GRAND FORKS -- Law enforcement officials are organizing a large-scale search this week for a missing woman with Grand Forks ties.
About 40-50 police and sheriffs deputies in eastern Montana and western North Dakota plan to search an undisclosed area around Sidney, Montana, for Katelynn Berry, a 26-year old woman who has split her time between there and Grand Forks. They’re also hoping to recruit at least another 100 volunteers to aid in the search.
Organizers said a break in the weather around Sidney gave them a chance to conduct the search.
“Quite a bit of our snowfall has melted off,” Mark Kraft, Sidney’s chief of police, told the Herald on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
John Dynneson, the sheriff of Richland County, said investigators have been trying to locate people who were in contact with Berry before she was reported missing on New Year's Eve. Sidney is the county seat. Dynneson declined to say whether the mass search was related to any of those interviews.
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Volunteers for Thursday’s search are asked to arrive at the Richland County Fire Station, 1105 3rd St NW in Sidney, at 8 a.m. local time. Police are requiring volunteers to be at least 18 years old, and to bring a picture ID and health insurance information, among other stipulations.
Berry’s mother is Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County prosecutor, and her father, Hank Berry, lives in Sidney. Hank Berry reported her missing on Dec. 31. He said he last saw his daughter on Dec. 21, but still hopes to find her.
“This has been pretty heartbreaking for everyone,” Hank Berry said. “It seems like it gets tougher everyday because it's just more pronounced that she’s probably gone.”
