Hundreds join search for missing Purdue student- Wade Steffy(BODY FOUND)

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Hundreds joins search for missing Purdue student

Jan 19, 2007 07:12 AM
   Purdue student search, second day
West Lafayette -  The search is widening for a missing college student who disappeared from campus. Hundreds of volunteers teamed up with trained searchers to look for clues that could lead them to the Purdue freshman.

At Purdue they're searching for a friend and for a son.

"It was good to get out. (I) feel I was doing something for awhile," said Dale Steffey, father of missing freshman Wade Steffey, now missing 6 days.

The 19-year-old National Merit Scholar and cross country runner at Bloomington South is on a full aviation scholarship at Purdue.

"Today (Thursday) every building was searched, every tunnel searched," said Jean Norberg with Purdue public relations. "We had more than 300 people come, more than we could even accommodate."

Volunteers from on and off campus assisted in the search.

"We went into garages and looked in the back of cars," said one student searcher who lives in Wade's building. "...all the way thru the woods. Didn't really find much there, unfortunately."

Steffey went to dinner in the Ford Dining Hall on Stadium Drive about 8:00 p.m. last Friday. After dinner he stopped to withdraw $50 from an ATM in the lobby. Then it was on to a Fraternity House Party.

full story........
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5959795&nav=menu188_2

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Search Continues for Missing Purdue Student

Jan 19, 2007 10:10 AM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A search helicopter was in the air Thursday night stepping up efforts to find a missing Purdue University student.

Nineteen-year-old Wade Steffey was last seen at a fraternity party late Friday night. The investigation originally showed he may have been at an ATM following the party. The trip to the ATM was actually earlier in the evening.

People sat elbow to elbow, lined the walls and listened to search strategies, all hoping to find Steffey. He was a straight "A" student who friends say never skipped class.

Steffey was last seen at the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity party on the northwest part of campus, either late Friday night or into early Saturday morning.

An officer involved in the investigation said, "The last time Wade was seen was at a fraternity party at 900 David Ross Road.

continued.......
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5959741&nav=0Ra7

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Missing student's parents will take plea to 'Good Morning America' Saturday
JOURNAL AND COURIER

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Dale and Dawn Steffey, the parents of missing Purdue University student Wade S. Steffey, will appear on "Good Morning America" Saturday.

Dale Steffey said his son could be anywhere now that he's been missing for six days.

"He could be in any part of the country or the world in this day and age," Dale Steffey said.

The parents are requesting that people all over the country keep an eye out for their son.

"Time's really important in this," Dale Steffey said. "It's just been too long."

"You always see these things from the outside. They happen to somebody else. Then it happens to you, and it's just a nightmare."

Steffey is a 19-year-old male, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 150 pounds. He has short brown hair and brown eyes.

Steffey was last seen wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt with blue stripes and light-colored blue jeans.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call the Purdue University Police Department at (765) 494-8221 or the anonymous tip line at (765) 496-3784.

http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070119/NEWS01/70119016

[Red]

Wade S. Steffey, 19, Purdue University Student Missing Since January 13

http://missingexploited.com/2007/01/19/wade-s-steffey-19-purdue-university-student-missing-since-january-13/

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Volunteers Search For Missing Purdue Student's Cell     
Purdue University authorities are recruiting volunteers to search a section of campus Saturday for a cell phone belonging to a missing freshman.

Purdue students have organized a prayer vigil this afternoon for 19 year old Wade Steffey of Bloomington. He was last seen a week ago leaving a fraternity party on the West Lafayette campus.

A Purdue spokeswoman says police plan to ask those attending the vigil to assist in the effort to determine Steffey's whereabouts. Many of the vigil attendees will be asked to help distribute flyers, while a smaller group will be organized to help search for the cell phone.

The location of the cell phone belonging has been narrowed down to a section of campus that included the location of the frat party. Investigators hope finding it will provide clues to Steffey's whereabouts.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated: January 20, 2007, 6:48 pm

http://www.fox28.com/News/index.php?ID=12065

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K9s assist in search for missing Purdue student

By BETH STUTSMAN
bstutsman@journalandcourier.com

A K9 search and rescue team was brought to Purdue University today to search the campus for any clues to a missing Purdue student's disappearance.

This was the fourth time police have used specially trained dogs to search the campus for signs of Wade S. Steffey, a Purdue freshman from Bloomington. Steffey has been missing since Jan. 13.

"They're going to double check and triple check," said Capt. John Cox of the Purdue University Police Department. "We don't want to miss anything.

The dogs searched the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, which is currently under construction, around noon today. Cox said the David Ross Road area, the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, Ross-Ade Stadium and Purdue's golf course would be searched later today as well.

Today, Purdue University police expanded the search for the missing 19-year-old freshman to including support from area police agencies, the Purdue News Service reported this morning.

Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Indiana State Police, as well as the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have each provided one or more officers to help, bringing the total of reinforcements to 16, said Jeanne Norberg, university spokeswoman.

Steffey's information also has been added to the database for the National Center for Missing Adults as well as that for missing children, and he will be featured on a free Webcast concert on Saturday sponsored by GINA for Missing Persons, a nonprofit project of the National Heritage Foundation.

full article.....
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS09/70123011

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Purdue has alot of rules and regulations on hazing, as do many universities due to so many incidents of injury and/or death related to such activities. I wonder if Mr Steffy was somehow the vicitim of such an incident?

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Purdue suspends Delta Chi for hazing violations
http://www.lafayette-online.com/news/purdue/newsfiles/EEuFEVupVkKhWMANmv.shtml

Hazing leads to probation for 3 student organizations
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/2005/050420.Malavenda.discipln.html

   
Purdue suspends Delta Tau Delta for hazing
http://tinyurl.com/34zn4s

Investigation spurs fraternity probation
http://www.purdueexponent.org/2002/01/22/campus/index.html

Sigma Phi Epsilon suspended for hazing violation
http://www.lafayette-online.com/news/purdue/newsfiles/EEuEyAkZApcMSJqCYq.shtml

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Crews To Probe River In Search For Missing Student

POSTED: 6:39 am EST January 25, 2007

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Investigators will use boats to search the Wabash River on Thursday as they look for a missing Purdue University student.

The search is widening for Wade Steffey, 19, a freshman from Bloomington, 6News' Julie Pursley reported.

Police have a new map of where Steffey's cell phone was last tracked. The new information indicates the area is larger than originally thought, extending north and east of Ross-Ade stadium.

The Wabash River has been searched before, but water has receded since the previous search.

Steffey was last seen after leaving a fraternity party just after midnight Jan. 13. His cell phone continued to emit a signal for five days after he disappeared.

Investigators will also employ an Indiana State Police helicopter to search from the air if weather permits.

More than 700 volunteers have joined in the massive search over the last week-and-a-half. Police are asking anyone who might have seen something, or found someone's personal effects, such as clothing or a wallet, to call Purdue police at 765-494-8221 or an anonymous tip line at 765-496-3784.

Steffey has short brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/10841474/detail.html

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River, ground searches continue for missing student

By JOE GERRETY
jgerrety@journalandcourier.com
January 26, 2007

Eric Shaw and Chris Shaff, a couple of sheetmetal workers with no particular connection to Purdue University, spent most of Thursday morning with a group of other volunteers scouring the woods between the Celery Bog Nature Center and Cumberland Avenue.

They were searching for signs of Wade S. Steffey, a Purdue student who hasn't been seen or heard from since Jan. 13.

"We've both lived here our whole lives, and it's strange that someone would up and vanish," Shaw said. "If it was my kid, I'd want someone helping me."

After a quick lunch at the Wade Steffey Volunteer Center on campus, the pair headed back out to comb the ravines around Happy Hollow Park. Their quest: "Anything out of the ordinary," Shaw said.

Anna Hirst, a coordinator at the volunteer center, said about 15 volunteers were out Thursday afternoon -- most of them searching residential areas north and west of campus for Steffey's Verizon cell phone.

"Anyone that lives in the area, just go out and search your own property," Hirst urged.

At the same time that volunteers were doing ground searches near campus, conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources were in boats on the Wabash River, where receding floodwaters were exposing more riverbank by the hour.

Officers Ryan Blackman and Todd Pekny spotted a bald eagle Thursday morning during a two-hour boat search of the river banks between Mascouten and Davis Ferry parks.

But neither they nor the four other Indiana DNR officers who scanned the riverbanks and inlets found anything related to Steffey's disappearance.

>>>>>> Full Article
    http://tinyurl.com/2sffe6

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Article published Jan 28, 2007
Helicopter, dogs used in search for student

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Sweeps by search dogs and a helicopter on Friday turned up no signs of a Purdue University freshman, and investigators said they had no evidence of any connection between his disappearance nearly two weeks ago and a reported campus assault.

Police officers and volunteers found nothing linked to 19-year-old Wade Steffey of Bloomington, including his cell phone that was traced last week to the vicinity of the Purdue campus before its signal died, Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said.

Steffey was last seen after a party at the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity house on the north side of campus early Jan. 13. He was reported missing after friends returned from the school's three-day break for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and could not find him.

Police said Friday investigators had found inconsistencies in a student's account of an assault he said happened late Jan 12 near a residence hall where Steffey had been seen.

http://tinyurl.com/22l5wz

[MsVada]

Thats what I had originally thought BB,  a hazing gone bad.

I hope this kid will finally tell what he might know about the incident.

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Dead body found along Wabash; police say it's not the missing student

STAFF REPORTS

Police say they have found a dead body near the Wabash Heritage Trail, south of the West Lafayette sewage treatment plant along South River Road.

But police say they don't believe it is Wade Steffey, a Purdue University freshman who has been missing since Jan. 13.

West Lafayette, Purdue, Tippecanoe County and numerous other police were on the scene along the Wabash River at 4 p.m. today.

"It's not who everybody's been looking for," said Deputy Chief John Walker of the West Lafayette Police Department.

Lt. Steve Kohne, a detective with Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department, also confirmed this afternoon that the body is not that of Steffey.

Kohne declined to say why police don't believe the body is that of Steffey.

No other details, including gender or estimated age, were available on the scene. Further questions were being referred to the county coroner's office

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/NEWS0901/70130022

[klaasend]

Geeze - wonder who it is?

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Not sure.......

>>>>>>SNIPPED

The man, who is in his 30s, had been there for no more than 24 hours, he said.

Avolt said he believes he knows how the man died, but declined to release the information.

"His death is not suspicious," he said.

Police were at the scene for about 90 minutes Tuesday. They blocked off access to the trail on both South River Road and near Tapawingo Park.

>>>>The Full Article
http://tinyurl.com/29jkq4

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Another student missing; case not tied to Steffey, Purdue says

By SOPHIA VORAVONG
Another Purdue University student has been reported missing - though school officials say there is no apparent connection to the disappearance of freshman Wade S. Steffey.

Doctoral student Eric M. Campbell, 33, of Avilla was last seen Jan. 18 in El Paso, Texas, where investigators determined he purchased an airline ticket to fly back home.

His luggage arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport, but authorities have found no evidence that he ever boarded the plane, according to university spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg.

"It is puzzling that he didn't come back," she said Tuesday.

Norberg said Campbell flew to El Paso on Jan. 12 to go to a wedding in Juarez, Mexico, over the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. A female friend in Mexico told Purdue police, who are assisting Texas authorities in the investigation, that he returned to the United States on Jan. 15.

"That's the last we know of him, as far as what friends and relatives know," public information officer Javier Sambrano of the El Paso Police Department said.

Steffey, 19, disappeared the same weekend and was last seen early Jan. 13 on the north end of the West Lafayette campus. Steffey has been the subject of a massive search by police and volunteers over the past two weeks.

But "the timelines are different," Norberg said. "We want people to know - especially given the Wade Steffey case - that although this missing person's report has been filed, it is not related."

Campbell, who earned both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue, recently enrolled this semester in the industrial technology education program.

He had been working as an engineer in Mexico.

Faculty alerted Purdue police when Campbell did not return to campus, Norberg said.

Sambrano said the missing person's report was made to his department on Jan. 26. It is being investigated by detectives with the Pebble Hills Regional Command division.

They plan to contact Mexican authorities through a department liaison, he said.

He did not know whether investigators have spoken to the friend who picked Campbell up from the airport or who drove him back.

El Paso - from just about any point in the city - is about 10 to 15 minutes to Juarez, Sambrano said, with three international bridges into Mexico.

Norberg said Campbell's mother told police that she has not heard from her son.
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/NEWS0901/70130030

[MsVada]

it just gets curiouser and curiouser.

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Student Hinders Missing Persons Case

Feb 10, 2007 02:49 PM

WST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Police say a Purdue University student who told police he was mugged by three strangers the same night a classmate disappear made up the story.

Nineteen-year-old, Timothy Collins III, faces a false reporting charge.

Police say his false statement hindered the investigation into Wade Steffey's January 12th disappearance.

Steffey was last seen leaving a party at the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity House.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6068344&nav=0Ra7

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Families make plea for missing persons bill

March 13, 2007 06:51 PM

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6220727&nav=menu188_2

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New technology used for search of missing Purdue student

March 18, 2007 07:58 PM

West Lafayette, Ind. - A search Sunday afternoon organized by IN Hope for missing Purdue University student Wade Steffey yielded no new clues to his disappearance.

The 19-year-old disappeared from a frat party more than two months ago.

Sunday, family and friends searched again in the area around the West Lafayette campus, including the area near State Road 26.

A high-tech aircraft also took thousands of pictures of the area to help in the search.

That technology was also used to find Chuck Rickey just last week.

He died when he crashed his pick-up truck after watching the Super Bowl at a northside bar.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6243709&nav=9Tai