The search for Shaker High School teacher Meghan Marohn will resume Monday afternoon in the heavily wooded western Massachusetts park where her car was found last week, police said.
The 42-year-old missing woman’s family has created a website and is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to her safe return.
Marohn’s relatives encouraged people to examine footage from home, business or dashboard cameras for any sign that her car — a Black 2017 Subaru Imprezza — that might have been captured March 27 on the streets of Lee or Stockbridge, where her car was found parked later at Longcope Park hiking trails.
Efforts to reach her family have not been successful.
The website is not an official part of the police investigation but authorities are aware that the family established the site and will investigate any tips that it generates, Police Chief Craig DeSantis said.
DeSantis said the search for Marohn will resume later Monday. He characterized the matter as a missing person’s investigation.
“Until we complete our investigation, nothing is completely ruled out,” he said, adding later, “I don’t believe there’s a credible threat to the community, but it is an open investigation.”
Marohn, who lives in Bethlehem, has not been seen since March 26, when she traveled to Stockbridge, police have said.
Police and search-and-rescue teams spent several days last week searching the densely wooded terrain at the 46-acre park and expected to comb through the land again on Monday. The search was halted over the weekend. No sign of Marohn was found.
“It’s dense in spots with vegetation,” DeSantis said, adding that a searcher could “pass within a small distance and not even see our missing person.”
Authorities said last week that they’ve brought an “enormous” amount of resources to the investigation including State Police drones and police dogs to search the area. The Berkshire Mountain search-and-rescue team helped with the effort which is focused on two square miles near where her car was located. Authorities are discouraging outside help with the searching, noting it could compromise their efforts.
Marohn is an avid hiker and authorities said they believe she was alone, saying it was not unusual for her to hike on her own. They believe she checked into a local hotel the night before heading out in the park.
While authorities said they have found no physical evidence, they are using cell phone data to establish search parameters, which they believe she had with her. They said they have evidence of activity on her cell phone after she parked the car.
For several years, Marohn has worked as an English teacher at the Colonie school.