The search for a missing 19-year-old Grinnell College Student from the Chicago-area continues. Grinnell College officials, expressing concern about the disappearance of 19-year-old Paul Shuman-Moore, have confirmed the sophomore was “despondent” before he disappeared early Monday morning.
Hundreds of volunteers are joining police, firefighters and members of the Civil Air Patrol as they conduct a search in a three-mile radius of Grinnell. According to Grinnell Police Chief Jody Matherly, state and local investigators have been joined by forensic experts to look into Shuman-Moore’s disappearance. Officials have established a command center on campus, and will provide updates on the search.
Grinnell College Communications Director Kate Worster-Foster says after the search began they got word the Illinois native had been down recently. She says in the course of the investigation they’ve confirmed Paul was “despondent” at the time of his disappearance, and Worster-Foster says “We’re very concerned about him.”
Police Chief Jody Matherly has helped organize the investigation into the teen’s disappearance. He says it consists of several Grinnell officers, agents from the state Division of Criminal Investigation, from the Des Moines FUSION center, all helping follow leads they haven’t yet been able to trace, and rechecking the steps already taken to see if they can find any new information.
Chief Matherly says the search is focused on a three-mile radius of Grinnell. He says after talking with people trained and experienced in state and national investigation, the questions they’re asking include how far the young man may have walked before hopping into a train, car or other mode of transportation. They set a three-mile radius as a “prudent” area to search thoroughly, and he says after they’ve gone through it three or four times, they’ll expand the search.