UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A private search party will set out Thursday morning to try and find a missing Union County woman.
The Union County Sheriff's Office said 37-year-old Alison Thai Thomas
was last seen back on Feb. 13. The search party is set to meet at 9 a.m. in the Food Lion parking lot in Oakboro, North Carolina. Deputies said she was last seen on Flint Ridge Road.
Detectives in Union County are now offering a $5,000 reward for information in this case. Officials said since her disappearance there have been extensive search efforts, which involve numerous UCSO detectives, K-9 officers as well as drones. They said the SBI is also assisting in these efforts.
Search party underway for missing woman
WCNC Charlotte saw missing person flyers posted around that claimed Thomas was abducted. However. UCSO told WCNC Charlotte that family and friends have created those flyers and distributed them.
"The UCSO is investigating all potential leads in this case and we cannot rule anything out although we are not currently attributing this disappearance to an abduction," Union County Sheriff's Office public information officer Lt. James M. Maye said in a statement to WCNC Charlotte on Monday. "Further investigation will be needed in this case and we encourage everyone in our local community to provide information to our investigators by calling our office at 704-283-3789, Union County Crime Stoppers at 704-283-5600, or by submitting tips through the free UCSO smartphone application."
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Detectives said anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call 911 or the UCSO Main Office at 704-283-3789.
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