earch for 4 goes on Disappearances have authorities looking for links By MEG JONES mjones@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Nov. 13, 2002

Authorities suspect it's a horrible coincidence that four young adults have disappeared after nights of drinking within a 90-mile radius in northwestern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.

None of the missing, who are in their early 20s, appeared to know each other. Three are college students, including one enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. There doesn't appear to be any link to the disappearances, and as of late Wednesday, none of the missing had turned up.

Authorities have used dogs, divers, dozens of Minnesota National Guard members and hundreds of volunteers in their search efforts. Fliers have been posted with photos of those who vanished.

Meanwhile, the families and friends of the missing search and worry.

"It does seem like a coincidence, doesn't it? It's so sad that we have so many young people missing at the same time," said UW-Eau Claire Dean of Students Ann Lapp.

The first to disappear was Erika Dalquist, 21, who was last seen leaving a tavern in Brainerd, Minn., with a man on Oct. 30.

The next night, Christopher Jenkins, 21, a University of Minnesota student, vanished. He was last seen leaving a Halloween party at a downtown Minneapolis bar dressed in a Native American costume. Jenkins' parents moved from the Twin Cities area to the Racine County community of Rochester about 11/2 years ago.

Then, Michael Noll stumbled out of a bar in Eau Claire on Nov. 6 after celebrating his 22nd birthday, police said.

About a half-hour later and seven blocks away, the UW-Eau Claire junior apparently wandered into the house of an elderly woman who lived near his home. Noll appeared intoxicated and confused and quickly left, leaving his baseball cap behind, police said. No one has reported seeing him after that point.

Three days later, on Saturday, Josh Guimond, 20, a junior at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., left a party on campus and hasn't been seen since.

"The big question mark is, are they related to each other? So far, no," said University of Minnesota Police Lt. Chuck Miner. "The common denominator is that alcohol was involved."

The Minneapolis office of the FBI has sent information about all four cases to its Behavioral Science Unit at the national headquarters in Washington, D.C., said Special Agent Paul McCabe. Experts there will analyze the cases to see if they are connected.

The FBI will take over the investigation in a "worst-case scenario," McCabe said. That is, if experts in Washington suspect a serial killer or kidnapper.

In the meantime, each local law enforcement agency is in charge of its own investigation. The FBI is helping to coordinate the efforts.

In Eau Claire, four dogs trained to track human remains signaled that Noll could be in the Chippewa River, which bisects the campus. Excel Energy, which controls the dams on the river, brought the water level down Wednesday afternoon so divers could drag the river, said Police Chief Pat McNally.

McNally said foul play is not suspected in Noll's disappearance. "We don't see any connection between our case and the others," he said.

A steep bank leads down to the river in the area where the dogs picked up Noll's scent.

Lapp said the river is dangerous, which is why university officials advise students during orientation to be wary. Signs are also posted on a bridge that spans the river.

"We have had deaths in the past. Obviously, it's not just students. We have people who have had their lives taken in the river," said Lapp, who has been at UW-Eau Claire for 30 years.

Fliers have been posted around the campus, and 40 to 50 of Noll's family and friends have met daily to comb neighborhoods and search for him. Noll, of Rochester, Minn., is a biology education major.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002