Volunteers Use Helicopter in Search for Corrie Anderson

April 27, 2009

The search for Corrie Anderson, a 36-year-old mother of three who disappeared in October 2008, took to the skies in Chautauqua County, N. Y. yesterday, when a group of searchers (click photo to enlarge) boarded a Robinson R44 helicopter and shot photos of the area from above.

The group consisted of Bill Jones, a pilot from H&L Enterprises; Corrie's cousin, Chris Keefe; local photographer Amy Hudson; Post-Journal reporter/photographer Robert Rizzuto; 3 View Search Services team member Walter Perkowski; and Investigation Discovery's David Lohr.

Using high-resolution digital cameras, the group hovered at 500 to 3,000 feet over several areas of interest in the case, and they took some 1,000 photos of the landscape. Those images will be uploaded to a computer at the Aerial Image Corporation in the Purdue Research Park. There, experts will digitally enhance and filter the photos in an attempt to identify anything that looks out of place, such as shapes that might be a body or a new dig site.

The same technology has been successful in other missing person cases, including the search for 36-year-old Charles Rickey - a man who went missing in Carmel, Ind., two years ago. In that case, the search team knew that Rickey was wearing a blue jacket and blue jeans, so they used a computerized photo imaging system to make the color blue in the pictures show up as red. As a result, they were able to locate Rickey's remains in a quarry near 96th St. and the Hazel Dell Pkwy.

Corrie's family is now hoping that the same technology can be used to help them determine what happened to their missing loved one.

"We're crossing our fingers," Corrie's cousin Laurie Keefe told Investigation Discovery. "Hopefully these images can put some pieces of the puzzle together for us."

Meanwhile, Sean Henady, founder of 3 View Search Services, is expected to return to the area within the next two weeks to conduct a sonar search of local waterways. In addition to that search, Corrie's family is planning a second community search, to be announced in the near future. Anyone interested in helping can visit the family's Web site, www.findcorrie.com, or join an Internet group devoted to the case located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/findcorrie.

Corrie Anderson was last seen about 1:10 p.m., on Oct.28, 2008, when she visited her boyfriend at the Lake County Dodge dealership on Washington Street in Jamestown.

Family members reported Corrie missing at about 3:45 p.m. that day, when she failed to show up at her son's school for a meeting. Corrie's blue Dodge Caravan, New York license number CX404, was also missing; however items found at Corrie's house suggest she had made it home some time prior to her disappearance.

On Oct. 30, 2008, a hunter discovered Corrie's car abandoned at a gas well off Kortwright Road in the town of Busti. The location is approximately two miles from Corrie's house. State police recovered the vehicle from the field, and sent it to Batavia for forensic testing.

That night, the New York State Police searched the Celoron, N.Y. home of Corrie's estranged husband, Kenneth Anderson. Investigators reportedly questioned Anderson for several hours; however, what – if anything – they learned is unknown, as the state police has denied a FOIA request for copies of the search warrant.

Police have not called Kenneth Anderson a suspect or person of interest in Corrie's disappearance.

Corrie Anderson is 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, with green eyes and blond hair. She was last seen wearing black corduroy pants, a black leather jacket, and small wire-rimmed glasses.  In addition, her keys and purse are also missing. Her purse is described as black, 8” x 8” square, with a G.H. Bass & Company logo.

A $15,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Corrie's whereabouts. Anyone with information is asked to call the New York State Police at (716) 665-3113.

Related Link:
Investigation Discovery: Full Coverage: Corrie Anderson

Photo Credit: Group photo: Chris Keefe; Group in helicopter: Walter Perkowski; Helicopter: David Lohr; Corrie Anderson: Contributed

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