Community Unites to Search for Kidnapped Samantha Koenig (UPDATED)

The bigger the sign, the bigger the message

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By Heather Hintze
Bio | Email By Corey Allen-Young

Story Created: Feb 6, 2012 at 8:17 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Feb 9, 2012 at 10:29 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - UPDATE Tuesday 1:45 - It has been six days since Samantha Koenig disappeared from a Midtown coffee stand. Anchorage police say the 18-year-old barista was kidnapped while she worked at Coffee Grounds Espresso. Now Koenig's friends and family members are taking matters into their own hands.

With a combination of foot searches, signs being posted and flyers being distributed, it’s truly a community-wide effort that has only one goal in mind: finding Samantha and bringing her home.


It’s a mission to find Samantha that Jeremy Canaday says he is more than willing to help out with.
On Monday night Jeremy was one of dozens putting up signs and walking on foot to find anything and anybody who might know what happened to her.


The Air Force Staff Sergeant and soon-to-be-dad is looking high and low because he says it could have easily been someone he loves. “It kind of hits home having somebody who’s come up missing,” said Canaday. “It’s like somebody is missing their daughter.”


“Please bring her back to us; I’m begging you,” said Samantha’s mom Darlene Christiansen.
Friends and neighbors are doing whatever it takes to bring her back to her family. It’s help that's coming from all over.


Action Sign and Graphics donated the five large signs and the assortment of people who went all over town donating their time to knock on doors, look in snow piles, and even garages to find Samantha. Police say helping out is okay, but people should leave the investigating to them so they can make sure whoever did this crime is caught. Anyone with information about Samantha and this case should call police at 786-8900.
 

PREVIOUS - It's day five in the search for Samantha Koenig, the barista who police said was kidnapped from the Midtown coffee stand February 1.

Nearly every coffee shop in Anchorage has flyers of Koenig’s kidnapping in its windows. In the past two days, thousands of flyers have been printed and passed out in hope of bringing Koenig home.

As customers stop by the Common Grounds coffee shop, they are also requesting flyers of their own. Koenig's co-workers are also wearing and passing out green “Bring Sammy Home” ribbons – green was the young woman’s favorite color. People who donate money to the reward fund receive a ribbon.

“Being a younger female it affects me,” said customer Stephanie Painter. “It scares me to walk around and think that someone can walk up to you with a knife or something, and have control over what happens to you.”

According to Common Grounds co-owner Tyler Duncan, this is the worst possible scenario.

“You try to do everything you can, implement all the security measures you can, you just can't be as mentally prepared as you thought you might be,” said Duncan.

To send a bigger message, family and friends enlisted the help of Action Signs and Graphics.
”Anytime something like this happens it doesn’t just affect the family, it affects all of us,” said Action Sign & Graphics' Allyn Wilson.

The company donated five 4x8 foot signs - normally costing a few hundred dollars a piece. This act is something the company said is worth the money, because you can’t put a price on a missing person.

“They're overwhelmed right now,” said Wilson. “The main thing is it's been several days, we have to get something happening. If this helps in any way, shape or form – for the amount of money we're talking about it's nothing. If it was my kid out there, this would be wonderful to have someone help out in this way.”

The family has set up a Facebook page for the latest updates on the search for Koenig.

Police want to talk to anyone who might have been in the Alaska Club parking lot between 7 and 9 p.m. Wednesday evening.

 
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