Search continuing for missing snowmobiler

UPDATED: Volunteers looking for a snowmobiler missing since Sunday may have a few new clues, but they're asking other snowmobilers to confirm they're valid.

“This is really critical,” said Scott Ramspott. “This puts him the area.”

Searchers have been looking for Martin Davis since he told his girlfriend he was going for a short snowmobile ride south of Cedar Rapids late Sunday afternoon.

Ramspott said a neighbor in the Country Estates subdivision overlooking Coralville Lake spotted a single snowmobiler having trouble with the machine between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday on the frozen lake. Searchers also found boxes that could have contained spark plugs for Davis' machine on the opposite shore, on the Lake McBride Recreational Area peninsula.

Another witness reported seeing a snowmobiler in the Sugar Bottom area about the same time, Ramspott said.

Any snowmobiler who had mechanical trouble or changed plugs on or near Lake Macbride Sunday afternoon is asked to call Ramspott at (319) 329-7768. Doing so would enable searchers to disregard the sighting and boxes as signs of Davis.

Davis, 52, lives on Club Road SW between The Eastern Iowa Airport and the Airport National Golf Course. Searchers at first believed he rode toward a bar on trails and back roads, but have since shifted to search nearer Davis' home.

Image contributed by Scott Ramspott