
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 13, 1994                   TAG: 9405130124
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KIRBY, W. VA                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE POLICE USE DOG TEAMS IN SEARCH FOR BOY

State troopers, frustrated that no clues have turned up in a two-week search for a 5-year-old Virginia boy, used dog teams to scour a rugged Hampshire County mountainside Thursday.

Police said another intensive search would begin Saturday.

"He could still be there and until we have information that he's not there, we will continue to look in the area as long as we can," said Sgt. Roger Hefner of the Petersburg detachment.

"It's a massive area and there are areas we'd like to look at again," Hefner said. "I'm not sure that you ever look close enough."

Victor D. Shoemaker of Leesburg, Va., disappeared May 1 while playing in the woods with two older cousins. A full-scale search originally was called off May 5 after more than 350 volunteers aided by heat-sensing equipment found no sign of the child.

Members of the community have continued a smaller search in the woods near the home of Shoemaker's grandfather, about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C.

Hefner said more than 100 National Guardsmen, state police and conservation officers would go back into the woods Saturday morning and search a 20 square-mile area into Sunday night.

"The purpose for the renewed effort is to expand the search area from what was accomplished last week and to search predetermined target areas along Short Mountain," he said. "There are some areas that need re-examining and a few areas that were not previously searched."

Authorities said they have not ruled out foul play but have no evidence that the child was killed or abducted.

"It's still a missing-person investigation, which encompasses a lot of different avenues," Hefner said.

Shoemaker was reportedly playing with his cousins, ages 8 and 9, when he said he wanted to go home.

His mother, Nettie Shoemaker, said Sunday that she did not think the boys were telling everything they knew, but investigators said they believed the children.

"It's extremely tough because everyone wants the same thing," Hefner said. "A missing child is like a common bond for all people in the country. Certainly, it hurts everybody."

by CNB