Volunteers gathered Thursday morning at Sherman's Herman Baker Park to look for Dustyn Martin, a 32-year-old man who has been missing since July 25. Martin had gone into the park nearly two weeks earlier, and the circumstances of his disappearance are not yet clear.
Michele White, identified as the mother of Martin's roommate, said the group was focused on locating him after earlier law enforcement efforts did not find him. "We're just desperate to find him," White said. Sherman police and K-9 teams searched trails in the park last week during a two-day effort, but Martin was not found.
White said volunteers planned to concentrate near the dam because, according to her, a scent trail had been detected across it before it ended. The volunteer effort followed the police search at the park.
Josh McCormick, an archaeologist, joined the search after finding the group on Facebook. McCormick said he lives less than a mile from the park and brought 12 years of archaeology experience to the effort, including looking for ground or other signs that may have been disturbed by someone moving through an area.
The search took place in heat approaching 100 degrees, with tall grass and rocky slopes in the park. White described Martin as quiet and kind, and neighbor Sophie Paris said volunteers planned to continue searching. "We're not going to stop," Paris said.
