Fighting colder than cold temperatures and wind chills reaching 20-30 degrees below zero, a renewed search started Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 for a missing Davenport woman.
As News 8 first reported on Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014, two specially-trained dogs and their handler - Rob Larson with K9 Specialties - drove in from Chicago to help find 29-year-old Carrie Olson.
On Thursday, January 23rd, 2014, the three and a few other volunteers spent the morning in Camden Park in Milan, Illinois. The cell tower located there is where Carrie's cell phone last sent a signal from nearly a month ago.
"My dogs are true dogs," Larson says of Captain Dexter, a Yellow Lab and Sergeant Duke, a German Shepherd. "I trust everything they're telling me. They gave me no alerts back here. We're going to move on and keep checking different areas."
In the afternoon, the growing group went to Sunset Marina in Rock Island, where the body of a missing Rock Island man was found earlier this week.
"I have the means to do it," says Larson. "I have the equipment and the dogs. My dogs are great. In every case we've done, my dogs come out on top."
The case of Carrie Olson is not Larson's first. In May 2013, he and his dogs found the body of an 18-month-old missing boy, Bryeon Hunter, in the Des Plaines River in North Riverside. WQAD's Sister Station, WGN in Chicago, reported on the story.
It's a day Larson say he thinks about a lot.
"Nothing's going to come close to that search I did for that boy and I'm sure the same things going to be with this case."
Many things are different, though - like the weather. Dexter and Duke can only be out in the cold for so long, so they take frequent breaks. Larson say every 15 minutes, he puts them back in the truck to warm up.
Others also battled the cold on Thursday including Dennis Harker. He is the father of David Harker who went missing in September, but whose body was found days later. All the supper Dennis received inspired him to start the Quad Cities Missing Persons Network and to participate in searches like the one for Carrie Olson and others who are missing, like Willis Hughes.
"It's a way to pay it back," Harker says. "At the vigil that we had, I said one of the things that we want is for people to pay it forward. Well, I have to. I can't just say that. I have to do it."
Meanwhile, the family of Carrie Olson announced on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 that Per Mar Security Services is offering a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who has information leading to Carrie's whereabouts.
According to the "Find Carrie Olson" Page on Facebook, the Quad Cities Missing Persons Network is also assisting the Olson Family by establishing a reward fund for any information leading to finding Carrie.
A post reads "Please consider making a generous donation to this fund. An account has been set up at the IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union with Dennis Harker serving as the account manager. Checks can be dropped off at any IHMVCU location, made payable to Dennis Harker, to be deposited in the Carrie Olson reward fund, or can be mailed to: Carrie Olson Reward Fund, 2323 12th street Rock Island, IL 61201."