BROWNVILLE –  Alex Mayfield’s family members organized a candlelight vigil Wednesday on the bank of the Missouri River where officials found a submerged Jeep and the body of the 43-year-old Auburn man this summer. They have waited eight weeks since then for autopsy results and are questioning whether the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office is taking the situation lightly.

Faith Allgood: “We know who Alex was. I mean she grew up with him her entire life and he’s been around since I was a baby. We know that Alex wouldn’t do this not only to himself, but to his family as well. We know there has to be more to it and we’re not going to give up until we get those answers.”

 

Amanda Powell: “They just keep telling us it was an accident.”

How do they know it was an accident?

Allgood: “That’s a great question.”

Powell: “We don’t know how they know it was an accident.”

Sheriff Brent Lottman said his office has not determined it was an accident. He said they are waiting for autopsy and toxicology reports and will update the family when they have the results.

He said a cell phone ping gave authorities a sense of Mayfield’s direction of travel and Nemaha County’s experience with the 2010 disappearance of Peru State College freshman Ty Thomas prompted investigators to contact a swiftwater search and rescue crew from the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Lottman said communications with the family were ongoing, but the narrative at the vigil had a different tone.

 

 

Allgood: “We just kept searching and I think that went on for four or five days before we were led here because people were saying that the cops were pulling him out of the river. We had no idea.”

Allgood: “We organized the search party. We organized the community, trying to get everyone together. We made the maps. We made everything for the search party to be successful. It just so happened that two hours before the search party was set to happen  the police decided they wanted to be a part of it. Other than that, they have not set up anything. They have not given us any answers.

Powell: “Even simple questions as to the training of the deputies in charge.”

Allgood: “They have refused to answer or told us it was going to be a waste of time.”

Powell: “And then he offered us a complaint form, which was upsetting to feel like you don’t have that backing.”

 Powell said she does not think the sheriff’s office took the disappearance seriously from the start because Alex had suffered a brain injury and had made questionable decisions in the past. She says a private investigator was hired, but did not receive cooperation. Now, she fears, critical evidence may be slipping way while investigators wait on a cause of death.

Powell: “As you can imagine, very frustrated. I understand they don’t do this every day. I wish that they would let people help. I wish they would have let the P.I. help. I wish that the state patrol was involved.

Allgood: “We’re wishing for a lot, but even if they gave us a little we would feel a lot better about this.”

The sheriff’s says closure may come with the final forensic reports.