The parents of missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington emotionally pleaded for the return of their daughter Wednesday while announcing the formation of a volunteer search party to be organized over the weekend.
Harrington has been missing since Oct. 17, when she disappeared in Charlottesville while attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.
The search party, which will be organized from Nov. 6-8, will be coordinated through the local police along with the Laura Recovery Center, a Texas-based foundation created to recover missing children.
“This community search party is aimed at augmenting the current action of the police force,” said Dan Harrington, Morgan’s father.
Morgan’s mother Gil Harrington held back tears as she made an appeal for Morgan’s return.
“She has so much more to live, and so much more to give,” Gil Harrington said. “We need her.”
Dan Harrington encouraged the community to step forward with more leads in the case.
“We will stop at nothing until she is found,” he said. “We are eternally grateful for any additional support the community can offer in helping bring Morgan home.”
Morgan’s parents were joined at the conference by Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted in 2002. The then 14-year-old Smart was found alive nine months later approximately 18 miles from her home in Salt Lake City.
Smart contacted the Harrington family Tuesday to offer his support in the case.
“Everyone knows that this is something that no parent chooses to have happen to them,” Smart said. “They have met this head-on, and they are trying to do their best to keep the awareness out there to find Morgan.”
Police also contributed some additional information about the drive Harrington made with her friends to the concert. Harrington and one friend first drove to Harrisonburg to pick up two friends at James Madison University before going to Charlottesville.
Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said that while Harrington’s car was driven to Charlottesville, Harrington was notthe driver, adding that when Morgan was separated from her friends she did not have the car’s keys.
Harrington, who left her friends to find a bathroom, ended up outside the arena between 8:20 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Circling around the arena, Harrington spoke to her friends by cell phone at 8:48 p.m., where she let her friends know she would find a ride home. Going through several parking lots around the arena, Harrington was last seen at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Copeley Road Bridge.
Harrington, 20 years old, has long blond hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with tan letters that read “Pantera” across the front, a black mini skirt with black tights and knee-high black boots.
With a contribution of $50,000 from the band Metallica and $41 from the United Way of Roanoke, the reward offered through the Jefferson Area Crime Stoppers now totals $150,041.
An informational session for the search party will take place in the Jefferson Room of Charlottesville’s Cavalier Inn at 7 p.m. tonight, with the search beginning at 9 a.m. Friday.
Search party volunteers must provide photo identification and be at least 18 years old.