3 DSU students found dead

Authorities said three Dickinson State University students who have been missing since late Sunday night were found dead at about 3 p.m. today. They were in Kyrstin Gemar's Jeep which was submerged in a stock pond northwest of Dickinson.

Searchers found the vehicle at about 4:25 p.m. today after seeing tracks leading to the pond, which is about 12-feet deep.

"The scene is still being investigated," Dickinson Police Lt. Rod Banyai said.

Gemar, 22, Ashley Neufeld, 21, and Afton Williamson, 20, who all play softball for DSU, were missing and last heard from Sunday night.

DICKINSON, N.D. -- Dive teams found no trace of three missing college softball players during a search today of a North Dakota lake where the women often went star gazing as authorities focused on tracing two cell phone calls made just before the three disappeared.

Police have refused to speculate on what might have happened to Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of San Diego; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba. The women were believed to be in a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when they were last heard from late Sunday night, authorities said.

Two friends of the Dickinson State University students received telephone calls late Sunday night before the lines went dead. Police described the first as a "very scratchy" call for help in which one of the women said they were near a lake and water.

Dickinson Police Lt. Dave Wallace said the calls came from two different phones, but authorities are not sure how many phones were in the vehicle. Authorities were trying to work with the local cell phone company to try to pin down the locations of where the calls were made, police said.

One of the friends who received the calls called 911 to report that the women needed help, police said. Foul play was not suspected in their disappearance but was not being ruled out, police said.

"I think I'm still in the shock phase," Kyrstin Gemar's father, Lenny, said today during a news conference at police headquarters. "It's really tough, especially not knowing. That's the hardest part."

Gemar said his wife, Clare, talked to their daughter late Saturday night but there was no indication that anything was wrong. He said it was not uncommon for his daughter and her friends to go star gazing on the spur of the moment.

Neufeld's father, Phil, declined comment other than to say the "cooperation and support is amazing here."

A dive team searched Patterson Lake, where the students often went to look at stars, and found nothing, Wallace said. The lake is located southwest of Dickinson, a city of 16,000 people about 100 miles west of Bismarck and 60 miles east of the Montana state line.

Police also said they searched the women's rooms and were interviewing their classmates, friends and people near Killdeer, north of Dickinson.

From what we're finding out, these are three very good girls and this is uncommon that they would do something like this," said police Lt. Rod Banyai. Authorities notified Canadian border officials and were told that the Jeep had not crossed the border, he said.

At Dickinson State, where the women were stars on the school's softball team, the mood on campus was "apprehensive" but also "guardedly optimistic," said the university's Vice President Hal Haynes. Students at the 2,700-student school led a prayer service Monday night that drew more than 300 people, he said.

"People are hopeful and doing whatever is possible to aid in this effort to find these three young ladies," he said.

The college lists Gemar as a senior business major who played third base on the softball team. Neufield is a senior outfielder who is working on a degree in psychology, and Williamson, a junior, is a pitcher majoring in psychology with a minor in coaching.

"It's scary. It's just a numbing feeling that you have for those kids. There's just so many questions -- you're almost speechless because you don't know much," Dickinson State softball coach Guy Fridley said.

Sighting of missing student's Jeep early Monday morning

DICKINSON, N.D. - Local law enforcement has completed a dive search of Patterson Lake and of the Dickinson Dike looking for three missing Dickinson State University students to no avail, they said at a press conference this morning.

Some people believe they saw them at the Buckskin Bar in Killdeer Friday night, but police could not confirm it. There have been a few sightings since then, including one at 2 a.m. Monday in the Killdeer area, police say.

Authorities are asking residents to be on the lookout for Kyrstin Gemar, 22, Ashley Neufeld, 21, and Afton Williamson, 20, who all play softball for DSU. They are believed to have been driving a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California license plate number 3UBN521. Police want people to know there is another white Jeep in the Dickinson area with California plates.

They were last heard from 11:18 p.m. Sunday night when one of the women called a friend. One minute later a woman called again and the call lasted about 30 seconds. Their phones have been dead and they haven't been heard from since. The call was linked to north of Dickinson.

Police do not suspect foul play but are not ruling it out, they say.

Local law enforcement requests any professional search agencies that would be interested in helping with the search to contact the Dickinson Police Department at 701-456-7759.

Three DSU students go missing

DICKINSON, N.D. - Three Dickinson women who often go out stargazing are missing and it is unclear where their trail will lead.

Authorities are asking residents to be on the lookout for Kyrstin Gemar, 22, Ashley Neufeld, 21, and Afton Williamson, 20, who all play softball for Dickinson State University. They are believed to have been driving a white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California license plate number 3UBN521.

Police are searching the area.

Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said the women called a friend Sunday evening to ask for help, but then the line reportedly went dead. He said the friend then called police at about 11:45 p.m.

"The deputy met the individual at Patterson Lake at which time the investigation started and has been going on all day," Tuhy said at a Monday afternoon press conference at the Law Enforcement Center in Dickinson. "From my understanding, when she got the call, they were talking something about water and some hysterical noises (were heard) in the background."

Foul play is not suspected, Tuhy said.

The women are believed to have left their residences about an hour before their friend called police, Tuhy said.

Gemar is a native of Grossmont, Calif., Neufeld is a native of Brandon, Manitoba, and Williamson is from Lake Elsinore, Calif., according to their profiles on the DSU Web site.

Chandra Christmann, a DSU student who lived with Williamson for about two months, said Monday that she thinks the women were stargazing when they went missing.

"They like to go look at the stars," Christmann said.

She added the girls travelled all over the area when stargazing and there wasn't a particular area they frequented.

"I think they try to make it a new adventure every time they do it," Christmann said.

Tuhy could not confirm what the women were doing when they went missing.

"We've had different reports on that and it's nothing that we can confirm, because we haven't had a chance to talk to these three gals," Tuhy said.

Christmann and other friends of the girls say it is unlike them to disappear.

"Softball is too important to them," Christmann said. "Afton is so close to her family that she would never intentionally do this."

The last phone call made by the women pinged off the radar base road cell phone tower northeast of Dickinson, Tuhy said. The call could have been made from up to 30 miles away, he said.

Tuhy said authorities are searching southwest North Dakota for the women from the ground and the sky.

Residents should be on the lookout for the girls and their vehicle, Tuhy said, but cautions against forming personal search parties.

"People do want to go out there and help search for them, but we encourage them not to go out and search for them," Tuhy said. "I can't stop them from going out and looking any place that they want to look."

However, he said personal search parties may interfere with the police investigation.

"Before we start getting the general public involved I'd like to have them more organized, to where everybody knows where and who and where they're going," Tuhy said.

He added if someone spots the Jeep, contact the sheriff's department or Dickinson Police Department.

"If they do spot it, don't do anything with it, just standby and give us a call," Tuhy said.

Some DSU students tried to organize a search party Monday afternoon, but were unsure whether they would search, since authorities are discouraging it.

"I feel like we should go do something," said Hilary Efta, Gemar's friend.

Stacy Schaan, a DSU student, said the situation is frustrating.

"I don't know what to do," Schaan said.

Tuhy said organizing volunteer search parties has not been discussed.

"Right now we don't even know where we're supposed to be looking," Tuhy said. "We are trying to target a big area."

Authorities have checked Patterson Lake and other bodies of water around Dickinson, but divers have not been utilized, Tuhy said.

Emergency notification calls were sent out to residents of Stark, Dunn, and Billings counties, said Brent Pringle, Stark County emergency manager.

"I would say about 7,000 were contacted," Pringle said.

An announcement to students about the matter was planned to be held on campus on Monday afternoon, said DSU President Dr. Richard McCallum.