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Search Intensifies to Bring Home Lost Woman

by KREX News Room
by Amanda Brandeis

Story Created: Feb 17, 2013 at 11:22 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 17, 2013 at 11:22 PM MDT

LOMA, Colo. As each hour passes, one family is doing everything it can to find strength. Sometime before 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, 60-year-old Roxanne Kostka went missing from her home in Loma.

Her son-in-law, Travis Cantrall, said, "When we first found out this happened, we ransacked the entire house, ran through the property. Within an hour I called all of the neighbors."

Jennifer Cantrall, Kostka's daughter, said, "My son called me off her phone, I thought it was her calling me, and it was him. He said, 'I don't know where grandma is.' I said, 'we'll be home within minutes.' So when we got home there was no sign of grandma in the house at all."

On Sunday, search and rescue crews joined the effort.

Operations chief of the Mesa County Search and Rescue team, Bill Thomas, said, "Even an elderly person can go 10 miles in that time period. Well if you don't know what direction you have a 312-mile search area."

Ben Carnes, with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, said, "We have over 30 volunteers with ground team, the ATV team."

"All of us have a mission story we can call on that just keeps us going forward, or a personal experience where we lost somebody. And we just want to keep going because we don't want somebody else to loose somebody," said Thomas.

Two drones operated by the Sheriff's Office are also aiding in the search

Ben Miller, the unmanned aircraft program manager, said, "When we're flying infrared it doesn't really matter if the bushes are gray and her shirt is gray. We can actually see a heat difference with who we're looking for and the ground or under."

Efforts to bring home Roxanne home have brought the community closer together.

"I swear the whole town of Loma is out here. There's so many people that have put out their time to help us find her," Jennifer said.

Thomas said, "A lot of the locals have come out, they know neighbors, they know stock ponds, they know outbuildings, so the community has really pitched in."

"Just come home, just come home, if she sees this," said Jennifer.

The family remains hopeful and pray it wont be too long until they see their loved one again.

If you have any information to help in the search you're urged to contact authorities at (970) 242-6707.

Kostka was last seen at 1426 M Rd. in Loma, Colorado.

She is described as a white female, 5'05", weighing 120 pounds, with brown eyes and short brown hair.

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