Search party for missing Caruthersville woman set for Saturday

Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the meeting place for the search party.

After days without a sighting of Michele Bell, her family members are organizing a search party this Saturday in the hopes of locating the missing Caruthersville, Missouri, woman.

The search party will meet 10 a.m. Saturday at the Interstate 55 exit to Joiner, Arkansas, where Bell’s car was found and she was last seen.

The missing woman’s uncle, Robert Chandler, said he and his wife were the first ones to locate the vehicle Monday night and notify Arkansas authorities.

“Mississippi County [Sheriff’s Department in Arkansas] came out that night and met us at the car, and I called some family members ... which I was kind of hesitant on, because I was hoping they’d bring a [K-9 unit] down there or something,” said Chandler, who lives in Kennett, Missouri. “It was dark, raining, and cold with the wind blowing where it was just hard to do anything.”

Every day since, Chandler said he and his wife have continued to search the area with help from other family members.

He estimated they have covered about a 5-mile radius from where her car was found, and described the area near exit 35 as “barren” with nothing nearby other than fields and a few farmhouses.

“She’s definitely not a nature person where you might think she could survive in the wilderness, or the woods, or a field for three or four days,” Chandler said. “That’s just not her, she wouldn’t even feel right walking out in the woods.”

An endangered person advisory issued Tuesday afternoon by the Missouri State Highway Patrol stated Bell is “suffering from mental illness and has been hallucinating,” which Chandler said was unprecedented for his niece.

“She’s never had any incidents of mental illness or schizophrenia,” he said. “She’s never had any kind of drug problem or been in any kind of trouble ... but something happened to her, and we just don’t know what it could have been. That’s what makes it so hard.”

Michele BellPhoto submitted by Missouri State Highway Patrol

Michele BellPhoto submitted by Missouri State Highway Patrol

The missing persons case is being investigated by the Caruthersville Police Department, but the search near where Bell’s vehicle was found is led by the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Department in Arkansas.

The missing 36-year-old woman has been described to be 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing 105 pounds with blonde hair, green eyes and a light complexion.

Chandler said all are welcome to assist in the search, and he will post photos to Facebook of the locations he and his wife have already searched.

“If she can read this, we just want her to contact any police agency or call 911 anywhere she’s at and we’ll get to her. All of her family is concerned, and her boys are really concerned.”