LITTLE SUAMICO (NBC26 — Nearly a month after he disappeared and his children were found dead, the family of Billy Salnik are asking the community for help finding the missing boater.
- The Door County Sheriff's Office is searching waters off of Chambers Island and working closely with the Department of Natural Resources
- Billy Salnik's loved ones are planning a community search effort for Sunday at 8 a.m. at Menekaunee Harbor
- Billy's mother, Tina, is offering a $500 reward for anyone who finds something or information leading to her son's recovery
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
The search continues for a father after he disappeared and his children died on a boating trip. I'm Pari Apostolakos in Little Suamico at the home of the missing boater's mother.
I spoke with her and talked to the Door County Sheriff's Office about what is being done now to find him.
"I'm not doing well," Tina Salnik said at her kitchen table Thursday. "People think it gets easier, but it's not. It's just as hard as day number one."
Tina is still waiting for answers. Billy's been missing since mid-July after his boat was found capsized and his children found dead in waters off of Chambers Island.
Officials have not yet released the cause of death of 5-year-old Charolette and 3-year-old Joshua.
"It's like no closure at all," Tina said. "I mean, I can't say where he is or anything, nobody can and I keep waiting for him just to walk through the door ... I need him to get out of the water."
"Much like the family, it's weighing heavily on our deputies," Door County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Pat McCarty says the search is focused on waters near Chambers Island and they're working closely with the Department of Natural Resources.
He says they have deputies on regular 6-hour marine patrols.
"The difficulty is it's such a large body of water, and you have multiple jurisdictions," McCarty said.
He said they plan to keep their boat on the water until October.
One of Billy's friends is planning a community search for Sunday and Tina is offering a reward of $500 to anyone who finds something leading to Billy's recovery.
The family says law enforcement will bring dogs to the search and they're asking for anyone's help.
"We just need boats," Billy's aunt, Amy Kobylarczyk, said.
"[We need] people to walk along the shorelines," Billy's aunt Lori Koblarczyk said. "We have to find Billy."
The family says they will not stop searching for Billy.
"This is torture," Tina said.
The community search begins at 8 a.m. Sunday at Menekaunee Harbor. In Little Suamico Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
