Authorities looking for a missing northeast Iowa teenager with autism are moving the search in a new direction. Officials no longer plan to use volunteers in what’s been a massive effort to find 16-year-old Jake Wilson of La Porte City, who disappeared Saturday evening when he went for a walk near a creek just a few blocks from his home and didn’t return. Over the last four days, more than 2,100 volunteers have searched about 255 square miles of land in and around La Porte City, checking and re-checking woods and farms fields with no signs of Wilson.

Now, with Thursday (today) marking the fifth day since the teenager’s disappearance, authorities plan to move forward using the help of specialists who are trained to search waterways and other spots not easily accessible. About 30 local, state, and federal investigators are actively working the case.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Glenwood report this (Thursday) morning, 35-year old Misty Petterson, of Glenwood was arrested Wednesday, for possession of drug paraphernalia. Pettersen’s bond was set at $300 cash or surety. 

SIBLEY, Iowa (AP) — A June trial has been scheduled for a woman whose sport utility vehicle collided with a car in northwest Iowa, fatally injuring the car driver and his 5-year-old son. Osceola County District Court records say 49-year-old Ann Vanderpool, of Milford, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of vehicular homicide while driving intoxicated and two counts of vehicular homicide by reckless driving. Her trial is set to begin June 26.

Authorities say the accident occurred June 10 on Iowa Highway 9 near Sibley, when Vanderpool’s vehicle crossed the center line and struck the car. The car driver, 48-year-old Travis Mier, of Spirit Lake, was pronounced dead at Osceola Community Hospital. His son Elliot was pronounced dead later at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital. Vanderpool also was hospitalized.

GARNER, Iowa (AP) — A man in northern Iowa’s Hancock County has been accused of burglarizing his grandparents’ home. Mason City station KIMT reports that 23-year-old Anthony Fickel Schoneman, of Garner, is charged with burglary, theft and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press.

Authorities say more than $10,000 in cash, collector coins, a gun, ammunition and prescription pills were missing from the home in May last year when the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation. Investigators say the burglar or burglars knew where the valuables were located, including money hidden in a bag of clothes.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to be on the lookout for numerous signs stolen from a storage unit in Corning. The items were taken from Carmichael Storage, 2066 Corning Carl Road. . (Click on the images below to view some of the signs)

Among the items reported missing was:

• a 6-foot long Firestone sign
• a 5-foot long Firestone Farm Tire Service sign
• a 6-foot long Filmore Oil sign
• 1 Westinghouse sign
• a curved Chapmans signs
• a Nichol Kola 5 cents sign
• a Hatchery Osage Kansas sign
• a flanged Sherwin Williams Paint sign
• two Diamond Edge Tool signs
• a Goodyear Tire stand sign
• and two school Stop signs

If you notice any of those items being sold, or in someone’s possession, notify the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.