SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - 59-year-old Michael Schmidt has been missing for a total of 26 days and Missing Person Awareness Network has been searching for this man since June 10.
About 17 volunteers showed up the 7600 block of Vigal Rd and were there as early as 10 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
The president of Missing Person Awareness Network says that they have still not received a sonar from locals but she was able to purchase an underwater camera. The group did not get a chance to use it due to the mud surrounding the area but will be using it on tomorrow's search.
When asked why this case was different from other cases, one member said,
"There's so much land here. We don't know if he is in water or on land. We don't know exactly where he is at. We just know the details as to where he went into the woods," said vice president Tabatha Fickas.
 The group has been informing their followers that there is a lack of volunteers and are questioning why more people, fire crews, and police crews are searching vigorously with them.
WAND spoke with Pawnee Fire Department volunteers about the comments
"We got contacted by Missing Person Awareness group and we told them we could probably provide an ambulance and any manpower we could assist....Primarily our emergencies are 9-1-1 calls. So medical calls for fires, vehicle crashes, things like that. Unless we're contacted by the Sheriff's office or the dispatch system that's usually how we get to places--we're trying to change the priority" said Shawn Burnely.
The group did say Sangamon County Sheriff's office has been searching every day and are grateful that Pawnee Fire Department along with volunteers have showed up.
During the searches, a few items were located, but it is unknown if they belonged to Schmidt.
