First 2018 search for Cortney Lake comes up empty

After a long winter, friends and family of Cortney Lake once again have resumed their search for her just over a year since she was first reported missing.

Lake was 24 when she was last seen on June 7, 2017, getting into her ex-boyfriend Philip Smith's truck.

Her death is being investigated as ahomicide, with Smith the only suspect. However he died by suicide and his bodywas found in a wooded area near Bellevue Beach on Nov. 1.

On Saturday, the first search for Lake since December got underway, with friends and family mobilizing in the Placentia Junction Road area.

There were 29 searchers in total, said Lake's aunt Donna Walsh, and they searched the area extensively and tied ribbons wherever they passed.

The search didn't find any evidence, but Cortney's Search Angels say they will keep going.

"One long, dreadful year has passed. A year without you and a lifetime of heartache," Lake's mother Lisa wrote in a post on the search group's Facebook page.

"I make this promise to you Cortney. I will search for you until I take my last breath. We will bring you home with dignity, the dignity you deserve," she wrote.