PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Craig Akers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phone: 573 678-2999
6:00 PM CST, November 21, 2002

Search & Rescue Team Surpasses 16,500 Volunteer Hours

Richwoods, MO – November 21, 2002 – The Shawn Hornbeck Search and Rescue Team announced today that they have surpassed the 16,500 person-hour mark in their search efforts.

A total of 1269 different volunteers have helped with the search, logging over 7,600 hours covering every type of terrain and weather condition imaginable. The search has led them to at least 7 different counties in Missouri, covering thousands of acres of hilly, heavily wooded terrain.

The search and rescue team command staff, comprised of twelve family members, friends and volunteers, has logged an additional 8,900 hours in the search, for a total of over 16,500 volunteer hours to date.

The Akers family would like to express their most heartfelt appreciation to all of the volunteers and contributors who have made this massive search effort possible. With your help we will keep our promise to find our son and bring him home.

A toll-free information hotline was also established today – anyone with information concerning Shawn’s disappearance or his whereabouts is asked to contact the Command Center at 866 400-5353 or 573 678-2999.

Shawn Hornbeck, 11, was last seen riding his bike Oct. 6 near his home in rural Richwoods, Mo., about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. Shawn is 4’-8” tall, weighs 90 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing blue jeans, an orange T-shirt with the word “Astros” in black lettering on the front, and white Nike tennis shoes with a blue Nike emblem on the sides. His bicycle is a 20” lime green 21-speed mountain bike with the lettering “Next” and “ShockZone” on the frame.