DAYTON — Texas EquuSearch Midwest spent hours searching for Erica Baker near the Huffman Dam Saturday morning.
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As reported on News Center 7 at Noon, Erica Baker, 9, disappeared while walking her dog in Kettering in February 1999.
>>PHOTOS: Search for Erica Baker continues 26 years after disappearance
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For 26 years, law enforcement agencies and nonprofit organizations have come together to look for her.
Search and rescue teams took on the 41-acre plot of land near the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on Saturday.
>>RELATED: ‘There’s always going to be a hole in my heart;’ Erica Baker’s Disappearance: 25 years later
EquuSearch Midwest Director David Rader told News Center 7’s Mike Campbell that this was another spot they need to check off their list.
“You know what a great Mother’s Day gift this would be to bring her home to that family,” Rader said.
He knows that each search could come up empty-handed, but the team has high hopes.
“We are here today to either find her or mark this off as a potential,” Rader said.
The search started with a half dozen cadaver dogs going through heavy underbrush, looking to catch the scent of a possible spot for further exploration.
>> RELATED: Erica Baker: What the missing girl would look like today
Then, human teams went out and searched through the woods.
Like many times over the past 26 years, potential discoveries are marked with small flags.
“When we do a search, we want to bring everything to the table that we possibly can. You know the latest of technology, dogs, there’s nothing that beats good old-fashioned boots on the ground,” Rader said.
Everything is monitored in the EquuSearch Command Center.
“Keep track of every single person in the field, we know exactly where they are,” Rader said.
Rader said this case hasn’t gone cold and law enforcement continues to follow up on leads.
>>RELATED: 24 years later: Kettering police continue investigation into Erica Baker’s disappearance
“Law enforcement has never give up on this little girl. I mean every single time that they’ve gotten tips, every time that they need a piece of ground covered, they call us,” he said.
News Center 7’s Gabrielle Enright spoke with Erica’s parents last February on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance.
They’re pleased no one is forgetting about their little girl.
“Being able to put her to rest, that is closure,” Erica’s father, Greg Baker, said.
Searchers want to be able to provide that closure.
They believe Christian Gabriel, the man convicted of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence connected to this case, could provide information that would make their search successful.
Gabriel was last reported living in Oregon.
“All he had to do is get a heart about himself and get his mind clear and do this for the right reasons,” Rader said.
Rader told News Center 7 that his teams have their heart in the right place and will one day bring Erica home.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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