Search extended for missing Alberta woman

Police in Medicine Hat, Alta., expanded their search for a missing woman on the weekend.

Amy Lewis, 23, disappeared early last week. Her car was found Thursday outside a Medicine Hat motel.

On Friday, Jerrison Stopanski, 35, a Medicine Hat man was arrested in connection with Lewis's disappearance. He has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder — a charge normally laid against those who investigators suspect of assisting a killer.

However, police would only say Sunday they "strongly believe" the woman's disappearance is the result of foul play.

An air, water and ground search was conducted along the banks of the South Saskatchewan River in Medicine Hat on the weekend.

“We were searching an area from the riverbank up to one of the residential areas," Ralph Eckman, one of the volunteer civilian searchers, told CBC News. "And we had a mixture of parkland, some tall natural grasses and some fairly thick, heavy brush.”

While searchers recovered some items, Eckman said, “I don't think we really did find anything of significance but, again, that's a question for the police.”

Stopanski will appear in court in Medicine Hat on Monday.