CORNER BROOK - Family, friends and total strangers will come together in Saskatchewan and in Newfoundland today to look for and pray for Carol King.
King, 40, is originally from Mattis Point and has been missing from her Herschel, Sask. home for 11 days now.
As the Royal Canadian Mounted Police continue to investigate her disappearance family and friends in Saskatchewan have organized a ground search for Carol that is to begin at 9 a.m. Saskatchewan time.
Back in Newfoundland family and friends have planned a candle light vigil for Carol to take place shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Tammy King, Carol's sister-in-law and the family's spokesperson, said the event will be held at the ball field in Stephenville Crossing.
"It's not going to be anything formal. We want to keep it as simple as possible," said Tammy from her home in Barachois Brook Tuesday.
"We just want to do something."
She said it's hoped that Assumption Parish priest, Rev. Gerard Patry, will lead those gathered in prayer and anyone who would like to say something about Carol will be invited to do so.
Tammy said the family is still holding out hope that Carol will be found safely.
"As every day passes it's getting harder, but we're trying our best to remain optimistic for her parents."
And she feels the vigil will help.
"They take comfort in knowing that people in the area, friends, family and even strangers, are pouring their hearts out to them."
The vigil will also give the people around Carol's home an opportunity to show their support and give thanks to the searchers.
"So, we want to do it tomorrow (Wednesday) evening just to kind of symbolize our unity and our prayer for them as well.
"We're hoping that brings something to us. If that alone helps their search efforts. We're out there and praying for them."
The vigil is open to anyone who wants to lend their support to finding Carol and Tammy said people will also be able to make a donation to the search effort if they want.
Organizers are asking people to bring along their own candles. In case of bad weather the vigil will be moved inside Assumption Parish.
Meanwhile, one of the people who will be joining the search party today is Tammy's sister Juanita Young.
Young and her husband Jamie planned to leave their Edmonton home Tuesday afternoon to make the more than seven-hour drive to Saskatchewan.
"If it was me, I'd want people to do the same for me and my family," said Young of her reason for joining the search party.
"I know this is a really difficult time for the family and if there's anything that I can do, I'd wholeheartedly do it."
She also said Carol's sister Brenda, who travelled from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan to be closer to efforts to find her, is the only family member there now, so any support from people she knows will be good for her.
"It breaks my heart to see what the family is going through and I hope that we can bring Carol home to her family."
Young didn't have a lot of details about the search and said they would find everything out, including information about the area to be searched, once they arrived in Saskatchewan.
RCMP investigation continues
Cpl. Rob King of the RCMP's major crime unit's media relations department based in Regina said the search is being organized by the family and is not something the RCMP would be directly involved with.
"Our involvement and our only involvement with something like that would basically be to instruct on what to do if they find anything."
He said this would include telling searchers that if they find something to mark it, don't touch it and call the police to come and take it.
King said the investigation, which has involved officers from the major crime unit, the Rosetown detachment, forensic identification, underwater recovery team, search and rescue and dive teams, is still an active missing persons investigation.
"The point we're at now is you're investigating more the victim than anything else. And you're learning as much as you can about the habits, and the traits and the wants, wishes and desires of the victim and everything they've been doing for the past few weeks."
King said where investigators go next depends on where the information leads them and he couldn't say much on what has been learned as it could affect the integrity of the investigation.
He said the investigation won't stop until Carol is found and police are hopeful that she is still alive.
dcrocker thewesternstar.com
