Amber Griffin's body still missing following hours-long search by volunteers
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Just after the sun rose Sunday, July 12, 2020, volunteer crews took to the woods of Calhoun County to search for the body of missing Amber Griffin, a 27-year-old Bedford Township woman presumed to be dead.
The Battle Creek Police Department announced Griffin’s disappearance June 24, 2020. She was first reported as a missing person by her mother and boyfriend, 25-year-old Derek Horton.
Horton has since been arrested on an open murder charge after police said they found numerous inconsistencies in his story.
Julice Haggerty, a 27-year-old Battle Creek resident, also faces charges of being an accessory after the fact and lying to police.
About 30 volunteers from across Michigan joined Sunday’s search in an effort to bring closure to Griffin’s family. In coordination with police, volunteers from the Michigan Independent Search and Rescue Team, K-9 One, and Alpena County Search and Rescue Team took part in the search.
“Time is our enemy. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes,” explained Paul Makoski, the search manager for the day.
Makoski said all participants were nationally certified search and rescue volunteers.
He said volunteers, including five K-9 teams, searched through four different locations to find any evidence relating to Griffin’s case. He said the search would take them mostly through urban wooded areas to locations correlating with the police investigation.
One of the K-9 teams was Cherie Parenteau and her dog, Loki.
“There’s a lot that goes into this. It’s not just. ‘Hey somebody’s missing, can you go look for them,’” she said.
Despite the hours of continuous training she and Loki undergo, Parenteau said searching for missing people is her way of giving back to the community.
“Hopefully we can bring some answers to this family,” she said. “The hardest part is not having answers for the family, or sometimes not the answers they want.”
After searching for hours Sunday, the volunteers did not locate Griffin’s body. However, Makoski said that wouldn’t deter them from coming back.
“Our motto for our team is we never give up,” he said. “If we don’t have success today, we’ll be back, we’ll be back, and we’ll keep coming back until we have an end to this.”
Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of Griffin was asked to call Silent Observer at 269-964-3888 or emergency dispatch at 269-781-0911.
