Hundreds sign up to find Harrington

Hundreds of volunteers jammed into the Cavalier Inn on Thursday night to help organizers prepare for a community search for clues in last month’s disappearance of a young woman in Charlottesville.

Morgan D. Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, has been missing since she left a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena the evening of Oct. 17.

The volunteers at Thursday night’s meeting, plus any more who come forward, will spend today, Saturday and Sunday searching for clues that could lead to Harrington’s location.

“This is sort of a numbers’ game, we’re looking for the needle in the haystack,” Bob Smither, co-founder of the Laura Recovery Center for missing children, told volunteers.

The center is named for Smither’s daughter, who was abducted and murdered in 1997. His group is helping to organize the search.

Among those helping at Thursday’s meeting was Leonard W. Sandbridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the University of Virginia.

“Obviously, this is an important community effort, and one that the university is trying to support in any way that it can,” he said.

A number of leaders from law enforcement and emergency groups were present as well.

The last corroborated sighting that officials have of Harrington is a report placing her on a Copeley Road bridge at about 9:30 that Saturday night. Searchers will start from her last known position and systematically work outward, Smither said.

Harrington’s parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, were on hand for the organizing meeting but said little.

When one volunteer asked what the next step would be if the mystery remained after three days of searching, Harrington’s mother was quick to answer: a fourth day.

Smither said the three days will train volunteers to keep the search going, if that’s necessary.

“We’ve got to find something, anything we can do to help,” said Corin Dowling, 25, of Charlottesville, who was among the many who came out Thursday.

Karen Dunker and her husband, Rod, a doctor who works with Dan Harrington, were among those in the crowd.

“We just thought it was a wonderful opportunity for us to do something to help,” Karen Dunker said.

Volunteers who didn’t make it to Thursday’s meeting still are welcome to come out and help, Smither said.

Volunteers are needed for the search, as well as to perform a number of administrative and logistical tasks to support the small army that organizers hope to put in the field.

The search will be orchestrated from the Department of Forestry office at 900 Natural Resources Drive in Fontaine Research Park. That’s where volunteers may go to offer their services.

Searches must be at least 18 years old and have a photo ID.

Police timeline

All locations are for a woman or women closely matching the description of Morgan Harrington.

• Oct. 17
• 8:20-8:48 p.m. - in several areas immediately outside John Paul Jones Arena, possible including doors, and the side near University Hall.
• 8:48 - Friend calls her on cell phone, Harrington explains situation, says she’ll try to find ride home.
• 9-9:10 - Walking, with her purse, through the University Hall parking area.
• 9:10-9:20 - seen in the grassy overflow parking area at Lannigan Field.
• 9:20-9:30 - Seen on Copeley Road bridge over railroad tracks.

• Oct. 18
• Harrington’s purse is found in overflow parking area at Lannigan Field.