Friends and volunteers search for a missing 25-year-old Cleveland man

CLEVELAND, Minn. (KEYC) - The search continues for missing 25-year-old Shawn Mooring.

“What do you say to somebody when their child- young man is missing?,” search coordinator Lorraine Edwards asked. “You can just be there for them.”

Mooring went missing during the evening of Dec. 13, after suffering from what police call a mental health experience:

He left his grandparents’ home with no car and no cellphone- just a pair of sandals on his feet, an insulated vest, and a pair of jeans.

He’s been missing for 18 days...

On Saturday, Dec. 31, a private party gathered under an intense Winter Sun to find any trace of him.

St. Peter-resident Lorraine Edwards planned and organized the search party on Dec. 28, all for her friend and Mooring’s mother, Andrea Hawkins.

“I said, ‘okay, I’m going to get something together,’” Edwards recalled.

“As a mother, as a parent, trying to even grasp what she’s through- something that no parent should have to go through,” Edwards continued. “And trying to be there as a friend.”

After posting plans for the search online, about 30 volunteers showed up to Edwards’ call for help at the Christ of Church.

Volunteers were advised by the Le Suer County Sheriff’s Department to look for articles of clothing or even parts of a body.

After five hours of searching, there’s no confirmed trace of Mooring.

The amount of ice and snow covering the ditches proved to be the toughest hindrance for the search.

But the dedication and hearts of the volunteers thawed the challenges presented before them:

“I like to be of service,” third-time community search-volunteer Travis Pemble said. “I really feel obligated to do it. I think more people if they did it the first time, they would do it every time.”

“Just to help the family know, and get the answers people want,” drone pilot and volunteer Sam Voit said.

Two men came with their drones, such as drone pilot Sam Voit, who knew Mooring from high school.

“He was friendly,” Voit recalled. “I mean, you could talk to him and be very forward with him and he would be forward with you. It was easy to get along with him. It’s different to hear that someone like that has gone missing.”

While in connection with the Le Suer County Sheriff’s Department, the group split up in three to cover a four-mile radius from where Shawn was last seen, searching banks of snow, multiple county roads and ditches-

All while drone pilots looked over fields or areas of interest.

Once clouds and winds pulled in, they had to lock up their drones.

This is the first organized private search for Mooring, on top of three searches already conducted by law enforcement.

“I got in touch with one of the investigators at Le Sueur County and asked if I could have the maps to show where they had searched,” Edwards explained. “So, they were provided.”

Even though Saturday’s search came to an end, Edwards and volunteers plan to organize a second search to bring answers, and even closure, to the family.

“Shawn is not forgotten,” Edwards said. “There’s people willing to go out of their way to help search for him. And the people that left today, every single one of them said, ‘if there’s another search, please let us know.’

Edwards asks the Cleveland area to check their security camera footage for any signs of Mooring during the time of his disappearance.

Organizers want to spread a message to others to take mental health struggles seriously- no matter the age- for the sake of Mooring.

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