Volunteers needed for massive search for missing Downers Grove-area woman
A nonprofit group is organizing a search Saturday of a forest preserve near Hanover Park for a 22-year-old woman who has been missing since December.
Organizers from the Kankakee-based Missing Persons Awareness Network say they need roughly 300 volunteers to comb the 90-acre Mallard Lake Forest Preserve in search of Cheyann Klus, who last was seen by her family Nov. 27 at her home near Downers Grove.
Klus is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing about 115 pounds with light-colored skin, brown hair and brown eyes. A picture of her shows a tattoo on her left arm. She apparently traveled to Chicago and spent time on the 2100 block of North Kilbourn Avenue in early December, authorities say.
In mid-December, DuPage County sheriff's investigators learned she may have been in the area of the Mallard Lake Forest Preserve during the time she was last seen.
On Dec. 22, a large-scale search of the preserve by the sheriff's office turned up no signs of the woman. Authorities decided to conduct another search when weather conditions were more favorable.
A second search also turned up empty Saturday when deputies and the Will County Emergency Management Agency Search and Rescue Team scoured the forest preserve, the sheriff's office said Monday. The search involved more than 100 people and five police dogs.
There was no water search of the lake, a sheriff's spokesman said, but it may follow in the near future.
At this point, investigators have found no clear indication of foul play in Klus' disappearance.
"We're certainly concerned due to the length of time she's been missing," sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Robert Harris said.
The Missing Persons Awareness Network will resume a ground search at the forest preserve after an 11 a.m. news conference Saturday.
The network received information that the preserve is "more than an area of interest" several weeks ago, founder Gia Hoffman said.
Hoffman said organizers will call off the search at 4 p.m., but she vows to spend "as long as it takes" to find out what happened to Klus.
The network has started a Facebook page, "FIND CHEYANN KLUS," to help spread the word about the search. No ATVs or four-wheelers will be allowed, Hoffman said. A nearby landfill also will be blocked off to searchers.
Anyone who wants to assist or donate equipment and meals can call (815) 263-5886 or contact missingpersonsawarenessnetwork@gmail.com.
Investigators are asking anyone who has seen Klus or has information on her whereabouts to call police at (630) 407-2400.