FBI joins search for missing Pa. college student

PHILADELPHIA -- The FBI has now joined the search for a college senior who was last seen leaving a crowded Philadelphia bar after a night out with friends.

On Sunday afternoon, police combed the frigid waters of the Manayunk Canal but came up empty in their search for 21-year-old West Chester University student Shane Montgomery.

Montgomery's parents watched from the canal bank.

Police say Montgomery was home from school and had met up with friends Wednesday night. Authorities say he became separated from them and was escorted out by a bouncer at 2 a.m. Thursday after stumbling. He hasn't been seen since.

Montgomery was kicked out of Kildaire's Irish Pub in Manayunk after bumping into a bar stool, reports CBS Philly.

It's not uncommon for the FBI's Violent Crime Task Force to get involved when someone mysteriously disappears, though it doesn't mean that a violent crime occurred, FBI Supervisory Special Agent J.J. Klaver told CBS Philly.

"It's a real challenge. Looking for video from surveillance cameras. Trying to determine from the missing the person's cell phone where they were last using the phone. Interviewing as many people as we can," Klaver told the station.

The task force is the same unit that helped locate Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, a woman whose abduction from a Philadelphia street was captured on chilling surveillance video, reports Philly.com.

Montgomery left in freezing conditions wearing a gray button-down shirt, jeans, and a hooded sweatshirt, reports Philly.com. Until Sunday, the region's temperature had stayed near freezing or below since snowfall Wednesday.

"He left his fleece-lined jacket at home," his mother, Karen, told the paper. "I saw it at the house, and it broke my heart."