August 29, 2004 in Region

Search for 3-year-old turns to pond

Associated Press
 

MISSOULA – A pond became the focus of efforts to find a 3-year-old boy Saturday after a ground search turned up no sign of the child, missing since Thursday.

Divers planned to search Kreis Pond in the Ninemile Valley northwest of here, said Sgt. Dave Ball of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department.

“We have covered 100 percent of our ground search area,” Ball said Saturday. “We’re going to cover that pond up there with divers.”

Ball said equipment was used earlier to check the pond for any sign of Kenney Gerken, whose mother reported he wandered away from a campsite in the pond area Thursday as she cooked dinner.

The search has included use of helicopters with thermal imaging units.

Authorities had said they wanted to find the child’s biological father, Kenneth B. Smith, who lives in Thermopolis, Wyo. Ball said the possibility that Smith came to Montana and took the boy to Wyoming had to be considered.

“To my knowledge, he (Smith) has not been found,” Ball said. “We haven’t ruled out yet that the father may have come and got him, but that’s all speculation.”

Authorities said the child, mother Karinda Gerken, a baby and a man had been camping at Kreis Pond for several days.

© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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