Middlebury, Vermont - February 11, 2008

Middlebury College students returned to campus Monday for the first day of the spring semester to news that one of their classmates was missing.


"There's quite a lot of concern among students," said Tim Spears, dean of the college. "They're worried about where Nicholas might be. They'd like to see him again."


19-year-old Nicholas Garza is a first-year student from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Police said he has not been seen or heard from since last Tuesday night. But he wasn't reported missing until late Sunday night, when his mother called campus security to say she hadn't heard from her son in a week.


The college was on a mid-term break, so school officials said it's not unusual for students to leave campus. The fact that no one had seen him did not raise any suspicions until his mother alerted police. The initial investigation revealed he has not used his cell phone or his credit card. Police were not ready to call Garza's disappearance a sign of trouble.


"We just don't know where he is and nobody seems to know where he is," Chief Tom Hanley said. "We're looking for anybody who might be able to help us. We're not making any determinations, we're just looking."


Garza was last seen at what police describe as a "social gathering" in one of the dorms last Tuesday night . Police have been interviewing students, including those who were with him that night, hoping they can provide a clue as to what may have happened to him. Police and members of the fire department and community emergency response team were on campus for about two hours Monday night, searching common routes and areas they thought he may have gone.


"We had certain areas we wanted to search," Hanley said. "What we don't want to do is contaminate any areas when we're bringing different technical assets in. We wanted to do a good cursory search, a good visible search, to see if there's anything that might indicate where this individual went."


Police plan to continue searching the campus Tuesday, bringing in dogs and some specialized equipment. One problem hampering their search: Middlebury has gotten nearly two feet of snow since last Tuesday, so that could be covering up any clues.


Garza's family was traveling from New Mexico to Vermont to assist in the search.


Anyone who has any information is asked to call the Middlebury Police Department at 802-388-3191.

Kate Duffy - WCAX News

here is the link for the video
http://www.wcax.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=2185949&h1=Search%20for%20Missing%20Student&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=135833&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=14930316