COLIN GILLIS - 18 yo - Tupper Lake/ Adirondack Mts NY

Volunteers gathered near Tupper Lake Monday morning to begin searching for a missing teenager.

Police said 18 year old Colin Gillis was last seen early Sunday morning.


His mother reported him missing at around 5:30 p.m. later that day.

About 60 volunteers gathered to begin searching in an area between
Tupper Lake and Piercefield near the Franklin-St. Lawrence County line.

Gillis' mother says she continues to "hold onto hope" her son will be located.

Patricia Gillis told 7 News she is"overwhelmed" by the numbers of volunteers who are taking part in the search for her son.

Volunteers, many friends of the teen, are joining State Police and Department of
Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers in the search for Gillis.

The missing teen's brother, Lyndon Gillis, has spent the past two days searching for some sign of his brother.

"I know we will find him. I just want to find him and get him home," he said.

Gillis reportedly wandered away from a social gathering at a private residence around 2 a.m. Sunday.

A motorist reported seeing someone on Route 3 who fit his description
around that time, but state police were later unable to locate him.

Monday afternoon, police said they recovered two items along the highway that are believed to belong to Gillis.

Officials would not say exactly what they found.

In addition, search teams used air boats to find holes in ice where Gillis might have fallen through; they found none.

Police said Gills had a cell phone with him, but his parents say their repeated calls have not been answered.

Police said it will take a while, but they hope to use the cell phone's signal to find Gillis.

Gillis is a graduate of Tupper Lake High School and a pre-med student at SUNY Brockport.

Police said Gillis is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds.

He was wearing a white shirt with black stripes, blue jeans and red sneakers.

Anyone with information that may help in locating Gillis can call DEC's Ray Brook dispatch center at 518-897-1300.

You can also call State Police in Ray Brook at 518-897-2000.
http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Search-Begins-For-Missing-Tupper-Lake-Teen-142327445.html?skipthumb=Y

As the search is expected to resume Tuesday for a teenager who's been
missing in the Tupper Lake area since Sunday, a reporter covering the
story says the search is a tough one.

In a live telephone interview on 7 News This Morning, Jessica Collier of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise said part of the problem is the terrain where 18 year old Colin Gillis went missing.

"It's a lot of woods and the Raquette River winds through that area,
so they're going through every possible thing they can cover," she said.

She also noted, "He was being pretty unpredictable that night, so
they're not really sure how to follow where his thought lines were
going,"

Gillis left a party at a private residence on foot early Sunday
morning. He was last seen on a highway near the St. Lawrence-Franklin
County line outside of Tupper Lake.

The good news is, there's plenty of people willing to help, Collier said.

"It's a really big family and there's plenty of family members and
close family friends. There's also plenty of people showing up that
don't even know the family. They just want to help out."

Local businesses, she noted, have donated food to help keep the searchers going.
http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Reporter-Tough-Search-For-Missing-Tupper-Lake-Teen-142442865.html

State police probe events surrounding Collin Gillis's disappearance



Police are trying to fill in blanks surrounding the vanishing of 18 year old Colin Gillis (Photo provided)

(03/16/12) More than 120 volunteers combed the woods and water near
Tupper Lake again yesterday. They turned up no sign of 18 year old
Colin Gillis.

The college student was home for spring break
when he vanished early Sunday morning. After four full days of
searching, state Forest Ranger Captain John Streiff says the search
effort will be scaled back in the days ahead.

While field crews
continue to search for clues that might lead to Colin Gillis's
whereabouts, state police have also opened an investigation into what
may have happened the night that he vanished.

As Brian Mann reports, police are interviewing people who attended a party that Gillis attended Saturday night.

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/19507/20120316/state-police-probe-events-surrounding-collin-gillis-s-disappearance

No new leads on missing Tupper Lake teen

TUPPER LAKE — Spring break will be over Monday for SUNY Brockport.
Whether 18-year-old freshman Colin Gillis will show up for class and
check into his dorm room is a question neither family members nor police
can answer.
Mr. Gillis was last seen leaving a party early on
Sunday. Police said a driver saw him walking down Route 3 toward the
town of Piercefield.
Since then, hundreds of volunteers have
searched thousands of acres for him. Helicopters, airboats and dive
teams have scoured the area but found no sign.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Lyndon Gillis, Colin’s brother. “We’re just in the dark right now.”
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120317/NEWS07/703179890

TUPPER LAKE - The family of missing teen Colin Gillis has set
up a Facebook page meant to be a clearinghouse of factual information
about the ongoing search for him.
The search was downgraded to
"limited continuous" status by the state Department of Environmental
Conversation last week, but Gillis' father, John Gillis, said numerous
volunteers have "refused to quit," according to a press release from the
Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce, which is helping to organize the
clearinghouse effort.
The goal is to collect geographical
information from people who have been walking roads and checking camps
and secondary homes in the region.
The information will be
used to create a database of thoroughly searched areas and serve to
identify locations yet to be covered.
The idea came from
family members who saw firsthand the systematic approach and tremendous
effort put forth by DEC rangers and state troopers during the extensive
search involving hundreds of volunteers.
People involved
in the effort are still working on the logistics of how they will
systematically collect and record the information, like what people
should report and how they should report it. Contact information will be
announced soon.
As part of the effort, a Facebook page has been created called "Colin Gillis Search Updates."
"Our goal is to keep the momentum moving for the Gillis family and
to create a space that will allow the public to stay updated on any new
information," reads the page. "It is part of an overall effort for a
coordinated approach."
Page administrators ask that people be
respectful and only contribute productive commentary, and warn that they
will remove posts if they don't follow the guidelines.
"The
goal is to have the Facebook page be the hub for purely factual, updated
information," said Noelle Short, who is helping to organize the effort.
Gillis, 18, was last seen in the early morning hours of March 11 on
the side of the road between Tupper Lake and Piercefield. He was home on
spring break from SUNY Brockport and left a party on foot.
http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/530100/Gillis-family-sets-up-site-for-search-information.html?nav=5008

TUPPER LAKE — State Police are asking for help in their search for an 18-year-old Tupper Lake student who went missing last month.
Colin
Gillis has been missing since March 11. On that day, he ate dinner at
his parents' home, watched a basketball game and then left for a party
with friends near Tupper Lake, troopers said.
Gillis was last seen walking down State Route 3, near the Tupper Lake and Piercefield town line at 2 a.m., troopers said.
Roughly 1,000 volunteers and the Department of Environmental Conservation have helped search for Gillis, who was home on spring break from the State University at Brockport.
Gillis is 6-foot-1, 170 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing an American Eagle
brand white shirt with black stripes, blue jeans, red sneakers and a
backpack with a black and red reversible L.L. Bean coat inside.
Anyone with information can call State Police at 897-2000.


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/State-Police-search-for-missing-student-3461814.php#ixzz1rCv5cel6

TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. -
A reward is being offered for help in finding a missing teenager from the Adirondacks.

Eighteen year-old Colin Gillis disappeared a
month ago after leaving a party in Tupper Lake. He was last seen walking
along Route 3 toward Piercefield. During a massive search of the area,
Police found two of Gillis' personal items. But they have no firm leads
on what happened to the college freshman.

Now his family is hoping the offer of a 10-thousand dollar reward will prompt someone to come forward with new information.
http://www.wcax.com/story/17366880/reward-offered-for-missing-ny-teen

Search for Colin Gillis downgraded (update)

TUPPER LAKE - The search for missing 18-year-old Colin Gillis was
downgraded Monday, a week after police, forest rangers and more than
1,000 volunteers started looking for him.
"All reasonable efforts
have been made to search all probable areas where Mr. Gillis may have
been located," state Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman
David Winchell wrote in an email. "Other than a couple of personal items
located Monday, March 12, along state Route 3, no signs of Mr. Gillis
have been found."
The search is now in "limited continuous"
status, which means DEC forest rangers, search-and-rescue teams and
others will conduct spot searches and training exercises in the area,
and helicopters will do periodic flyovers of the land and waters in the
area.
State police will continue to investigate Gillis' whereabouts.
Gillis,
a Tupper Laker who had just returned home on spring break from the
State University of New York at Brockport, went missing after leaving a
party on foot last weekend. He is believed to have last been seen at
about 1:45 a.m. Sunday, March 11, on Route 3 near the line between
Franklin and St. Lawrence counties, where Tupper Lake meets Piercefield,
by three motorists heading toward Piercefield.
State and local
emergency officials, assisted by hundreds of volunteers from the
community, spent seven days searching more than 2,000 acres of land,
miles of the Raquette River and both Raquette Pond and Piercefield Flow.
Community volunteers alone spent about 10,000 hours actively searching
for Gillis.
Other search participants included 25 DEC forest
rangers and DEC operations staff; New York State Police investigators,
troopers, Aviation Unit, Special Response Operations Team, dive team and
K-9 units; Office of Fire Prevention and Control; Tupper Lake Police
Department; Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department and Dive Team;
Piercefield Fire Department; Search and Rescue of the Northern
Adirondacks; Lower Adirondacks Search and Rescue; Champlain Valley K-9;
and U.S. Army helicopters from Fort Drum.
Gillis' brother, Lyndon, a 21-year-old who lives in Utica but came
home last weekend to help look for his brother, posted a message about
the end of the search on a Facebook page he created to communicate with
friends, family and others about his missing brother, called "Bring
Colin Gillis Home."
"The search parties have stopped, yes," Lyndon Gillis wrote. "But the search for Colin will never stop until he is found."
He
asked people to continue to be positive about the situation, and he
encouraged a movement started by the Tupper Lake Moose Club for people
to keep their porch lights on to light his brother's way home.
"Thank
you again for everyone who has helped," he wrote. "Leave your lights
on. He'll see them through the dark and make his way home!"
---
Brockport
As
the search came to a close Monday, Colin Gillis' classmates at SUNY
Brockport returned to college from their spring break. College spokesman
John Follaco told the Enterprise the school's administration has been
keeping its students up to date on the search since last Monday through
emails and social media like Facebook and Twitter.
A few of the
local television stations were there Monday afternoon to talk to other
students who live in Gillis' dorm, Thompson Hall, Follaco said in a
phone interview.
"There's just a couple hundred kids in his residence hall, and
everyone knows everybody," Follaco said. "The few that I've spoken to
over the last couple of days just have nothing but nice things to say
about him. He had a lot of friends."
He said the situation has
been hitting close to home for many students, and the college is making
sure they know they can get help from the campus counseling center.
Follaco
said state police have been in touch with university police. They've
told students to help out if they have any information that could help
with the investigation. Staff also checked Gillis' room over the break,
and they've been monitoring his college ID for use, since it has to be
swiped to get into buildings on campus. It still hasn't been swiped
since he left for break Friday, March 9.
---
Moment of silence
Back
in Tupper Lake, village Mayor Paul Maroun started the village board
meeting Monday night with a moment of silence for Colin Gillis and his
family, with "hope that somehow he can be found safe and unharmed."
Maroun,
village fire Commissioner Rick Donah and several others thanked fire
volunteers, village employees and everyone else who helped out with the
search.
Maroun said he knows everyone will keep their eyes peeled
and keep notifying their friends from other areas to keep an eye out for
Gillis.
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/529920/Search-for-Colin-Gillis-downgraded--update-.html?nav=5008

No New Leads In Case Of Missing Teen

Jun 26, 2012

Nearly four months have passed since a Tupper Lake teenager went missing
and despite a $10,000 reward no new leads have surfaced as to his
whereabouts.

Colin Gillis was home on spring break from SUNY Brockport when he attended a party with friends.

The 18 year old was last seen alive walking along a section of State Route 3 near the St. Lawrence-Franklin County line.

Despite weeks of searching in the Piercefield area, no signs of the teen have been found.

State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman David Winchell
tells 7 News the search remains in "limited continuous status."

Winchell says DEC Forest Rangers and state police continue to do occasional helicopter flights over the area.

Meanwhile, State Police Special Operations Response Teams and Forest
Rangers also continue to search on and along the Racquette River and
Racquette River Flow every other week.
http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/No-New-Leads-In-Case-Of-Missing-Teen-160402475.html