Burnt Church teen search 'looking good'

Police and community membersremain hopeful after two weeks ofsearching for a teen missing in northeastern New Brunswick.

Hilary Bonnell, 16, of Eskinuopitijk First Nation disappeared on Sept. 5.

A Facebook group with nearly 15,000 members is helping the community of 1,400 in the search.

New information is coming in every day and police are following up onleads, said RCMP Const. Franois Poirier.

"I just have a good feeling," he said.

"The case is progressing. By that I mean we can actually discard some information that we've received, and we can narrow down the path of the investigation, and that's what we want. We don't want to go too large.

"We just want to narrow down a lead, a start actually, a lead point that we can start with. It's looking good."

The RCMP will reassess on Sunday whether the police helicopter and dogs are still needed in the search, said Poirier. They have been used since Thursday.

Community members are turning to each other for support during the search, said band councillor Curtis Bartibogue, who is also Bonnell'scousin.

"When our community is in crisis, we come together most of the times, regardless of what your differences were in the past, or political differences," he said.

"It just shows, First Nations communities stick together in a lot of things when they're in times of crisis or hardship."

Hilary was last seen walking along Highway 11 at about 7:30 a.m. AT on Sept. 5. She disappeared after attending a party with friends the night before on the Eskinuopitijk First Nation,known as Burnt Church.

The community has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to her return.

Bonnell is aboriginal, has dark eyes and black, shoulder-length hair. She is five feet fiveinches tall and weighs about 134 pounds. She was last seen wearing a purple T-shirt, a black sweater, jean shorts and sandals.