Combing canyon for BYU student: Police analyze prints on bicycle

PROVO — While volunteers comb canyons and neighborhoods for any clues that would help find a missing Brigham Young University student, police are analyzing fingerprints found on a significant piece of evidence — a bicycle that may have belonged to the 22-year-old woman.

Camille Cleverley disappeared Aug. 30 and was last seen that evening riding north on 900 East on her purple and silver Schwinn bicycle. The bike was turned in late Thursday by two people who said they took the bike from the Bridal Veil Falls area, then turned it in to police when they saw on the news that Cleverley was missing.

"We can't confirm for sure, but it's the same make, model as hers," said Provo Police Lt. John Geyerman. The pair who turned the bike in were interviewed but are not people of interest.

They simply committed a "crime of opportunity," Geyerman said. He said they will not be cited because they brought the bike to police, instead of dumping it.

Police searched the Bridal Veil Falls area Thursday night and all day Friday and are also working with Schwinn to compare serial numbers of the bike found in the canyon and bikes the company might have sold in the Provo area.

On Friday, nearly 40 officers from Provo and Utah County search-and-rescue teams were on the Provo Canyon mountain. Some were placed at the top by helicopter to conduct a search from top down, said Provo Police Capt. Dave Bolda.

Nunns Park in Provo Canyon was closed and lined with police tape. A Utah County sheriff's deputy guarded the entrance, turning away longboarders, walkers and bikers as teams searched the mountain on foot and with dogs.

As crews searched the canyons, hundreds arrived at BYU to help. Groups were organized and sent out to knock and doors and put up posters.

"I'm helping do a search for Camille Cleverley. Have you seen her?" asked Ashleigh McDougal at one apartment in Provo.

She held up a flyer with Cleverley's picture and then described the bike. "If you see her anywhere, please don't hesitate to call police."

McDougal and her sister Lyndsay and their friend Amy Redd covered a block from University Avenue to 100 East and from 400 to 500 North, knocking on every door and noting who wasn't home. They looked through bushes, peered in car windows and opened every trash and recycling can.

"You just never know," said Redd. "You can't give up hope, for the family's sake."