Lee Cutler Missing since 10/20/07 from Buffalo Grove, IL
18 year old Lee Cutler has been missing since October 20, 2007 from Buffalo, IL when he was last seen Saturday morning when he dropped off a friend after a Friday night birthday party in his hometown.
“There was no precipitating event with family or with friends. Frankly we are all sort of flatfooted and shocked,” said family friend Daniel de Garzia, spokesman for the family.
The sheriff’s department found Cutler’s 2007 Toyota Corolla on Monday parked near a wayside on Highway 33 in the Town of Fairfield.
Investigators said that they have recovered a blanket and backpack belonging to the teen near the Baraboo River. They searched along the river on Tuesday.
Search For Ill. Teen Turns Up Pill Bottle, Letters
An empty pill bottle and letters to and from loved ones have been found by searchers looking for an Illinois teenager whose car was found parked in a highway rest area on Sunday night near the hiking country of the Baraboo bluffs.
Details about the letters were not disclosed, but Sauk County Sheriff Randy Stammen said in a news release that the bottle was for Advil PM, an over-the-counter pain reliever and sleeping aid.
Sheriff’s deputies in Sauk County, Wis., found Cutler’s 2007 Toyota Corolla off the road near a cornfield. The car was locked and unoccupied, according to police in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Cutler’s hometown some 170 miles away.
UPDATE I: Car Keys, Wallet Belonging to Missing Illinois Teen Found Near River
The items found by authorities were located about 300 yards downstream from where a backpack and blankets were discovered on Monday.
Wisconsin search teams found car keys and a wallet belonging to a missing Illinois teen in a pair of pants hanging from a branch in a river.
Lee Cutler, 18, of Buffalo Grove, Ill., was reported missing last weekend after attending a friend’s birthday party. Police started a search of the area near Baraboo River after his 2007 Toyota Corolla parked near a rest stop.
Search divers found a pair of tan slacks Friday with the keys belonging to the Corolla and wallet with Cutler’s identification on a partially submerged branch in the Baraboo River. A black leather belt was found on a nearby branch believed to belong to Cutler, according to a report issued by the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office.
UPDATE II: Friends start Web page as search continues for Buffalo Grove teen
A Buffalo Grove teenager missing since the weekend has a zest for life, said a family friend whose suburban home has been turned into a sort of command center for classmates monitoring the search.
“It’s not something you would lose and not go after,” said de Grazia, whose home in Long Grove has been hosting nightly gatherings of friends and peers who started a page on Facebook.com called “Let’s Find Lee.”
“These young men and women are tracking information, squashing rumors, getting information to police,” he said.