VERONA ISLAND – State and county search crews spent most of the day Friday searching for Ronald A. Vallee, 33, of South Paris, whose vehicle was found abandoned near the end of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge that morning.

Construction workers on the new bridge discovered the vehicle parked in the construction area at the former campground when they arrived for work on Friday.

“The vehicle appeared there overnight. We’re trying to find the person who was the last known operator,” Lt. Tim Cote of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office said Friday afternoon. “We’re checking out all the possibilities.”

Sheriff’s deputies were joined by search crews from the Maine Warden Service and the Marine Patrol for the search. Crews had boats on the Penobscot River and also used search dogs along the shore. A Warden Service plane also searched the area, Cote said.

Officers have contacted Vallee’s relatives and are trying to talk to anyone who has seen the man within the last few days, Cote said.

“We’re trying to retrace his footsteps,” he said. “We don’t know too much about him. He’s not from the area. We’re trying to determine what, if any, connection he had with the area.”

The search was expected to continue Saturday. Although deputies are conducting the overall investigation, the search will be conducted by officers from the Warden Service and the Marine Patrol.