HANNIBAL, MO. -- Zeus the German Shepherd has been sniffing out the missing for about a year. But he and his owner Wesley Neff aren't part of any local police force. In fact they make up their own Search and Rescue team which serves Northeast Missouri, and rural towns which don't have the resources to have one of its own.
And when it comes to a disappearance...
Neff said, "Time is of the essence."
Neff noticed a need for a local search and rescue dog out of necessity of his own.
His son, Preston has Asperger's Disorder, a form of autism and was prone to wandering off. Three years ago Preston disappeared from home. Later he was found walking along Highway 61 three miles South of Palmyra. Neff still remembers that feeling.
Neff said, "You feel sick, helpless. What are you going to do? Where did they go? Where do you start looking? You feel lost."
After that close call with his son, and with the nearest canine search team in St. Louis, he took matters into his own hands.
He purchased this German Shepherd Zeus and trained him in the fine art of sniffing down a specific person.
In fact Neff and Zeus have helped in several cases throughout the area, including a search for missing Hannibal woman Christina Whittaker three days after her disappearance last year. Unfortunately due to bad weather, the trail was cold when Zeus hit the trail.
Neff says each search is different. Some end happily, others not so much. But no matter the outcome, he says at least folks in Northeast Missouri have somewhere to turn when someone they love turns up missing.
Neff said, "I know what its like to lose a child and it hurts. People who don't know where to turn, that we can be there and help with the search to be there for encouragement and we're not going to quit looking."
Neff says he does this service in his spare time to help people.
If you'd like to learn more about Neff's dog or his free service, log onto www.nemok9sar.webs.com
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