Hundreds of volunteers search Provo neighborhoods for missing student

PROVO — A planned three-day search for a Brigham Young University coed who vanished eight days ago started this morning.

Hundreds of volunteer searchers met at the Harmon Building on BYU's campus — a glass building on University Parkway and 900 East — and then fanned out into Provo neighborhoods. They are looking for Camille Cleverley, who was last seen last Thursday.

Since 8 a.m. search teams, assisted by The Laura Recovery Center, a Texas-based nonprofit missing-child recovery organization, have been combing a 7-mile radius around BYU. Cleverly's apartment and a store in which her debit card was used last Friday are within the search area.

Late Thursday, police found the biggest break yet in the case — a bike that may be the BYU senior's purple and silver Schwinn.

"While following up on a lead, the Provo Police Department located a bicycle that possibly belongs to Camille Cleverley," Provo Police Capt. Cliff Argyle said.

Argyle said the bicycle was stolen from Bridal Veil Falls area in Provo Canyon on Saturday night. After watching news reports, the people who had the bike turned it into police.

Authorities also searched a section of the Provo River late Thursday, but the search was suspended at nightfall. A dam upstream at Deer Creek Reservoir was closed to lower the river and check for any sign of the 22 year old, but officers found no other evidence, Provo Police Lt. John Guyerman told the Associated Press.

Authorities now believe Cleverley may have parked her bike and hiked a trail leading into the Wasatch Mountains, Guyerman said.

Police continued to follow any leads into Cleverley's disappearance.

"Everyone is interesting to us if they have had any contact or knowledge of Camille," Argyle said Thursday during the first official press conference since the BYU senior disappeared Aug. 30. "I wouldn't use the term 'suspect' or 'person of interest.' Everyone is interesting to us if they have had contact."

Cleverley was last seen about 5 p.m. riding her bike north on 900 East in Provo near the LDS Missionary Training Center.

Police denied they were holding specific individuals in connection with Cleverley's disappearance, but, Argyle said, they have talked to more than 40 people.

David Sperry, Cleverley's boyfriend of nearly five months, was given a computerized voice-stress analysis by police and has cooperated with the investigation.