A group of about 80 people walked shoulder-to-shoulder through some huge Holt County farm fields Wednesday, as the search for missing State Trooper and Water Patrol Officer Fred Guthrie resumed.

Sergeant Sheldon Lyon of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said some of the farmers have been used earth movers to remove some of the silt left behind by this summer’s flooding. Lyon says they are hoping they’ll unearth something that will lead them to the recovery of Guthrie’s body.

“We’ve assembled a team to do a very thorough grid search of the fields that are up here,” Lyon said.

“The fields are just enormous, and if we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and walk in a line, using upwards of 80 people, we can do a very thorough search of these fields.”

Guthrie and his dog Reed were apparently swept away by fast-moving floodwaters near Big Lake Village in August. His funeral was earlier this month, after he was declared dead in October.

“As long as Trooper Fred Guthrie has not been located, and we feel that we have activities up here that would give us a chance to find him, we’ll continue to search for him,” Lyon said.