An aerial search was conducted by state officials Thursday afternoon in the case of the Woonsocket woman who has been missing since November.
The recent snowmelt coupled with a warm, clear day provided a good opportunity for a search, but failed to unearth any leads.
Sheriff Tom Fridley said a state helicopter and crew flew for three hours in a grid pattern between Woonsocket and Huron, fueled up in Huron and returned to Pierre. He said they were looking for any sort of anomaly to the natural environment, but could see nothing unusual.
He said they wanted to do a second aerial search now with the ground snowless, brown and sparse before spring growth covered anything up. An unfruitful airplane search was also conducted a few weeks ago while there was still snow cover.
Thirty-year-old Rachel Cyriacks was last seen mid-November at her job at Performance Pet Products in Mitchell.
The pickup she was thought to have been driving, a silver Chevy, was taken into custody in January and was found to have significant damage to the undercarriage. Police are suspicious this damage is relevant to Cyriacks’ disappearance.
The pickup was recovered from a residence in Huron where Cyriacks’ husband, Bradley, was living. Cyriacks had filed a protection order against Bradley last August.
Dogs have also previously been used to look for Cyriacks, but authorities have had no strong leads in the case, so have been unable to narrow the search area enough to do much looking on the ground. Sheriff Fridley says they could be looking at an area stretching from Huron to Sioux Falls, as Cyriacks frequented all of those areas.
Cyriacks’ family is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to finding her.
Fridley says he is hoping that as the weather warms up and people get outside on their properties that something may turn up. People are asked to report anything they see that seems unusual.
Cyriacks is 5-foot 5-inches tall and about 140  pounds, brown hair and several identifying tattoos.
The Sanborn County Sheriff’s office asks that people call them at 605-796-4511 with any information that may pertain to Cyriacks’ disappearance and/or help with her recovery.