Search paused for missing Western Iowa trucker

SAC CITY — A Louisiana-based nonprofit group that has been searching for a missing Wall Lake truck driver said it "may have exhausted any potential search locations in the area“ after over 100,000 acres have been scoured.

In a weekend Facebook post, United Cajun Navy said it has started raising funds for a reward to help locate David Schultz, 53, who vanished two days before Thanksgiving. The nonprofit organizes search-and-rescue teams, often during natural disasters, and operates local chapters.

A married father of 10-year-old twin boys, Schultz was last heard from in the early morning hours Nov. 21, according to the Lake View Police Department. He was scheduled to pick up a load of baby pigs at a confinement near Eagle Grove and deliver them to a farm near Sac City.

His semi-trailer truck was found the afternoon of Nov. 21 northeast of Sac City, parked on northbound U.S. Highway 71, near its intersection with U.S. Highway 20. The truck reportedly was turned off, but it wasn't pulled completely off the side of the road. The pigs were still in the trailer.

More than 100,000 acres in the vicinity of his route have been searched, according to the United Cajun Navy. The search began in Sac County and later was expanded to Calhoun, Webster and Wright counties. Hundreds of volunteers have turned out, with many bringing along horses or all-terrain vehicles to cover more ground.

"Searches may resume as early as Wednesday, but we need a few days to step back and find any information and work with law enforcement to find any more designated search areas," United Cajun Navy Midwest team leader Jake Rowley said in the Facebook post.

Rowley said the group has started working with a local bank and other local businesses to "try to put together as substantial of a reward fund as possible to try and bring new information to David's disappearance." The campaign is called "Make Them Squeal," a name suggested by Schultz's wife, Sarah.

Multiple law enforcement agencies have been involved in the investigation into David Schultz's disappearance, including the Sac County Sheriff's Office, the Lake View Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.