Authorities are asking local North Carolina residents to assist in the search for 3-year-old Mariah Woods, who went missing from her home Sunday night.
The search was organized by Team Adam, a program for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that provides on-site assistance to law enforcement agencies and families in cases of missing children, according to Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller.
The search for Mariah has entered its fourth day.
“We are so grateful for their expertise of organizing this volunteer search,” Miller said today of the program.
Additional resources have been allocated to help conduct interviews and searches for the little girl, including boats from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries as well as police canines and horses from neighboring agencies, Miller said. The search area is extensive and will expand to cover the entirety of Onslow County, Meador said.
Dive teams were searching Southwest Creek in Onslow County, Meador said, which is about 3 miles away from where the family lives, ABC Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD reported.
Miller asked members of the community who are willing to comb through difficult terrain to meet at the Dawson Community Church Friday morning. The sheriff also advised potential volunteers that they need to be physically fit to endure four to six-hour searches, and to dress appropriate and bring snacks, water and identification for registration.
Investigators are seeking to speak to every neighbor who lives near the family as well as anyone who may have spoken to the family on Sunday or Monday in order to create a detailed timeline of Mariah’s disappearance, said FBI supervisor Stanley Meador.
Mariah Woods went missing from her Jacksonville, North Carolina, home after her mother put her to bed Sunday night, Mariah’s mother, Kristy Woods, said, according to North Carolina ABC affiliate WCTI. Authorities said they would not confirm those details in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.
Miller said Wednesday he believes Mariah’s disappearance was an isolated incident. Today, the sheriff said figuring out what happened to Mariah is of the “utmost” importance.
“Personally, as a father and a grandfather, I’m looking at a little 3-year-old girl — I’m emotional about this,” Miller said. “We need to find Mariah and bring her back.”
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