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Cryptic calls lead to search for 3 women
Tue Nov 3, 2009 /
US
Authorities conducted ground and air searches Tuesday for three softball players at a North Dakota university who have been missing since Sunday, police said.
Kyrstin Gemar, 22, Afton Williamson, 20, and Ashley Neufeld, 21, all students at Dickinson State University, were last seen about 10:45 p.m. Sunday, according to CNN affiliate KXMB. A friend of theirs told authorities she later received a phone call from them in which they mentioned water and were hysterical. The cell phone call came through a tower that was five miles northeast of Dickinson, KXMB said. Several airplanes were flying Tuesday over the rural area where the women are thought to be, said Dickinson, North Dakota, police officer Thomas Grosz. In addition, he told CNN, the Dickinson Rural Fire Department had divers searching a nearby lake. Grosz said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that authorities believe the women might have gone out to the lake to stargaze. That would not have been out of the ordinary, Gemar's father, Lenny, said on "Good Morning America." Dickinson, he said, is a "pretty small town" without an active nightlife. He said the young women were known to go out to the lake to stargaze and chat. He said there were two calls to the friend, both of which ended abruptly, but police at this point do not believe foul play was involved. "It comes across as sounding more like an accident of some kind," he said. University officials are planning an afternoon news conference Tuesday, spokeswoman Connie Walter told CNN. Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy told KXMB that all three of the girls have cell phones, but the phones were going straight to voice mail. The Stark County Sheriff's Department referred questions to Dickinson police Tuesday. Williamson and Gemar are from California, while Neufeld is from Canada, according to KXMB. They were driving a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California tags.Dickinson is just under 100 miles west of Bismarck, North Dakota.
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