5/4/98
ATHENS, Ohio -- Forty law enforcement officers and friends and family of Keith Noble, an Ohio University freshman missing for more than a week, searched the Hocking River, city streets, garages and backyards, but turned up no new evidence of Noble's whereabouts, according to Ohio University Police Chief Ted Jones.
Noble was last seen at a party at 171 W. Washington St., Athens, about 1:10 a.m. Saturday, April 25.
University and Athens City Police officers were meeting and reviewing the case Monday, Jones said.
"We are continuing to try to find people who saw Keith prior to the party," Jones said. "We are trying to identify a location where he was after the party."
South Western Ohio Search and Rescue Inc., a non-profit volunteer organization from Centerville, Ohio, provided nine dogs trained to sniff for human body odors. Areas of the city's west side were searched Saturday by officers on foot and the dogs with trained handlers searched along the Hocking River, Jones said.
A search dog showed an interest in an area near the river beneath the Richland Avenue bridge, and a Campbell County (Kentucky) Water Rescue team of divers searched the area. The river near the bridge was also dredged by officers in a boat Sunday. A State Highway Patrol helicopter flew over the river Sunday, employing an infrared thermal imaging technique that detects body heat, Jones said.
"Right now, the search and rescue units continue to make themselves available and if we get some additional information that allows us to focus on a specific location we will resume the search," Jones said.
Noble's father Keith Noble has been staying with other family members in a residence hall and said he plans to stay through the week. There has been no activity in the missing student's bank account or phone credit card, his father said. Family members and student volunteers on Friday also searched university residence halls and surrounding areas.
"There is nothing, just nothing that points in any direction," the father said. "There is no evidence that he might have just taken off, but you can't rule anything out."
Posters with Noble's photograph, description and statement announcing a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the discovery of Noble's whereabouts have been posted across campus and the city.
Noble is a graduate of Worthington Kilbourne High and still has many friends in Worthington that have joined with family members in creating the Keith Noble Recovery Fund. Donations may be sent to Fifth Third Bank in Columbus or by contacting Ron Shoemaker at (614) 846-0710. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Noble should contact the Ohio University Police Department at (740) 593-1911.