Middlesboro Police Dept. Lieutenant David Bius said the disappearance is likely not an abduction, but attributed to her “health problems.” A flier distributed by family and friends of Heck describe her as being “disoriented” at the time of disappearance, suffering from a possible stroke or memory loss.
The Bell County Rescue Squad has set up a command post at West Cumberland Avenue Baptist Church and is coordinating the search crews that are scattered across Heck’s last known whereabouts. While Middlesboro Police Department and the rescue squad are leading the search, more teams have now joined.
“We do have search teams from Knox County and Williamsburg, Kentucky. They’re just south of the Middlesboro city limits,” said Bell County Rescue Squad member Mike Ausmus. “When the weather clears, we’ll have helicopter resources from the Kentucky State Police... We’ve also requested assistance from the National Park Service. We think she’s around some of the railroad tracks and those tracks lead into the National Park, so we’ve asked the rangers to clear that area as well. ”
Bell County Coal employees have also joined the search. Katherine Heck’s husband David Heck and son Terry both work at the coal company.
The teams are also using Heck’s scent to get possible leads.
“We have search dogs from Commonwealth Search and Recovery, Bell Co. Forestry provided one of their dogs, and the rescue squad has one, also,” said Ausmus.
Because of the dogs, the search teams have been able to trace a general path that Heck could possibly have taken.
“[The dogs] hit in a few areas and led us in a particular direction,” said Ausmus. “We’re following up on those leads from last night. We’re going by the scent that the dogs told us about and then personal sightings that we were able to confirm through written statements from citizens in town.” The scent ended at the Dollar General, near 46th Street where Heck was last seen.
Bell County’s Emergency Management Director Paul Wilson said he had gotten a lot of reports of sightings of the missing woman. One report said that she was carrying a stick. Another person reported that she slid down a hill on 46th Street and kept walking. Wilson and Ausmus said that they cannot verify if those sightings are actually of Heck.
The weather has been a factor in the search. MPD Lt. David Bius said he was sure that the weather would hinder the search.
Ausmus agreed. “It has put a damper on us. It heightens our priority on finding Mrs. Heck,” he said.
This search comes on the heels of another Bell County search for a 70-year-old man who was allegedly murdered and dumped into the Cumberland River. Ausmus said that they have had to divert resources from that search to find a missing woman who could still be alive. Ausmus explained that they only have so much man power to conduct these exhaustive searches.
And the two searches have taken their toll on local emergency workers who volunteer their time.
Rescue squad member Chris Parks said he had only a few hours of sleep Sunday night after searching for hours. He started again yesterday at 5:30 a.m.
“We’re all going on just a few hours of sleep for the whole week,” said Ausmus.
Monday at 2:30 p.m., the rescue squad reported no new developments in the search and said the park service did not find any leads on the railroad tracks.
Heck was last seen around the 46th Street area of Middlesboro wearing a bluish green shirt, blue jeans, and white shoes, according to an MPD report. She is described as white female, 5’1”, 170 pounds, with blonde hair covering her ears and blue eyes. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Katherine Heck is encouraged to contact the Bell County Rescue Squad at (606)248-7444 or the Middlesboro Police Department at (606)248-3636.
Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.
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