Police look for missing woman on land, water

Correction: A story published in Saturday's issue should have said that authorities executed a search warrant Wednesday evening at 500 Lakeville Farm Lane, Boyce.

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

BOYCE -- The mother of a woman missing from Clarke County since Tuesday night pleaded Friday for her safe return.

Debbie Plamondon made a brief statement to the media Friday afternoon at the public boat landing on the Shenandoah River off U.S. 17-50.

Kaleigh Marie Plamondon, 22, of 355 Cedar Wood Lane, White Post, has been "missing under suspicious circumstances" since last being seen Tuesday night, according to the Clarke County Sheriff's Office. She had been house-sitting at 500 Lakeville Farm Lane when she disappeared. Authorities also are looking for her ex-boyfriend, Justin Shane Slater, 24, of 117 Buffalo Trail, Shawneeland.

"We miss Kaleigh. We love Kaleigh. We want Kaleigh to be found. And with Justin, as I know him as 'Pi,' if he is listening to this, [give me] a phone call letting me know where Kaleigh is, if you can help me out I'm willing to listen," Debbie Plamondon said. "I want to talk to you and I want to know what's going on in your mind, and I really need to hear from you. If I could go to Kaleigh, that would be my next step is to find Kaleigh, make sure that she's safe and I can help her, and Gracie and Polo."

Authorities began their search of the Lakeville Farm Lane property at 7:30 a.m. Friday, according to Patricia Putnam, an investigator with the Clarke County Sheriff's Office.

Sharon Jones, a volunteer with Dogs Organized for Ground Search East, employed Marcus, a border collie, to help the Clarke County Sheriff's Office look for the missing woman by ground.

They were later joined by K-9 Alert's David Fleenor and Kim Bibwell, handler for Petra, a yellow Labrador retriever. Petra is a wilderness and cadaver search-and-rescue dog which authorities had ride a boat to help look for the woman by water.

Both types of search dogs track by human scent, Jones explained, regardless of how long a person has been missing or if the subject is alive or dead.

"As the sheriff [Anthony 'Tony' Roper] said, these are volunteers that we call on," Putnam said. "They're very dedicated individuals and we're very thankful that we have their resources available to us.

"We're going to be working with those two dogs, that way if the dog on water gets a hit, then we can also work this side to make certain, you know, that we have not missed any evidence or anything that perhaps that the dog may be hitting on that is still land-bound," Putnam said. "[Marcus] is hot and he is tired, but he's doing a great job."

The search included the field and outbuildings and, since the property has access to the river, authorities also looked along the bank. Later in the afternoon, the search moved to the river.

Keith Crider, with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, prepared to take a boat out on the Shenandoah River at the public landing. He noted that the river had risen and was about 2 feet higher than it normally would be at that time.

The water search started with the boat heading upstream from the Shenandoah River landing at approximately 3:50 p.m.