Jason Tarr
This is a breaking news story. Please check back frequently for updates.
9:00 p.m. UPDATE
The search for 15-year-old Justin Lewis has been suspended for the evening but will resume again in the morning, according to a release from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.
The release shows about 50 people, including family, friends, local Volunteer Fire Departments, Pennington County Search and Rescue, The Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Forest Service, DCI, Rapid City/Pennington County Water Rescue Team, South Dakota Game Fish and Parks, the Red Cross, Pennington County Emergency Management, and the Pennington County Sheriff's Office have been involved in the search up to this point.
The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone that may have been in the area of Deerfield Lake on Monday, May 28, 2012, and see Justin to please contact the Sheriff's Office at 605-394-6115 or 605-394-2151.
5:30 p.m. UPDATE:
Crews continued to search Tuesday evening at Deerfield Lake for Justin Lewis, 15, who went missing after a kayaking outing Monday.
At about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, crews launched a high-tech sonar patrol boat to aid in the search. About 70 volunteers, including about 30 people who are family and friends were assisting, said Tammy Stadel, an Assistant Team Leader with Pennington County Search and Rescue.
Family-friend Jodi Wooldridge of Hill City says the volunteers began early in the morning Tuesday going out with groups on grid searches. She says they equipped some of the searchers with GPS to make sure they weren't looking in the same area twice.
Wooldridge, who is a mother of five, says going out on the searches has been difficult but she and others have been powered by their motivation to find Lewis.
"Justin is kind of the baby of the bunch," Wooldridge said. "A lot of us have kids and Justin's our baby. We're all out here because we are going to find him."
Crews on foot and on ATV's have been scouring an area of shoreline they have pinpointed as a place Lewis might have gone.
They identified that area because a man who lives nearby the lake saw Lewis kayaking there Monday afternoon. The man was on Deerfield Road but recognized Lewis' bright-blue Kayak and his clothing. He is probably the last person to see Lewis, Incident Commander Greg Foster of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office said.
That's also the general area where Search and Rescue Crews found Lewis' kayak at about 4:55 a.m. Tuesday. The kayak was filled with water.
The area is between the Mountain City Picnic Ground and Deerfield Cove.
The Civil Air Patrol is assisting from the sky and flew twice Tuesday. For the Civil Air Patrol officers and cadets, this mission hits really close to home.
"It's a little tough for them in that the missing person is a civil air patrol cadet," said B. Thomas Marking, a Lieutenant Colonel with the South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. "We all know him pretty well so we are all just hoping it turns out really well but we'll stay with it as long we have to."
Marking says Lewis was a cadet with the Custer Unit of the Civil Air Patrol, spending between three and four years in the program. He says as part the program, Lewis has wilderness search and rescue training that could help him in this situation.
Lewis is also an experienced kayaker, friends of the family said. This was the second time he's been out on the lake already this season and he spent many days out on the lake last year, Foster said.
Crews say the search is a challenge because of the rugged terrain which was even more rough Tuesday after rain and wind hit the area Monday. They say it's also a remote area with poor communications reception.
But crews say they will search throughout the evening, reevaluating their efforts based on the weather conditions, Stadel said.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office is looking for the public's help to find a missing boy.
Justin Lewis, 15, was last seen in the Deerfield Lake area Monday afternoon with a bright blue kayak, a bottle of water and a life jacket.
According to police, Lewis was dropped off at the lake Monday, May 28, 2012, between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m., he was supposed to meet up with his mother between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m but never showed up.
The kayak was located in the lake, filled with water, at 4:55 Tuesday morning.
Justin is described as a white male, 5' 8, about 155 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a blue flannel shirt, blue jeans, U.S. Coast Guard ball cap.
Anyone with information should contact the Sheriff's Office at (605) 394-6115 or 394-2151.
© Photo Courtesy Pennington County Sheriff's Office
