N.C. dad wants more resources to find missing daughter, 18

BOONE, N.C. - A North Carolina man whose daughter has been missing from Appalachian State University for over a week wants more resources put into the search.

Multiple media outlets reported that Dan Smith said more needs to be done to find 18-year-old Anna Smith, a freshman who was last seen the night of Sept. 3.

Smith told The Charlotte Observer that if the governor's child was missing, he doesn't think the search would have taken so long. He said he drove up to his daughter's dormitory in Boone on the night she went missing, only a few days after she came home to High Point and told her parents she had been attacked off-campus Aug. 27 after a night out with friends.

"I have been living a nightmare that nobody can pen," Smith said Thursday. "I have been in hell since I got to this campus."

Rev. Dana McKim, who has been acting as spokesman for the family, told the paper Anna was anguished after being attacked, and had only a hazy recollection of the incident. She did not report it to police and returned to campus after speaking with her parents.

Dan Smith said he got the feeling he needed to drive to see his daughter - even before he knew she was missing - because of parental intuition. "I'm her dad. She needed me," he said. "I needed her."

Family, friends and volunteers have been searching for Anna, who took a backpack and a red leather purse when she last left her dorm.

The Observer reports the Appalachian State University Police Department said they learned Thursday about the Aug. 27 assault. "During the course of the investigation, no evidence was found to suggest a sexual assault had occurred," the department said in a statement. "Investigators identified and interviewed a number of people who had contact with [Anna] and who might have information about her whereabouts.... Those interviews produced no conclusive information regarding an assault."

Police said they have also examined Anna's laptop and cellphone for clues.

Her last message to her parents had occurred the night of Sept. 1 on Facebook and read "I love you."