BRATTLEBORO — Another search is scheduled this weekend to find missing 17-year-old Marble Arvidson.
Next week, a candlelight vigil will mark the 30 days since the area youth disappeared.
“The family is envisioning a quiet gathering on the Brattleboro Common on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m.,” according to Trish Kittredge, aunt and coordinator of the search for the missing teen.
“All are welcome to come,” she said. “It will be an opportunity for people to speak about Marble and come together as a community to send out good thoughts to him, wherever he may be.”
The mood of the 110-plus people who participated this past weekend in the ground search “Hike for a Cause” was serious and somber, and yet still optimistic, according to Kittredge.
“People were so supportive,” she said. “There is this feeling of the community wanting to pull together to help in all possible directions to come to a resolution. We still don't know if he was kidnapped, left with this unknown friend, or is the victim of foul play.”
Kittredge said that the police continue to pursue all possible leads.
“We're grateful for the public's ongoing support and their help this past weekend,” she said.
Based on last weekend's success, another search is being organized this weekend for both Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 a.m. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Chelsea Royal Diner parking lot in West Brattleboro.
A group of professional scouts and their search dogs will be participating, while volunteers will be hiking in another area. Techniques will be taught to those over the age of 18.
Organizers ask those participating to bring cameras, cell phones, orange vests, and sturdy shoes. Volunteers are also needed to assist at the information booths, with poster hanging, and with continuing door-to-door searches.
“Now that we have a a solid base,” Kittridge said, “we could manage more people participating, and we are hoping for an even larger crowd this weekend,” she said.
Those unable to attend can also assist the family in the search by donating funds toward the supplies necessary to conduct their search efforts.
Checks can be mailed to: Find Marble, P.O. Box 882, Brattleboro, VT 05302, or donations can be made online via the search effort's website.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent an investigator and a search and rescue specialist to Brattleboro this past weekend to offer their services to the family and to the Brattleboro Police Department.
Police are still hoping that the male who last saw Marble the Saturday afternoon he disappeared will come forward.
“That person is not wanted for anything other than information,” Kittredge said.
“He could be helpful to us in defining our search, and we do so hope that he will find the courage to come forward and tell us what he knows,” she said.
A reward of $1,000 is available for information that will help the family find Marble.
“Someone out there must know something,” Kittredge said.