Law enforcement agencies conducted a ground search last week for a missing Kenai family that has not been seen or heard from since May.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the Kenai Police Department, FBI and Alaska State Troopers, along with volunteers and several other agencies, searched a wooded area to the north and east of Kenai's Wildwood Correctional Complex, police wrote in a press release.
Roughly 25 people participated in the search, looking for information regarding the disappearance of Rebecca Adams, her two children and her boyfriend, Brandon Jividen, Kenai Police Chief Gus Sandahl said.
The latest search was not the result of any new leads, police wrote. Sandahl said multiple agencies were able to coordinate their time to conduct the search together during those days, and it was intended to take advantage of changing seasons and reduced foliage in the area. Kenai police had also conducted an overflight of the area the week before.
During the search, a piece of "outerwear" was discovered in the woods, Sandahl said. Police were still evaluating whether it belonged to the missing family.
The 22-year-old Adams and her children, 5-year-old Michelle Hundley and 3-year-old Jaracca Hundley, along with boyfriend Jividen, 37, went missing in late May. The family dog is also missing. Police reported in June that there was no sign of forced entry, struggle, or "obvious signs of foul play" at the family's apartment. The couple's vehicles and belongings were still at the apartment.
Adam's sister, Lanell Adams, told the Alaska Dispatch News in June that the disappearance was out of character for her sister, who she said was a "very responsible mom."
During the first month of the investigations, the Kenai Police Department coordinated searches around the family's apartment and surrounding wooded areas, Sandahl said. After those ceased, volunteers organized searches later in the summer.
Throughout the summer and autumn officials -- "including myself," Sandahl said -- continued to search for the family during their shifts.
"Everyone ... wants to solve this mystery," he said.
Another search is planned for Thursday.
"We want to get that search in before it snows," Sandahl said. There "could be additional searches as information comes in, at any time," he added.
"We don't know what happened to them," he said. "The longer we go on with no sign of them, the greater concern ... we have."