WINNIPEG — Police are searching for two witnesses named Derek and Brittany in the case of missing Winnipeg teen, Cooper Nemeth.
At a media conference Wednesday afternoon, police said the two may have been with Nemeth before he went missing early Sunday. The two were driving a white Honda Civic, police said.
“We have not been able to track them down and would like to talk to them,” Detective Sgt. Shaunna Neufeld from the Missing Persons Unit said . “They are witnesses in this investigation.”
According to his family, Nemeth played in a hockey game Saturday night with the River East Marauders, before heading to a friend’s house on Amelia Crescent with a 22-year-old man, who his family has said is known to police.
It is believed he left the party between 12:30 a.m. and 2 a.m., with the man possibly going to a second party at an unknown address in the Sun Valley area.
Nemeth’s parents were at the media conference, pleading for anyone with information to come forward.
“We are concerned for his safety,” said Nemeth’s father while tearing up. “This is out of character for him to be gone this long.”
READ MORE: Family of missing teen in need of search volunteers
For the past two days , hundreds of volunteers have packed into the Gateway Recreation Centre to head out door-to-door handing out posters with Nemeth’s face on it, hoping someone in the area might recognize the missing teen.
The search is also continuing Wednesday afternoon. Nemeth’s family posted a plea on social media on Wednesday saying they are in “absolutely desperate” need of search volunteers.
“We need a massive amount of volunteers today for an aggressive search for Cooper Nemeth,” the family said in a Facebook post. “We want to hand out flyers door-to-door, and we need to start combing the river areas, creeks, parks and spruce trees areas.”
The search has also extended into social media, with friends using the hashtag #findcip to encourage others to share information. By Wednesday morning the family had set up a Facebook group “Come Home Cip” and set up a website.
Wednesday evening the website, FindCip.com posted an update telling searchers to focus efforts in the downtown area near Siloam Mission after a lead was received.
On Monday, Sayles told Global News her nephew has been struggling with depression, anxiety and ADHD over the past year.
Nemeth is six feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds with an average build, short brown hair and brown eyes, Winnipeg police said.
His disappearance is under “active investigation,” police have said.
Nemeth was last seen wearing a black jacket with a River East Marauders hockey logo on the front.
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