Big search for Destiny today

As Salt Lake City's mayor pleaded for more volunteers to come out for today's search for Destiny Norton, the missing girl's father stood in the family's background Friday with tears in his eyes.

Ricky Norton reached down and hugged his wife, Rachael, sobbing. He was trying to stay strong. As he hugged Destiny's grandmother, he began shaking. All the pain and the stress of losing his little girl had been taking its toll. Collapsing with emotion, he was led away from the cameras and reporters in the arms of family and friends.

The reward for information leading to the return of 5-year-old Destiny was raised to $30,000 on Friday. It came as her family pleaded for more help searching for the little girl over the Pioneer Day weekend.

"Any information right now would be helpful," Destiny's mother, Rachael Norton, said with tears in her eyes. "We just don't know what happened. We can't find her anywhere. We just want our baby to come home."

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson made his first appearance at the volunteer search center, joining others in making another plea to the public to help search for Destiny.

"This is the most tragic situation a family could face," he said Friday. "We need help from all the community. Our focus should not be on past cases or issues that divide us."

Volunteer searches begin at 6 a.m. today at 445 E. Harvard Ave. (1110 South). Parking is available at Liberty Park.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said investigators had brought approximately 250 people in to police headquarters to be questioned, received 260 tips and had cleared about 70 percent of the leads brought to their attention. Police said one tip even came from a purported psychic in Australia.

The names of several convicted sex offenders currently on parole have been given to police by agents from the Utah Department of Corrections' Adult Probation and Parole.

"We're not going to go into any specifics about the investigation," Salt Lake City police detective Joe Cyr said Friday. "Unless we make an arrest."

Asked if there were any more "persons of interest" investigators were looking at, Cyr told the Deseret Morning News: "Nobody specific."

Next week, Salt Lake City plans to drain the pond in Liberty Park as part of the search.