After nearly four full days of searches by hundreds of volunteers and more than a half-dozen agencies, Annandale High School senior Aaliyah Kazimer was found alive and well in St. Cloud on Wednesday evening, May 17.
It was a turn of events that one family member told media was as surreal as her original disappearance.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday Kazimer approached a third party at Munsinger Gardens, just a short distance from search headquarters at Riverside Park, and asked to use a phone. The two dialed the phone number on a missing person flyer, and her aunt Michelle King’s cell phone rang at the search headquarters.
When King answered, she heard Kazimer crying and saying, "It’s me, Aaliyah. It’s me, it’s me, Aaliyah."
"Michelle got a little overwhelmed with everything and handed me the phone, so I talked to the gentleman who had called her," said Sarah Syverson of the volunteer search organization United Legacy. "It was very exciting. This is a first for our organization, to find someone still alive. So it was great to be able to be able to see the expression on everyone’s faces, the happy tears rather than the sad tears. It was kind of a fun moment, although I don’t know if fun is the right word to use. I don’t think the smile left her dad’s face at all."
Emergency medical personnel and law enforcement were notified, and Syverson took King and another family member in her vehicle while the rest of the family followed for the reunification.
"(Kazimer) was pretty shaken up, but she was OK as far as I could tell," said Syverson. "They did take her to the hospital just as a precaution."
Although phone calls to several family members were not returned or family members were not available when called after Kazimer was found, the family did release a pair of statements on a website dedicated to finding her.
"As a family, we would like each of you to know how much your love has touched our lives," they said. "Our deepest gratitude for your prayers, kind words of encouragement and for volunteering in more capacities than we can ever name."
The search
Hopes of finding Kazimer alive had dimmed with each passing day.
She was last seen on Saturday evening, May 13, at a home in St. Cloud, but relatives and friends lost contact with her after that. She was reported missing on Sunday afternoon, and family members found her unoccupied vehicle at Riverside Park in St. Cloud late Sunday night, May 14.
Her vehicle contained her keys, phone and a bag, but she was nowhere to be found. A K-9 unit tracked Kazimer’s scent from the vehicle to the Mississippi River a short distance away, then lost the scent.
Police and family members began a search that included combing the riverbanks, donning waders to search within the river, and using boats, kayaks and other craft to examine numerous islands in the area. At least one drone was also put to use.
Volunteers printed and distributed numerous flyers around the area, and others brought in donated food, water and other supplies to keep family members and others based at Riverside Park up and running. A fundraising website was also set up that helped to cover costs related to various materials used in the search.
"There is so much love and there is so much grace right now that I feel it. It keeps me going, and I thank you. It keeps the family going," said Aaliyah’s father, Mike Kazimer, on Wednesday morning.
At the same time, before his daughter was found, Mike Kazimer said there was only one source of ultimate comfort in a nightmarish situation.
"Each and every day is a blessing. Each and every day brings peace. And each and every day strength is built through the Lord’s steadfast love," he said. "It’s what keeps everyone going. For me, it’s the only way."
Big turnout
Kazimer’s cousin Melissa Goldsmith was one of the main organizers behind the search effort.
"It’s kind of surreal. It’s like your worst case scenario of CSI, the worst episode you’ve ever seen, and then you’re in the middle of that, living it, so there’s clearly a lot of emotion involved," she said on Wednesday morning. "For me personally, I’m just trying to stuff that down right now and trying to be really tactical and intentional in organizing things and getting things squared away as quickly as we can."
More than 120 people came out to search on Monday, and on Tuesday another 200 to 300 volunteers were on hand. That number reached approximately 80 on Wednesday before Kazimer was found, and a prayer service organized by Annandale Evangelical Free Church Wednesday evening at the Riverside Park pavilion was attended by another few hundred people, according to United Legacy.
"People are just coming in droves to volunteer. It’s just new face after new face," said Goldsmith on Wednesday morning. "You try to memorize names and faces, but it’s just become a blur as far as how many we’ve had. It’s sheet after sheet. We sent out 10 different groups yesterday, and we had one group as big as 27 that was going out.
"We’ve had a great turnout from Annandale High School and other neighboring areas. There were people up from Maple Lake and from other different schools that she knows, or maybe people who were a friend of a friend who showed up to help. So we are really encouraged by the number of kids. It says a lot about that graduating class that they are spreading the word and have the heart to come out here and do what none of us want to be doing or hope to be doing. It really says a lot about their maturity level."
In the end, searchers covered more than 880 acres of land in St. Cloud during the search, according to the family.
"We want you to know you mattered! This compassionate community brought Aaliyah home together," said the family in its statement.
The St. Cloud Police Department said the missing person case was warranted and expressed relief at the outcome.
"From the onset of this missing person case the circumstances, including the abandoned vehicle with phone, keys and wallet inside, and the bloodhound track to the river, caused legitimate concern for Aaliyah’s welfare," police said in a statement. "As stated from the beginning, this has been a missing person investigation in which the goal is to hopefully find the individual to be alive and well. There is a great deal of relief for everyone involved that this has been the outcome in this case."
Questions and answers
Family members did not question Aaliyah initially, simply rejoicing in her recovery. Questions did come from the St. Cloud Police, however, who released some information Thursday morning, May 18.
Police said there was nothing criminal in nature regarding Kazimer’s disappearance, that she had left of her own accord and that while she had opportunities to contact her family and friends she did not do so.
Police added that Kazimer intentionally left her belongings in her vehicle and that she had spent the time that she was missing with an adult male acquaintance in a house in St. Cloud.
Neither individual, police said, appeared to be aware of the large-scale reporting of her status as a missing person.
Later the same day, in response to additional questions through online channels, the Kazimer family released a second statement providing more information.
The family said that Kazimer was in a "vulnerable life position" when she was approached by a 26-year-old man at the park who was a stranger. The family said the man had a previous criminal record. Kazimer agreed to take a motorcycle ride with him to another park, and eventually to his residence, which did not have internet, phone or television service.
When she contacted her family on Wednesday evening shortly after 5 p.m., the family said she was "hysterical, screaming and crying" and continued sobbing until taken away by ambulance for a medical checkup.
"There are many questions that linger," said Kazimer’s uncle Jeremy King in a Facebook post. "We are disappointed that the Saint Cloud PD press release could not include (for legal reasons) more of the narrative."
King added that in the time since information was released after Kazimer’s recovery that hurtful things were said online, but that the family continues to "stand in God’s grace and the truth."
Kazimer did not participate in the Annandale High School graduation ceremony on Friday, May 19.
"Aaliyah is currently receiving the care that she needs and we are working on a plan to give her a future of health and wholeness," King said. "Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support. We are so grateful to have found her alive and ask that you continue to pray for Aaliyah and for our family."
■ Agencies and organizations that aided in the search included the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department, the Minnesota DNR, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Department, the Annandale Police Department, Crossmon Consulting LLC, United Legacy, the Jacob Wetterling Foundation and the Annandale Evangelical Free Church.