'Don't give up on us': Maine woman and her daughter, age 2, still missing after 1 month
SANFORD, Maine — This week makes a solid month since police and family members have had any indication of the whereabouts of a Sanford mother, her ex-boyfriend, and their 2-year-old daughter.
Jill Sidebotham, 28, and her daughter, Lydia, were last seen June 27, when Sidebotham told her mother she and Lydia were going camping with her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Hansen, in Franklin County. Sidebotham told her mother she would return to Sanford by Thursday, June 30, at the latest, but that never happened.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined local and state authorities in the effort to locate the missing family, according to Sanford police Lt. Matthew Gagne. Authorities have issued alerts throughout New England and New York, Gagne added.
Previous story: Police, family seek help to find missing Maine mom and daughter
"This is still an active investigation,” Gagne said. “Until the three of them are located, we’ll continue to search.”
Recently, the Sanford Police Department released video surveillance images of the last known whereabouts of Sidebotham, Hansen, and their daughter — at a Walmart in Mexico, Maine, on July 2.
Another image released by the police shows the three were indeed at a campground — the Coos Canyon Campground in Byron — on June 29.
On Wednesday, Sidebotham’s father, Ron, said her disappearance is out of character.
“It’s just not in her heart to do this,” he said. “There are so many factors that shy away from her doing this voluntarily.”
Chief among them, according to Sidebotham: Jill has a 10-year-old son in Sanford.
“She loves her son,” Sidebotham said. “She adores him.”
Sidebotham said his 10-year-old grandson, who has a different father than Lydia, gets along very well with his sister.
“He embraces the older brother role,” Sidebotham said.
Sidebotham said his daughter appeared to be the one paying for merchandise at the checkout counter in the Walmart image. He said he noticed that a jar of money that she had kept at home here in Sanford is gone. There was about $200 in the jar, Sidebotham estimated.
Sidebotham said he and his wife, Cottie, had seen no indication from their daughter the camping trip was planned.
The Sanford Police Department has teamed up with the Maine Warden Service to use fixed-wing aircraft to provide aerial views of the towns of Rangely and Mexico, the two communities where the missing young family was last seen.
Gagne said authorities continue to receive tips about the case, though fewer than when their search began weeks ago.
Police are asking members of the public to keep an eye out for a silver 2005 Volkswagen Jetta, the last known vehicle that Sidebotham, Lydia and Hansen were known to be using. The vehicle’s Maine registration plate is 1563VJ. Anyone who sees either the three of them or their vehicle is urged to contact their local law enforcement agency, Gagne said.
Sidebotham said he knows the Sanford Police Department is doing “everything they can” to find his daughter and granddaughter.
“It’s a needle-in-a-haystack kind of thing at this point,” he said.
The search has attracted national media attention, with outlets from New England Cable News to People magazine reporting.
Sidebotham said he and his wife want everyone who is helping in the search — distributing flyers, posting on social media — to know how much they appreciate their efforts. He said he hopes such efforts to locate his daughter continue.
“Don’t give up on her,” he said. “Don’t give up on us. And don’t give up on that baby — that goes without saying.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine mom and 2-year-old still missing after a month
