WARRENTON, N.C. (WNCN) — Authorities in North Carolina are continuing their search for a woman who has been missing for more than two months.
Dana Leigh Mustian, 33, never showed up at her daughter’s 6th birthday party during the first weekend of December. Mustian was last seen at her Dorothy Drive home in Warrenton, about 10 miles south of the North Carolina-Virginia border, on November 30.
She had been dropped off at home by her father, according to her family. Mustian reportedly told him she loved him and would see him the next day. However, that wasn’t the case.
The family continued trying to contact Mustian, only for her phone to repeatedly send their calls straight to voicemail, they previously told Nexstar’s WNCN.
A missing persons report was filed on December 4.
“She was the life of the party. She knew everybody, everybody knew her,” Dana’s sister-in-law, Megan Mustian, told WNCN in January. At the time, she said the family had been joined by friends and community members in multiple searches for Dana.
On Saturday, crews from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, emergency management officials, a volunteer fire department, and a police department spent hours searching for Mustian.
“Water searches are being conducted, as well as ground searches and K-9 searches,” the sheriff’s office said in a post on social media.
Warren County Sheriff John Branche told WNCN that crews were searching “places of interest that we’ve been getting reports on” to find Mustian or anything related to her disappearance. Saturday’s search was the largest in the recovery efforts so far.
Megan Mustian said she and her husband, Dana’s brother, broke down Saturday morning when they heard authorities were again searching for the missing mother.
“It just meant so much that they are putting boots on the ground and doing everything they can to find her,” Megan told WNCN.
While several cadaver teams were assisting in the search, Sheriff Branche said Mustian’s case is still an active investigation.
Authorities said they weren’t able to find any leads Saturday. More search efforts could be launched in the future as the investigation continues, the sheriff’s office said.
A member of the community has offered a $5,000 cash reward to help find Mustian.
Anyone with information on Mustain’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at 252-257-3364.