Plainfield police are seeking volunteers to comb through the high weeds and dense woods of a state park near Yorkville on July 7 as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Lisa Stebic.
Stebic, a 37-year-old mother of two, was last seen by her husband, Craig, at their Plainfield home April 30.
Authorities want to search Silver Springs State Park, a nearly 1,400-acre area about 20 miles west of Plainfield, because “it’s in the vicinity of her house and it’s a place we know she and her family have been,” said Deputy Police Chief Mark Eiting.
The search was announced more than a week in advance to allow volunteers to prepare themselves for the rugged terrain — including a lake and marsh areas, scrub brush and wooded sections — and for natural hazards such as ticks, poison ivy and poison oak.
“We want people to volunteer, and we need their help, but we need them to take the necessary precautions to search the area,” Eiting said.
Volunteers are asked to meet at the Kendall County Fairgrounds’ main entrance off Highpoint Road at 9 a.m. for registration and a safety briefing.
The search, organized by police and the Plainfield Emergency Management Agency, will conclude about 2 p.m. Volunteers will be taken to and from the park because there will be no parking for searchers there, Eiting said.
Police closed off the same park earlier this month after a psychic directed friends of Stebic to search there. They uncovered bones, later determined to be from a deer.
Meanwhile, the Plainfield Jaycees, Plainfield School District 202 and the Fire Department are holding a pancake breakfast fundraiser Sunday to increase the $50,000 reward for information leading to Stebic’s whereabouts. If the reward is never claimed, the Lisa Stebic and Children’s Fund will be converted to college savings for her children, ages 10 and 12.
The fundraiser will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ira Jones Middle School, 15320 Wallin Drive in Plainfield. Organizers said Lisa Stebic’s sisters will be on hand and the CBS show “48 Hours” will be filming there.
