Center for Missing Adults as well as that for missing children, and he will be featured on a free Webcast concert on Saturday (Jan. 27) sponsored by GINA for Missing Persons, a nonprofit project of the National Heritage Foundation.

"Everyone is saying, 'What can I do?' and stepping forward," Norberg said. "We also welcome IN Hope to the effort."

Steffey family

IN Hope is a volunteer group of families in Indiana who currently have or have had a missing child or adult. It is opening a volunteer center in donated space at The End Zone, 305 Victory Drive, across from Ross-Ade Stadium. The center will offer a place for volunteers to congregate, pick up fliers, rally support and obtain updates. The volunteers also will be available to Purdue police for additional searches that the department might request.

The center, which opened Tuesday (Jan. 23), will be open most days from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The effort is led by Patti Bishop of Delphi.

While volunteers organize, police will be using sonar to check the waterways, and another canine unit will be on campus to help. This marks the fourth time police have brought dogs to campus to help with the search.

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"The dogs will start at the epicenter, the spot where Wade was last seen, and fan out, especially checking cars," Norberg said. "Some have specialized training that also will be useful in searching areas containing water, such as culverts, ponds and other waterways."

The Department of Natural Resources and Tippecanoe County again are providing boats to search the Wabash River now that the water level has receded. DNR also has offered its all-terrain vehicles once the banks are firmer.

The university already has reserved its trash for further searching and is asking its building deputies to recheck buildings, especially elevator shafts and rooftops.

Police officials are continuing to look for Steffey's Verizon cell phone after its approximate location was tracked from Jan. 13-17, when the phone's signal was lost.

Wade's father, Dale, has asked the community to consider whether they heard a cell phone ringing on or close to campus that went unanswered. The cell phone's signal was transmitting within an area roughly bounded by State and Russell streets and Northwestern Avenue, and it includes Ross-Ade Stadium, the residence hall where Steffey resided and much of the academic campus. A search on Saturday (Jan. 20) failed to recover the cell phone.

Volunteers get search instructions
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Police also asked that anyone who was in the Tower Acres area of campus from around midnight to 3 a.m. on Jan. 13 to contact Purdue police.

"Even if they believe what they saw is not relevant, they should call," Norberg said. "Police are trying to get a better picture of what happened that night, and even seemingly unrelated bits of information could be helpful."

Almost 700 volunteers have taken part in two major searches of the campus, which have covered all the area where the cell phone is believed to be, as well as areas around the campus. Members of the community have been asked to search their own property as well and keep their eyes open for clues. Norberg said that, along with the cell phone, police are particularly interested in recovering any items of clothing, wallets and other personal effects, such as identification cards.

Steffey's parents on Friday (Jan. 19) announced that a reward is being offered for information leading to the whereabouts of their son, a National Merit Scholar majoring in aviation technology.

Prayer vigil
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The reward fund, established by Steffey's family and friends, is being administered by Fifth Third Bank in Central Indiana. Donors should make their checks out to The Wade Steffey Reward Fund in Central Indiana, and donations can be made at any Fifth Third Bank branch. For information, call Fifth Third Bank in Lafayette at (765) 423-5557.

A flier is available online with the news release at the Purdue home page, http://www.purdue.edu.

Police were alerted to Steffey's disappearance on Jan. 16 when classes resumed after a three-day holiday weekend and family and friends became concerned that he had not been seen since early Jan. 13. The evening before he was at a party that attendees described as "small and low-key," which he left without seeming to be impaired in any way. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with light blue stripes and light-colored jeans.

Police received a tip that a person matching Steffey's description was seen at the northwest corner of Owen Hall around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 13, near the time when a call was placed from his cell phone to two other students who live there. Steffey had reportedly left his coat in Owen Hall.

Steffey is white with short brown hair and brown eyes, is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Purdue Police Department at (765) 494-8221 or the anonymous tip line at (765) 496-3784.

Sources: Jeanne Norberg, (765) 491-1460, jnorberg@purdue.edu

Patti Bishop, (765) 404-2101

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com/

PHOTO CAPTION:
Pictured is a Motorola E815 V CAST phone from Verizon like the one being carried by Wade Steffey when he was last seen.

PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue Police Chief Gary K. Evans instructs the more than 300 volunteers who answered a call for assistance on Thursday (Jan. 18) to help find missing student Wade S. Steffey. Volunteers searched several areas in and around the campus. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)

A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2007/steffey-search.jpg

PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue police Capt. Tim Potts, at left, gives search instructions to those attending a Saturday (Jan. 20) prayer vigil for missing student Wade Steffey. Following the vigil, which was led by Purdue students Sarah Kelzer and Brooke Anderson (at far right), police led volunteers in a search for Steffey's cell phone. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)

A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2007/steffey-prayer.jpg

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