Missing St. Thomas student’s dad: ‘We gotta find him’

Monday morning, University of St. Thomas first-years Sam Dosch and Patrick Doran led a group of about 50 students down Summit Avenue in St. Paul, where they fanned out and searched through bushes, under decks and inside window wells of yards for fellow first-year Daniel Zamlen, who went missing after he left a party Sunday morning.

While St. Paul Police officers, Ramsey County water patrol and a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter searched the Mississippi River bluffs and river bank, a group of at least 550, including St. Thomas students and Zamlen’s friends and family, combed the area around the school Monday.

Chris Ismil, a friend of Zamlen’s family, coordinated volunteer searchers Monday at St. Thomas. That afternoon, he instructed a group of about 50 to search slowly and carefully, and keep an ear out for the loud beeping that Zamlen’s insulin pump makes when it’s empty. Zamlen is a type-1 diabetic, and Ismil told the volunteers he’d be out of insulin, and would likely be unconscious if found.

Doran was playing video games with Zamlen Saturday night before he went missing. At about 11:45 p.m., Zamlen left for a party.

But less than four hours later, just after 3 a.m., a mutual friend called to tell Doran that Zamlen was missing.

Zamlen was involved in a disagreement before he left the party, and friends had called him, intending to pick him up, said St. Thomas spokesman Jim Winterer.

The friends believed he was walking near the intersection of St. Clair Avenue and Mississippi River Boulevard. But, Winterer said, they heard his voice getting further and further away from the phone, and then it went dead.

While some news reports have quoted Zamlen calling out and asking for help before the phone went dead,

Peter Panos, St. Paul Police Department spokesman, said investigators have heard “about three different versions” of how the conversation ended. Right now, he said, they have no evidence to indicate foul play was involved.

After his friends couldn’t find him Sunday morning, they also contacted the St. Paul police, who joined them in searching the area near St. Clair Avenue and Mississippi River Boulevard, Panos said.

They did find some footprints in the snow beside Mississippi River Boulevard, but don’t know whether they belonged to Zamlen.

After focusing their search south of St. Clair Avenue on Sunday, Panos said, officers looked farther north Monday, in the direction of the University of Minnesota, where Zamlen has friends.

A bloodhound dog from Hennepin County also joined the search Monday, and tried for several hours to track Zamlen’s scent, but didn’t lead officers to “anything substantial,” Panos said.

Zamlen had been drinking at the party and his father, Dale Zamlen, said his son’s medical condition amplifies the effects of alcohol. So he might have become disoriented after leaving the party and could have curled up somewhere people haven’t looked yet, Dale Zamlen said.

“That’s what our hope is, that’s the hope we’re hanging on to,” he said.

It was tough for him to sleep Sunday night, he said. He and his wife should have been out in the cold, he said, and his son warm in bed. “It’s hard to let go at night.”

Late Monday afternoon, Panos said, the police department was in the process of turning the case over to missing persons investigators, who will decide how long officers should continue searching the area for Zamlen.

St. Thomas’ volunteer neighborhood canvas ended at about 8 p.m. Monday and yielded no clues, Winterer said. They don’t plan to continue canvassing tomorrow. “That initial look in every nook and cranny in the neighborhood has been done,” he said.

Regardless of how long the officials continue the search, Dale Zamlen said he will keep searching for as long as it takes. “We got to find him,” he said.

Daniel Zamlen, 6 feet, 1 inch and 175 pounds, was last seen wearing a blue fleece jacket and blue jeans. Dale Zamlen is asking area residents to check their garages, cars, and other places his son may have sought shelter in.

Anyone with information should call the St. Paul police at 651-291-1111 or St. Thomas at 651-962-5555.