Search for missing Manitoba woman expands

Friends, family, volunteers and police are continuing to investigate the disappearance of Amber Lynn McFarland, a 24-year-old Portage la Prairie woman who has been missing since the weekend.

McFarland was last seen early Saturday morning at a bar in the Manitoba city, located about 70 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

One of her friends, Danielle Bartsch, told CBC News on Thursday that police have been at the home of an ex-boyfriend of the missing woman since Monday.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish would not comment on or confirm that.

"We will be speaking with anyone and everyone connected to her, either family, friends, co-workers, people that she knows, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend anyone that has, you know, could have some information as to her whereabouts," Karpish told CBC News Thursday morning.

More information on the case may be released later Thursday, Karpish said.

On Wednesday, McFarland's friends put up posters in the city of 12,700 and combed a nearby wooded area where they thought she might have been.

Manitoba Search and Rescue also has 10 people on the ground, and plans to expand the search on Friday, if necessary.

"We'll be sending 30 to 40 of our trained search and rescue members, plus two canine units," said spokesman George Leonard. "We're expecting about 100 volunteers to provide assistance for that."

McFarland is the second woman who has been the focus of a police search in Portage la Prairie this year.

Jennifer Leigh Catcheway, 18, was last in touch with her family on June 19, the day before her 18th birthday. She failed to show up at a party in her honour, and hasn't been heard from since.

Karpish has said there is no evidence the two cases are related.