Burlington Free Press
Copyright 2008 Burlington Free Press

AP Photo/Leo Porter Members of a N.Y. technical rescue team search a creek in Middlebury, Vt., Wednesday, for a college student who has been missing for more than two months.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The Saranac, N.Y., Technical Rescue Team combed the roiling waters of Otter Creek today to search for any sign of Nick Garza, a Middlebury College freshman missing since more than two months.

The team volunteered to come to Middlebury after hearing news reports about the 19-year-old student’s disappearance.

Saranac Fire Department Chief Don Uhler said his team was methodically going through the river in a grid system. Searchers on pontoon boats or trudging carefully onto areas of driftwood and other debris plunged infrared camera attached to poles below the surface, while other team members watched the results on video screens.

No divers had gone below the surface by 1 p.m., and no one had reported any significant finds.

Crews were focusing especially on debris piles along the riverbanks.

“We call them strainers,” Uhler said. “They catch everything.”

The search focused on the section of Otter Creek near downtown Middlebury, including the waterfalls and the area just below. The work began this morning and is scheduled until 6 p.m. Further searching is expected tomorrow.

“I’m thankful they got a hold of the police department and offered to come in sooner rather than later,” said Natalie Garza, the missing student’s mother.

Nick Garza of Albuquerque, N.M., last was seen just after 11 p.m. Feb. 5 as he left a gathering in a dorm room across campus from his own residence hall. Repeated, methodical searches of campus grounds and buildings from land and air have turned up no clues, police have said.