MONAHANS, Texas — It has been seven years since Chris Sanders disappeared from his home in Monahans.
Since then, many of his friends and family have been waiting for him to come back or to even get an update as to what happened to him.
Now, a group is looking to gather a search party to try and find even a slight lead into his disappearance.
Sanders initially moved to Monahans to work in the oil fields, but it was a stressful job. He had also been on medication for both bipolar disorder and high-blood pressure.
It was in August of 2017 that Sanders went for a walk and never returned home.
Now, Frank Wesseling of the Advocates for Closure is hoping to start up a search party to try and pick up any lost leads regarding Sanders' disappearance.
He has spent the past couple of weeks doing whatever research he could into his disappearance.
“Chris went missing during a certain time period and that time period could - and I say could, because we don't know yet - could correspond with the route that we think he took that is based upon on cell phone records that we have," Wesseling said. "Then there was a two hour time period he went missing at 11:51 a.m. in the morning on the 14th."
While using his last known sighting alongside the cell phone data picked up from around the area, Wesseling plans on starting the search party at Monahans Sandhills State Park.
According to Wesseling, he has been working closely with Park Superintendent Phillip Salonek in identifying a starting location for the search.
“We know that Chris went eastbound, so I followed that entire trail, did my own little mapping about the general radius of a cell phone tower and it maps out where we think that he is and where we want people to search,” Wesseling said.
For people who do volunteer for the search, they will also have some digital tools on their side so they can know which areas have been covered and which ones have not.
“What I also did is made an entire map, and that is basically for the entire public to use," Wesseling said. "It's a real time map that people can if they go searching, they can click the area that they did search the green, so it narrows down the map and due time.”
The turnaround time is quick, yes. The search party is set to begin on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22.
“It's a spontaneous thing, but a spontaneous action can lead to a lot of amazing leads or even results," Wesseling said. "It's not necessarily this search party that we are wanting to find anything, we just want to explore an avenue and as the general public to help find Chris.”
For those who are interested in joining the search, they can visit the Advocates for Closure website.