Rain limits search for missing teen Scaled-back crew focuses on woods, river in Addison

ADDISON – Torrential rain and raw winds curtailed Friday’s search for Krystal Higgins, the missing teenager from Columbia whose empty vehicle was recovered Thursday from the Pleasant River at the public boat launch.

A scaled-back crew of law enforcement professionals concentrated on searching the Addison area. Maine State Police and Maine Marine Patrol divers worked in the tidal river while Maine Warden Service wardens walked the nearby woods.

“The search continues, but unfortunately we have not located her,” Stephen McCausland, the state police spokesman, said early Friday evening.

State police and others will return to the site this morning. No new details were revealed Friday. Higgins’ 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier was located Thursday on its roof in about 16 feet of water about 20 yards from the end of the town boat launch. The driver’s side window was partially rolled down, according to police.

Higgins, 17, disappeared last Saturday night after spending the evening driving around Columbia, Harrington and Jonesport with friends.

While police detectives were conducting interviews Friday, divers made use of high-tech sonar scanners on a seiner provided by Scott Perry, a Columbia Falls fisherman.

Police returned to the boat access at 8 a.m. and used underwater cameras to identify possible targets for the divers. Poor weather halted their work three hours later.

Divers were back in the water at 3 p.m., timing their work with the low tide. They were packing up by 4:30 p.m. after the tide turned.

Perry, who fishes for herring at night, offered the use of the Miss Lanie on Thursday evening when he learned the search had moved to the water.

“I didn’t know what they had for sonar gear, so I figured I could assist them in some way,” he said. “I did find a spot for them to dive on, but it was an old mooring.”

Perry has a son who is one year behind Krystal Higgins at Narraguagus High School.

“Everybody knows her,” Perry said.

Perry lives on the same road in Columbia Falls where Tom Higgins, Krystal’s father, has a trailer.

He will be home in October, his scheduled release date from the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport. He is being held on a two-year sentence as a habitual offender.

Those who know the girl say she has had a life of adversity. But she always bounces back.

“She is an alley cat,” said David Weaver, co-owner of the Pleasant River Take Out where Higgins was working for the second straight summer. “She is a fighter, a survivor.”

The takeout restaurant on U.S. Route 1 was closed Friday, largely because of the sadness brought on by Thursday’s discovery of Higgins’ car.