Search Party for Missing Menifee Boy Grows Close to 1,000

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department continues to bring in more manpower and equipment, including all-terrain vehicles, and hundreds of volunteers are searching a 16-square-mile area for a missing 11-year-old Menifee boy.

Terry Smith has been missing since Saturday night, when he was last seen by his brother walking on Helen Lane near his home in Menifee. Since then, the search has grown to include a citizen volunteer search effort, multiple law enforcement and rescue agencies and regional television coverage.

"We have a lot of volunteers joining in the search and we are getting help from media outlets in getting the word out," said Deputy Albert Martinez. "We have a command post here and a separate volunteer command post. That's how big this effort is.

"We were way over 500 volunteers yesterday and I wouldn't be surprised if we had 1,000 people involved in this search today."

The volunteer effort is much more organized today than it was a day ago. Then, an estimated 700 volunteers showed up at the command post set up in front of Menifee Market, located on Scott Road just east of Murrieta Road, near where the boy was last seen. Today, even more people are lining up and are being asked to register so search coordinators can put them in groups and track them more effectively.

"We're trying to support law enforcement and be more effective and organized than we were yesterday," said Sarah Reid, a local resident who is coordinating volunteer efforts and monitoring the Facebook page Find Terry Smith. "Yesterday, we didn't have time to put it together effectively. Now we see what needs to be done."

Donations of food and drink items have poured in from local residents and businesses. Thousands of fliers with Terry's picture are posted around town. Many leads are being checked out by police -- some credible, some simply social media rumor -- but so far there is no sign of the boy.

Martinez said as part of the investigation, members of the family have been interviewed and are cooperating. This includes the boy's mother, Shawna Smith, and his stepbrother, Skylor Atalano. The boy's father, Terry Dewayne Smith Sr., lives out of state and is not considered a suspect, Martinez said.

"We are in contact with the family," Martinez said. "The stepbrother has been cooperative. He's saying the same thing to us that he has said in the media."

Skylor Atalano told Menifee 24/7 he was alone at home with his stepbrother Saturday night when he left to visit a friend. He said the boy started to follow him, but he sent him home and watched him walk that way. Both Skylor and Shawna Smith said they returned home later and assumed the boy was in bed. They noticed him missing the next morning.

Martinez said an Amber Alert has not been issued because there is no evidence this has been a child abduction. A press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. to provide updates.

Reid said a fund has been established at Wells Fargo Bank for donations to the volunteer search effort. The money is being used for supplies for the volunteer searchers.

"The family is not being given any money," Reid said. "We have a committee that decides how this money should be spent. We've had to pay for a roll-off trash container and we may have to start paying for the porta-potties. A lot of supplies are needed.

"If everyone donated just $5, think of how much that would help."

Donations may be made at Wells Fargo Bank in Menifee to the Find Terry Smith fund, account No. 8285217090.