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Volunteers, Authorities Search For Missing Bride

Thu Jul 18, 9:55 AM ET

Volunteers helped Galveston County sheriff's deputies in their search Wednesday for a 23-year-old bride last seen near her church.

Volunteers with the Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team mounted their horses and began searching parts of Galveston County for Sarah Trusty who has been missing for several days.

"We've got some real concerns," EquuSearch Director Tim Miller said. "We need a lot of help out here, and we just want to find her one way or another. Of course, we prefer to find her alive."

Sheriff's investigators told News2Houston that Trusty was last seen Friday night leaving her residence on Avenue E in the town of Algoa in Galveston County.

During the evening hours, Trusty went for a walk, then a bicycle ride, and was seen after 11 p.m. near the First Baptist Church Algoa, located on Orange Street, authorities said.

Deputies said that Trusty did make a phone call to her ex-husband that night, and that her bicycle was found in the foyer of the church Saturday morning.

"There are all these factors that would not lead somebody to believe that (she) would just leave," Galveston County sheriff's Sgt. Randall Burrows said.

Trusty's husband, William, said that he married her just three weeks ago, after having known her and her 5-year-old daughter for only a month.

He said that the last time her saw her was at the church.

"Her grandmother cleans this church, and she found her bicycle in the church," William Trusty said.

Family members said that they are also puzzled her disappearance.

"I can't see either. She's got a daughter and she never misses a minute she can spend with her daughter," said Walker Lewis, Sarah Trusty's father. "We're all tore up. We miss her. We miss my baby."

"We've got a lot of people looking," Lewis said. "Should somebody have her, they might as well give it up because they're not going to win. They're not going to win this one."

"I think that people who are lost or missing deserve (our) best effort. In most cases, they don't have a choice so I'm just here trying to give something back," said Shelly Swedlew, a search volunteer.

Searchers thought they had a lead when someone reported a foul odor in a field across the street from the church.

After a brief search, investigators ruled out any connection.

"It turned out to be rotting fish. So it's another unfounded lead at this point," said Sgt. Randle Burrows with the Galveston County Sheriff's Department.

Sarah Trusty's ex-husband is currently taking care of their daughter.

Deputies described Trusty as being about 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, with hazel eyes and light brown hair.