Posted: Mar 30, 2009
Updated: Mar 30, 2009

The search for Granville County mother Kelly Morris hasn’t turned up any new leads in her disappearance, but it hasn’t been unsuccessful.

Search and rescue personnel, volunteering their time to the Morris search, decided that North Carolina needs a team that can offer rapid response to missing persons cases, equipped with digital and cellular forensic capabilities. North Carolina Search and Rescue was formed as a result. 

It's "a free service at a time when budgets are tight," said N.C. Search and Rescue CEO Nathan Huey. "It's overwhelming the amount of manpower for us to pull 30, 40, 50 people together at one time. It's just a phone call away."

The team is made up of former law enforcement officers, ex-military and coast guard personnel. They have underwater searching equipment, cadaver dogs, low flying aircraft, computer and cell phone tracking abilities, all capable of reaching a scene in a matter of hours.

It’s all volunteer work. Team member Allen Frazier says the personal gratification of helping find a missing person, or a wanted fugitive, is payment enough.

The full scale operation is ready for duty, ready to help reunite a family, or close a case... once they get the call from law enforcement.