Volunteers were told to avoid searching around the Des Moines River for a missing Iowa teen because of flooding conditions.
Kathlynn Shepard has not been seen since she and another girl were reportedly taken to a hog confinement after they accepted a ride from 42-year-old Michael Klunder on Monday, May 20, 2013.
Since then, police, volunteers and K-9s have searched the confinement and land between that property and the location where the girls’ backpacks were found the day after the alleged abduction.
State Police said searchers have covered about 220 square miles of property in Webster, Boone and Hamilton counties. Many of the locations searched have been checked multiple times.
Heavy rain and flood conditions along the Des Moines River made river searches unsafe Tuesday, May 28. Police expected to resume river and air searches as soon as weather permits.
Searchers are continuing to focus on various locations Michael Klunder visited on the day the girls were abducted. They are also searching various hog confinements at which Klunder worked.
Kathlynn Shepard’s blood was found at a hog confinement during the search for her.
Klunder’s body was found the evening of the abduction date. Police said he committed suicide.
Kathlynn Shepard is 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 160-pounds. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt, jeans, and a Cubs cap.
