A large-scale search effort, consisting of search and rescue personnel, a dozen canines, firefighters, police officers and divers, took place Wednesday morning for missing 18-year-old Aidan Beckford in Nunda Township.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said that Aidan Beckford, 18, of Huntley, was last seen around 11:30 p.m. Friday in the area of Nish Road and Highview Drive in Nunda Township, which is east of Crystal Lake and south of McHenry.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was activated to bring sonar equipment and divers from fire departments as far away as Waukegan and Buffalo Grove to help search the Fox River.
More than a dozen canine units and search and rescue workers converged to the area where Beckford went missing during the Wednesday morning search effort.
Helicopters were seen over the area and a Fox Lake Fire Department airboat was searching a heavily wooded area and the water Wednesday morning into the afternoon.
On Tuesday, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said that Beckford remained missing despite an ‘extensive search’, which included their Marine Unit, search dogs, thermal images and a drone.
A scent was followed by one of the search dogs into the wooded area where he went but it was lost once the woods got too dense, Beckford’s family said on Sunday.
The family organized an unofficial search party with the public Monday morning with no results. Police also spoke to numerous residents and businesses in the area where the man was last seen.
He is described as being 5-foot-8, 160 pounds, with blue eyes, thick curly brown hair and wears glasses, which he was not wearing at the time he went missing. He was wearing beige shorts and a blue shirt.
Police said that Beckford was with a family member when he jumped out of a car during an argument. He did not have his cellphone or wallet with him and had no shoes on when he walked away.
Beckford’s father passed away three years ago and the area in Highview Estates where Beckford went missing is the last place their family lived, his step mother said, adding that the man is not in a good mental state.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office is asking that residents and businesses in the area check their security camera footage from August 30 around 9:30 p.m. and onward for Beckford or any unfamiliar person.
Anyone who sees the man is asked to not approach him and instead call 911 or the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office at 815-338-2144.