Family, friends join search for Ohio woman in Salvo

Officers from local, state and federal agencies were joined by nine of Lynn Jackenheimer’s family and friends Thursday to search in Salvo for any clues connected with the disappearance of the Ohio woman.

After searching portions of the Hatteras Colony neighborhood of the village during a rainy morning, efforts were focused on a section of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Members of the Dare County Sheriff’s Office, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and Duck police departments, the Highway Patrol and the National Park Service scoured the neighborhood where Jackenheimer, 33, and her former boyfriend, Nate Summerfield, 27, were vacationing during the week of July 4.

The pair, along with Jackenheimer’s two children, rented a house for one week near the corner of Cutlass Lane and Colony Drive.

“We have searched the house four times but we found nothing,” said Dare County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Steve Hoggard.

Summerfield checked out of the rental on July 6, one day early. He returned to Ashland, Ohio with the two children, and was last seen on bank surveillance photos alone in his 1999 Honda Civic. In a 911 call, his brother, Jake, said Summerfield had told him he had strangled Jackenheimer.

Two warrants obtained in Dare County to search cell phone records said she might have been buried in the area.

The house is not rented this week but was visited by a cleaning crew on Saturday, well before the time police received the first indication of the disappearance.

Vacationers staying in adjacent houses all arrived after Summerfield checked out last week.

A search was conducted of the same areas Monday in the air and on the ground, and included the use of dogs.

Thursday morning, the search was concentrated in undeveloped lots east of N.C. 12, between Rampart Street and Galleon Drive, along with the dunes in front of oceanfront homes.

In the afternoon, officers were joined by Jackenheimer’s father-in-law, sister, brother and six friends who drove through the night from Ashland, Ohio to the Outer Banks in two vehicles to begin looking around the Salvo Day Use Area, south of the village.

All nine were wearing white T-shirts bearing Jackenheimer’s picture and the words “Hope for Lynn” on the front. On the back: “Hope . . . without it you have NOTHING With it you have everything!”

A rental company has donated a house in Avon for the Ohio group to stay in through Saturday and has offered to find them another if they wish to stay longer.

After a short meeting with investigators inside the Dare County Sheriff’s Office mobile command center, Jackenheimer’s acquaintances headed out for a short briefing from the officers in charge of the search.

They broke into two groups to try and scour the one-time National Park Service campground, with one set concentrating along the area near N.C. 12, and the other closer to the soundside.

Weaving through over head-high brush and small trees, the searchers looked for signs of overturned sand and soil, or any items that may indicate Jackenheimer had been in the area.

No clues were found during any of the searches Thursday. More are planned for Friday and will include using boats to cruise along the Pamlico Sound shoreline.

Several visitors and locals volunteered their assistance throughout the day to help with the search, but officials have declined, instead asking that anyone who may have had contact last week with Jackenheimer, Summerfield or the two children to contact authorities.

The owner of the business where Jackenheimer worked in Ashland, Ohio, along with friends and family, have raised over $8,000 for a reward for information on her whereabouts.

---