LA VISTA, Neb. (KMTV) — Ryan Larsen has been missing for over three weeks. He is believed to have walked out of his school, La Vista West Elementary, on Monday, May 17. Police as well as other agencies they have enlisted for help such as fire departments, dive teams and FBI, have been searching for Larsen ever since.
La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten said, right now, they are combing through video surveillance.
"We had a roadblock come up with a couple of key places where we need to see video from. A couple places, their corporate legal has stonewalled us a little bit with getting access to video so we’ve had to go through a subpoena process with at least two locations where we need to see video from. As much as the community has supported us and we’ve been able to look at a lot of video, there are a few places where we need to see that’s taken us a different route to get there," Lausten said.
Lausten said without many leads, the search is delayed and becomes difficult.
The police department has reviewed video surveillance from La Vista Keno, which caught footage of what is believed to be Larsen around 1:40 p.m. the day he went missing. He was also spotted in his apartment complex by a neighbor in that same time frame. The police department has sent off that video footage to the FBI for enhancement. Lausten said they should receive it back this week.
While agencies are working tirelessly to find Larsen, Lausten said it's perplexing that those are the only possible sightings.
"It’s frustrating. We have a young man, he’s here and then he’s gone. To me, somebody knows something. Somebody knows what happened to Ryan, somebody knows where he went. I find it hard that he just wandered," Lausten said. "It’s frustrating but we have a lot of behind the scenes things we’re doing to bring this case to a resolution and find out where he’s at and bring him home."
Police have thoroughly interviewed about 50 people and are considering all possible scenarios. Lausten said they've expanded their look into sex offenders in the area of Larsen's neighborhood. They've enlisted help from the Nebraska State Patrol to look into the activities of sex offenders in the Omaha Metro area.
Lausten said this case is unusual and said a case like this hasn't happened in the area before. He said the case has shown him a need for a Sarpy County rescue and dive team.
"I think we’ve developed, to me, a need for a search and rescue dive team in Sarpy County. Looking at the bodies of water now and taking a critical look at how many there are in this county, I think law enforcement and fire personnel need to come together with a county-wide strategy for a dive team," Lausten said.
The police department is still asking for the community to come forward with any information they may have regarding Larsen. You can call them at (402) 331-1582.
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