News

Actions

Find Me group in need of help with funding search parties for missing persons

Posted at 6:18 AM, May 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-24 14:28:02-04

One of the groups working to help find people who’ve gone missing is now in need of some help themselves.

The Find Me group fills the gap when police have run out of time and resources. They provide their own gear and don't charge police or the families for their services.

They've worked on just about every high-profile missing person's case you can think of in the Valley. Most recently the group has searched for North Phoenix mother Christine Mustafa, Jesse Wilson in Buckeye, Isabel Celis in Tucson and Adrienne Salinasin Tempe whose remains were later found in Apache Junction.

RELATED: See photos of more than 100 missing kids in Arizona

Find Me founder Jerry “Kelly” Snyder says they do it because these are the cases that bother all of us and beg for closure. 

“You can’t imagine what it’s like to have family member disappear and to never know what happened, so it brings a great deal of satisfaction when we can see a case through,” Snyder said.     

There are 145 people with Find Me and many are current and retired law enforcement agents. They also utilize 20 search dogs from AZ Search, Track and Rescue.  

Sometimes the searches take them out of state or even out of the country -- and it's expensive. Snyder estimates local searches cost about $1,000 a day and can run upwards of $5,000 a day when they are out of town.  

“We also try to upgrade our equipment as much as we can periodically every three to four years just so we have the best of the best equipment which makes our job easier and gives us a little more latitude in being successful,” he said.  

They need funds to keep going and would also love to find a corporate sponsor.   

To donate, click here, or to connect with the founders, visit their website.