Friends and family of missing woman Valerie Sifsof are out searching for her exactly three months since the day she disappeared.
More than two dozen people showed up at the Granite Creek Campground, the place she was last seen, on Sunday to search for Valerie or any signs of her.
Over a dozen searches have been conducted looking for any sign of the 43-year-old woman, but this time, the family says things are different.
"We've been waiting for the right time for two reasons," said Valerie's father, Victor Sifsof. "One, the leaves are down, and you can see out here a lot better than you had before, and number two, we know the snow is coming, and we got a short window to do our search."
One of the last time searchers were looking for Sifsof, the brush was thick and difficult to see through. As the leaves fall away, the family says this is the best chance they will get to find any clues about her July 7 disappearance.
Sunday's search was different than searches conducted in the past. Searchers were walking in a straight line, very close together, so as not to miss anything.
Another difference was that the search wasn't limited to the ground.
"We've been in the water before but not to the extent that we're doing it this time," said Victor Sifsof. "We've got 4 boats and they're going to cover as much as they can. They might stop and walk the banks and really do a thorough search. We wanted the water to drop more, but unfortunately with the elements of rain, it's fairly high."
Despite the weather not being entirely in the search crew's favor, they were holding onto hope, something they say is hard to do with so much time passing.
"The hardest part is not knowing anything," said Valerie's oldest brother James Sifsof, "Of course we want a good solution either way, but of course we're still holding out hope that she's out there somewhere. At this point we want to get some sort of resolution to find out what actually happened."
Valerie Sifsof was last seen at the Granite Creek Campground on July 7. She is 5'5" tall, weighs around 135 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a black DKNY zip-up sweatshirt with navy sweatpants and black boots. Please call the Alaska State Troopers if you have any information on her whereabouts at (907) 296-5511.
Contact Mallory Peebles
