Help still sought in locating missing person

The “Silver Alert” for a rural Mayetta woman reportedly missing since Saturday, Sept. 26, remains in effect, Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse said Tuesday.

Joan M. Rebar, 70, a resident of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation, was reportedly last seen in the Meriden area that day, Morse said. A search of a three-county area including Jackson, Jefferson and Shawnee counties has so far turned up nothing, it was reported.

According to Morse, Rebar was last seen at the VFW post in Meriden in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, and she may have been driving from Meriden to the reservation, crossing northern Shawnee County and southern Jackson County. Rebar was reportedly driving a silver 2005 Chrysler Pacifica with a Kansas disabled tag, number 71664.

Rebar’s cellular telephone was last “pinged” on the afternoon of Sept. 26, and it was determined that the phone may have been located within seven miles of Meriden, Morse said. 

“If individuals reside in or have property in this three-county area, we are asking that they check it in case Ms. Rebar’s vehicle may have left the roadway,” he said.

The three-county area has been searched by law enforcement officers, volunteers and aircraft, Morse said. He also noted that the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism used sonar to search Perry Lake in recent days.

Rebar is described as a Native American female who is five feet, six inches tall, weighs 230 pounds and has blue eyes and brown hair. Morse added that there are no “persons of interest” in her disappearance.

Anyone with any information on Rebar’s whereabouts or circumstances leading to her disappearance is urged to contact the Potawatomi Tribal Police Department at (785) 966-3024 or the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at 364-2251.