A very somber news conference by the Knox County Ohio Sheriff David Barber Wednesday, who admitted there is not much new to report, one week after four people went missing from Mount Vernon Ohio.  One of the four, a 13 year old girl, was found alive on Sunday morning.  The other three, the teen’s mother, brother and family friend, are still unaccounted for.

“Unfortunately the reality that these folks may not be alive is becoming more and more prevalent simply because there’s been no word from these folks, there’s no credit card activity, there’s no cellphone activity since this event occurred last week” said Sheriff Barber.

30 year old Matthew Hoffman was arrested, accused of kidnapping the teenager, but police say he’s now being represented by a public defender, and isn’t talking to them much.

The Sheriff gave descriptions of the clothing the missing three were wearing when they were last seen, and posted photos of cars that could have a connection to the case, in the hopes that somebody saw something that might help the investigation.

The search is consuming this small town of 16,000 people.  Friends, neighbors and strangers have come out to comb the parks, woods and alleys, searching for anything that might be connected to the missing people.  Barber said his department has gotten “a whole lot of tips” which have yielded some, but not a lot of helpful information.