Search for Amber widens

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This article was published 24/10/2008 (6458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Friends of Amber McFarland are frantically searching Portage la Prairie for the missing 24-year-old woman.

Amber Lynn McFarland was last seen at a bar in Portage during the early morning of Saturday.

“We need any and all information on her whereabouts,” friend and co-worker Kristi Barnes-Skarbeck said.

Friends and co-workers of McFarland, who worked at Mark’s Work Warehouse in Portage, have been plastering the town with posters and have launched a group on Facebook titled Help Find Amber McFarland.

“Posters have been going up since Monday,” Barnes-Skarbeck said, “and some friends are trying to search on their own and we’ve contacted Manitoba Search and Rescue to get something going.”

Another friend and co-worker, Danielle Bartsch told CBC Radio she knew something was wrong when Amber didn’t show up for work Saturday morning,

“She never misses work,” Bartsch said. “I have no idea what happened.”

Amber’s car was found in the Canad Inns parking lot where she had parked it Friday night.

Another friend, Tanis Desjardin, told a local TV station she last saw Amber at the Cat and Fiddle bar and had words with her over an old boyfriend.

“It’s just not like Amber to do this. I hope they find her soon because everyone’s worried.”

RCMP have sent out the serious crimes unit to Portage to “cover more ground,” Sgt. Line Karpish said, adding that while there may be a search being organized in Portage, it’s not an RCMP search.

“We need a definite area to look at — we need a point of interest. We just don’t have that right now.”

Asked about the former boyfriend angle, Karpish said there are definitely “some concerning circumstances around this. People just don’t vanish.”

“We’re folllowing all and any leads that come our way.”

Portage RCMP SGt. Bob McCarville told CTV news: “At this point, it’s strictly a missing person investigation and that’s where the investigation is focused.”

Another friend said an RCMP cruiser has been parked outside of Amber’s former boyfriend’s house in Portage.

Bartsch urged members of the public to help find Amber.

“We need help from anybody. Even if you’re a stranger, please come out and help us.”

McFarland has blonde hair, green eyes, is 5-6 to 5-7 and weighs about 135 pounds. She was wearing a black sweater and blue jeans.

Anyone who knows of her activities or may have been in contact with her is asked to call Portage RCMP at 1-204-857-4445 or Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.