Equusearch Founder To Hold Memorial Service For Missing Child

Tim Miller

Dickinson, Texas -- September 2, 2014 -- Texas EquuSearch encourages you to join our search volunteers this Sunday evening September 7 for a special memorial service and candlelight vigil in honor of the 30 years that have passed since 16 year old teenager Laura Lynn Miller’s disappearance and to celebrate the successful return of hundreds of missing children and adults in Laura Miller’s honor by the volunteers and members of Texas EquuSearch. 

The special event will be held at the Magnolia Creek Baptist Church located at 3535 Calder Drive, League City, Texas on September 7, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. The service, to remember Laura and all missing persons, is open to the public. 

"We are going to let the world know we will never stop looking for missing loved ones," Tim Miller said. 

Tim Miller founded Texas EquuSearch 14 years ago to assist families and law enforcement to bring home missing loved ones. Losing his daughter Laura Miller was Tim Miller’s motivation to form Texas EquuSearch and dedicate his life to helping families locate their missing loved ones. 

There will be three short talks by Magnolia Creek Pastor Brett Dutton, by EquuSearch Founder Tim Miller and by EquuSearch Senior Advisor Ralph Baird. Following the service there will be a candlelight vigil to mark the 30th year since Laura Miller disappeared. 

Laura, who disappeared from a pay phone in League City on September 10, 1984, was found deceased 17 months later in a wooded area off Calder Road in League City. Her remains were scattered in a remote area where three other females' remains were also found. This location became known as a dumping ground for victims and was later featured in the movie, "Texas Killing Fields." 

Texas Equusearch played a pivotal role in the search for the S/V Nina and her crew after they disappeared in the Tasman Sea on June 4th, 2013.  Unfortunately, nothing of the Nina has been found, though relatives remain hopeful the crew will show up on a remote island or reef.

About Texas EquuSearch -- Texas EquuSearch, a recognized 501 c (3) charity, was organized and chartered in August 2000 to assist law enforcement and families in the search for missing loved ones. Texas EquuSearch does not charge agencies or families and relies solely on donations. To date, Texas EquuSearch has conducted 1500 searches with 300 people found alive and 182 loved ones’ remains returned to families. Over 150,000 volunteers from ffected communities have joined in searches carefully managed by EquuSearch. To learn more please visit www.TXEQ.org 

Contacts: Ralph Baird
 (713) 461-1784
 Charlene Wilford 
 (832) 270-6766 

 Email: Ralph.Baird@TexasEquuSearch.org 

Source: Texas EquuSearch 

A Bridge Over Troubled Waters In Schooner Nina Search

How long can 7 souls eek out a living on a damaged sailboat adrift in the toughest waters nature has to throw at an adventurer?

John Glennie, who holds the known record for the longest survival time at sea on an overturned trimaran called the Rose Noelle, says if the Nina is afloat, the sailors are alive.  John caught rain for water and fished to supply the nutrients needed for life for him and his three crew members. It was 119 days later the Rose Noelle washed up on the East side of New Zealand.

The Nina has been missing for over 170 days.  The Wright family, Robin and Ricky, went to New Zealand to do an areal search for the missing yacht.  They spent several days on Lord Howe Island, taking daily tours in a search route identified as most likely to hold the Nina.  After investing most of the piggy bank on this search, and finding nothing, the Wrights went to Australia.  Ricky is now taking private pilot lessons and searching for his daughter, Danielle Wright, as well.  They are searching up and down remote stretches of Australia coast line hoping to find the 1928 schooner and her crew.

The Wrights stand as the ultimate heroes in the Nina search.  It was Ricky Wright who asked Texas Equusearch to advise the families in a private search when New Zealand search and rescue threw in the towel. The Wrights, Kyle Jackson's father Duane Jackson and Salley Davis, Matthew Wootton's parents Sue and Ian Wootton, Lazslo Nemeth, son of Evi Nemeth, Ralph Baird, Executive Search Coordinator for TES, along with Larry Slack, Satellite Coordinator, Jerry Borrer, Drift Logistics Coordinator, Lenore Psencik, Adrienne Gauthier, Satellite Lead, John Funnell, Karen Lagow, and many more people in the Tomnod Search effort are all my heroes.  These are the troopers who have refused to give up the fight.  They see the vision of a floating Nina and want to do all that is possible to greet the 7 sailors back into society.

A tear rolls down my cheek thinking about these dedicated people sacrificing time, money, and an ocean of heart in the campaign to save the 7 sailors, Yet, I fight conflicting feelings.  As Ralph Baird said, if we sat any reasonable person down and laid out the tragic Nina story to them, everyone to a man-or woman, would agree, it is very likely the Nina is afloat and lost in the remote reverse circulating currents of the Tasman Sea.  Yet, no government is willing to step up with the resources necessary to bring the crew home.  Only governments have these resources.  When I think of how my own government, for one, has failed these sailors, along with others, then those feelings of pride and appreciation for what individuals are doing gives way to rage over what governments are not doing.

There is more of the Nina story which remains untold.   That is true with almost every epic, there is a public story, and then there is the story behind the story.  Rarely does the true story ever come out.  When the story does come out, people slap their heads with their hands and say, "ohhh....NOW I understand why there were so many dedicated people working on the campaign.  It makes sense."  It makes sense for an all-out, no holds barred, government effort to rescue 7 people.  It does not look like that will happen.

The thing is, the family members representing the Nina crew all come from hard working, and frankly, patriotic roots.  They believe pursuing the American Dream is a two part process.  First, you have to do your part, which means education and career.  The second part is a strong belief in the government.  That is why, when the U.S. State Department failed to support the 6 American and 1 British sailors, there was a lot of bewilderment.  How is it, at a time when citizens need most for the Department of State to go to bat for them, the citizens, and their families, come up empty handed?  Rather than take their government to task, the families have mostly chosen to take the high road.

Fortunately, there is a bridge over troubled waters.  I am very proud to make up a tiny part of that bridge, which mostly consists of the dedicated search team mentioned.  What a great honor it is to work with incredibly talented people led by the Wright family, and advised by Texas Equusearch, in transcending geo-political problems.  We are in the search for Matthew Wootton, Danielle Wright, Kyle Jackson, Evi Nemeth, David Dyche, Rosemary Dyche, David Dyche IV on the historic schooner Nina.  Each of us has an opportunity to perhaps save a life in the Nina case.  The search team has paid dearly in all they have done.  The very least we can do is support the search, sign the petition and help the families bring the crew home.

GCaptain Article: Satellite Searches For Nina

Help Find The Nina: Tomnod

Donate To Search Fund HERE

Facebook:
Nina Vigil
Holding Hope
The Search For Damien Diamond and Richard Choi
Bringing Home The Nina and Her Crew

Updates: EVXX

Sign the Petition: HERE

Petition To Save 7 Sailors Hits 2K Mark

People All Over The World Sign To Save The Nina 7

A petition to save the 7 sailors aboard the 1928 schooner, Nina, hit 2000 signatures yesterday, October 17th, 2013.  Friends and family of the missing sailors are asking the US State Department to take a leadership role in the search for the missing schooner and crew.


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You can add your voice to the petition. 

People who don't believe the crew could survive this long in the hostile environment of the Tasman Sea are not informed of the facts.  Only 1 scenario out of 6 scenarios postulated by the Rescue Coordination Center, New Zealand, suggests the yacht sank.  Other scenarios suggest the Nina is disabled and floating in the famous reverse circular currents of the Tasman Sea.

Sailors are taught how to catch rain water to supplement limited provisions.  It is winter in the Tasman Sea so rain will be plentiful.  The Nina also has store aboard her, which will add to longevity.  But the best source for sustenance is the very ocean water upon which the yacht is lost.  The Tasman Sea is rich in marine life which will come in handy as the crew aboard the Nina battle for survival.

The Dyche family renovated the Nina over several years.  Captain David Dyche is a professional ships captain.  From the start of their ordeal, he knows survival is a matter of management of the scarce resources available to him.  It is logical and reasonable to assume Dyche began rationing food and stores as the crew began to set about the business of a possible long-term rescue.

Meanwhile, Texas Equusearch, an all volunteer organization, has been advising the families on effective search strategy.  The families want the United States to support them in various ways.   So far, their petition to the United States Department of State has fallen on deaf ears.  However, there is keen optimism a decision maker, rather than an administrator, will take an interest in the Nina rescue case and listen to what the families have to say.

Public Appeals To RCC-NZ To Resume Search For Lost Nina

The Nina Families Remain Hopeful

Texas Equusearch (TES) and the family members of the crew of the schooner, Nina, lost in the Tasman Sea, released photographs of an image they hope is the Nina.  The image was obtained after tasking satellites to take pictures of the Tasman Sea where the 1928 American treasure disappeared along with the 7 hands aboard. TES and the families want the Rescue Coordination Center, New Zealand (RCC-NZ) to open a new search for the sailors.

The search has been intensive and well coordinated.  The satellite images are hosted on a crowd sourcing site called Tomnod.  TES and the families worked with Fort Collins based Digital Globe to take the photographs.  Over 16,000 people signed up to help review images.  All the hard work may now be paying off.

Mystery Boat, Is This The Nina?

So far, the RCC-NZ refuses to bend on opening a new search for the boat.  Under one of their theories, they say the boat sank.  However, sinking is one of six scenarios the RCC-NZ postulated about the Nina. Other scenarios include the possibility the boat is disabled and drifting or the sailors took to a life raft. The fact is, no evidence has ever been produced to prove the Nina sank, despite the largest search ever launched by the RCC-NZ.

The families say the Nina is floating in reverse circular currents of the Tasman Sea.  As proof, they point to John Glennie, who survived 119 days after his yacht, the Rose Noelle, capsized off of the East coast of New Zealand.  Officials gave up the search for Glennie and the family held a eulogy.  Still, Glennie and his 3 crew mates survived the ordeal, fishing for food and catching rain water for hydration.  Though the Nina disappeared on the West side of New Zealand, both the Rose Noelle and the Nina had problems on the same day of the year, June 4th, significant because it is winter time.

Bob McDavitt

TES and the families base their assertions on the efforts by a high tech team including volunteer NASA scientists, fluid hydrologists and geophysicists who study what happens to liquid, in this case, ocean water, and things which are deposited in them.  Figuring out where the Nina could have drifted to has been a monumental task.  However, TES has employed new methods to use existing SAROPS drift analysis software along with the tasking, for the first time ever, of satellites over the Tasman Sea in the search of a private boat.

According to an article in the New Zealand Herald, meteorologist Bob McDavitt, the satellite images could not be ruled out as representing the Nina.  McDavitt was advising friend and Nina crew member Evi Nemeth, and had the last known conversation by text with the missing sailors.  People from all over the world support the reopening of the search for the missing sailors.

Texas Equusearch is a non-profit organization founded by Tim Miller to locate missing people.  TES uses high technique tactics plus volunteers to help the authorities locate and close old missing person's cases.  TES has been credited with locating over 300 people alive which law enforcement has been unable to find.  The Texas based organization has also been able to find over 100 people who were missing and deceased, including a Navy t-34 pilot.  None of the TES volunteers are paid, including the Nina search Executive Adviser, Ralph Baird.  However, the advances made by the families will help all sailors who become lost in the Tasman Sea.

Prayers For A Pioneer, We Wish The Best For Tim Miller and His Family

INDEX OF PRIOR POSTS

Last five posts:

Page 57  Can You Find The Missing Nina On Satellite Photos?
Page 58  Low Down On the Hoedown in Lafayette Louisiana
Page 59  Luxury Catamaran For Auction, Island 42
Page 60  It Was Good New, More Good News and Still More Good News
Page 61  Lafayette, Louisiana to Bassett Nebraska, In Support Of The Nina 7 

The first time I met Tim Miller I knew there was something special about him.  This was a man in a lot of pain, yet he came out to greet the press during a critical conference for the seven sailors lost in the Pacific on a yacht called Nina.

Tonight, Tim lies in a hospital bed, after neck surgery.  He is reported to be in a lot of pain.  He has asked visitors and well wishers to not visit and to not call.  Recovery requires dedicated energy and Tim has his share of hurdles to jump.

John Glennie says you have to know adversity in order to become a great person.  John spent 119 days on a trimaran that overturned off of the coast of New Zealand.  John and his three crew lived and slept in a space the size of a twin bed, with a ceiling height of 18 inches.  It got so cold, the person on the outside had to switch positions with an inside person every three hours.  All of the men slept like spoons.  When one turned over they all had to turn over.  John has faced adversity and he has become a great person.

Tim Miller has too.  His ordeal in losing his child to the hand of a fiend changes a person.  Some come out of an experience like that a complete wreck.  After losing a child and then his marriage, Miller realized to be a great person, likely any person, one needs to do good things for others.  It is not enough to do good things for one's self.  Tim has dedicated his life to helping law enforcement find missing people.  He founded an organization called Texas Equusearch.  To date, they have found over 300 people law enforcement and even the military were unable to find.

I sense Tim Miller and the dedicated members of the organization Tim founded know adversity.  From that adversity they have become great shepherds for others forced into an unimaginable ordeal.  Love of one's fellow man and a willingness to serve others is the key to the steps of happiness and fulfillment in my book.  Those who master the skills of true service to others are giants.

Our prayers go out for Tim Miller and his family and friends.  We wish him a speedy recovery.