Abduction of nursing student sparks major hunt, as star cousin appeals for information | Herald Sun

MORE than 900 volunteers were involved in a search for a missing 20-year-old nursing student in west Tennessee today, as authorities revealed they have received more than 250 tip-offs but have no suspects in the abduction mystery.

Holly Bobo, from the small community of Parsons, Tennessee, was last seen by her brother Clint, 25, about 7.30am on Wednesday. He told police he saw her walking into the woods with a man he only saw from the back and incorrectly assumed to be her boyfriend.

It was only after finding blood outside that he was prompted to call police - sparking a major investigation into what is believed to be a kidnapping.

A reward of $25,000 for information leading to Ms Bobo's return and the arrest of her kidnapper was announced last night.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John Mehr said neither Ms Bobo's brother or boyfriend were suspects in the case, the Mason County Daily News reported. Authorities today said they had no leads on the identity of Bobo's abductor.

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Encouraged by input so far, law enforcement officials held a press conference today to urge the community, of just a couple of thousand residents about 70km west of Jackson, to provide any information that could help find Ms Bobo, FOXNews.com reported.

Much of the investigation appears to be focused on trying to identify a vehicle that may have been used during the incident.

The suspect may have cleaned out his car or reported the car or ATV stolen, said Kristin Helm, a public information officer for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. She noted that the kidnapper may have also changed the vehicle's tires.

The kidnapper's movement and travel in the community has led authorities to believe that Ms Bobo and the kidnapper are in a vehicle.

"He's most likely a resident in this community," Ms Helm said. "And this is a tight-knitted community where people know each other."

Hundreds of Parsons community volunteers have searched the woods for Ms Bobo, and found her lunchbox and other unspecified belongings about 12.8km from her house yesterday.

"You can imagine when you have 900 people volunteering here yesterday [on Saturday local time] that they are going to find a lot things, some that's trash, some that's related to the investigation," Ms Helm said. "We do believe there are other things related, but we will not disclose them at this time."

Law enforcement officials said they have received 250 leads that are currently being investigated.

Today Ms Bobo's cousin, rising country star Whitney Duncan, took to microblogging site Twitter to appeal for the safe return of her family member, RadarOnline reported.

"Lord, lead us to Holly today," she posted.

"Still searching … we CANNOT give up y'all!!!!"

"We are offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with info leading to the safe return of Holly," she wrote. "Please help us. Thank u."

via heraldsun.com.au