Search For Missing Vermont Student Goes On

Baffled despite three days of intensive searching and interviews, investigators probing the disappearance of a University of Vermont senior dispatched volunteers Wednesday to look for clues in the area where she was last seen.

About two dozen people combed the hill section of the city in search of the gray pea coat, green cardigan sweater and black purse that 21-year-old Michelle Gardner-Quinn was wearing when she vanished early Saturday on her way home from a night out with friends.

"We still remain hopeful Michelle will be located," said Police Chief Thomas Tremblay.

Gardner-Quinn, of Arlington, Va., was reported missing after failing to show up for a dinner date with her parents, who were in Burlington for parents' weekend at the university.

Search warrants were executed Tuesday at a home in nearby Richmond, but no one who lives there is considered a suspect in Gardner-Quinn's disappearance, Tremblay said.

"This search was done in conjunction with this investigation. It should be stressed this is one avenue of investigation being pursued, in addition to many others," he said.

"They're always very nice, very friendly. They play with my dog. They play with the kids. They have grandchildren of their own all over the place and they are nice neighbors," a neighbor told CBS affiliate WCAX-TV.

Investigators were still appealing for help from the public and seeking to rule out as suspects any people who had seen the woman Friday night or early Saturday, when she headed back to her dormitory room after celebrating a friend's birthday at downtown bars.

There is no indication she was drunk when she was last seen, Tremblay said Wednesday.

A "random guy" who was last seen with Gardner-Quinn by friends has not been ruled out as a suspect, Tremblay said. He would not identify the man or say whether he had any links to the Richmond house.

Attempting to reunite with the friends she had been with, Gardner-Quinn borrowed a cellular telephone from the man to make a call and walked with him up Main Street, towards campus, friends told the Burlington Free Press.

"Until we're satisfied we have eliminated folks who had contact with her, we're not going to be down that avenue of the investigation," Tremblay said.

The investigation also included a white Subaru-style hatchback seen in the vicinity of where Gardner-Quinn was last seen. Police have said a man in a car meeting that description attempted to lure a woman into the car less than an hour after Gardner-Quinn was last seen.

A composite sketch of that man is in the works, Tremblay said.

University of Vermont President Daniel Fogel said in a campuswide e-mail that police and security patrols had been increased on campus and in dormitories and all "campus life safety systems" had been tested and found to be operating.

"As this very serious situation continues to unfold, I write to express both the university's distress about an apparent threat to one of our own, and our firm resolve to do all we can to assist the ongoing investigation, support the family, and keep our community fully informed," Fogel wrote.

About 150 people turned out for a candlelight vigil at the university on Tuesday. One sign read, "I Am Scared," and another one read, "Somebody saw something. Spread the word. We want Michelle back."

"It's sad," said friend Abby Carpenter, 20, of Greenwich, Conn., crying as she held a lighted white candle. "I wish they could find her."