By BOUBACAR BARRY
After spending two weeks in China looking for David Sneddon, father Roy and brothers Michael and James returned to the United States with new leads and more hope in finding him alive.
"The bottom line is we still think he is alive," said Kathleen, mother of the missing BYU student.
The search efforts will continue, the family said, but searches will be headed from the U.S. The family says all leads they have received point to David still being alive.
"The family is very positive," said Nathan, an older brother and a BYU graduate in physical science. "I have very strong beliefs to the point I can say 'I know David is alive.' In time we'll find him."
David, a Korean major and Chinese minor, was in China this summer working on his Chinese at a Beijing university. After his studies, he toured around China with a friend for a few days. When his friend returned to Beijing, David continued to Leaping Tiger Gorge in the Yunnan Province in southwestern China.
Initial fears were that he had fallen while hiking the gorge. The last time the family heard from Sneddon was Aug. 10, when he sent an e-mail to his mother prior to hiking the gorge.
However, Roy and his sons were able to confirm that David had made it out of the gorge.
There is ample proof he got out of the gorge, Nathan said. David made it to Shangri-la around Aug. 11. He was to return to LiJiang sometime around Aug. 13 and catch his flight to Korea later that week for a business meeting with his brother.
While in China, the three Sneddons were able to confirm positive sightings of David in several locations along the way to Shangri-la, Kathleen said.
"I am more than ever convinced the sightings they found were definitely him," Kathleen said.
Some people along the route described an American who spoke good Mandarin and fluent Korean. People recognized David from a recent picture his father and brothers carried with them in their search.
"Several people, after describing him, were very excited upon seeing the pictures and knew it was the male who we were seeking," she said.
Others were even able to describe his hairstyle, which had changed since his departure.
"A couple girls in a guest house talked about his 'widow's peak,' which I didn't understand until Roy showed me the pictures from his backpack," Kathleen said. "He has lost a bit of hair this summer and definitely has a small 'widow's peak.'"
"A guide in Shangri-la met with a male fitting David's description," she said. "[He] asked about going to the Tibetan border, but turned it down because of time and cost. All reports mention he was tight on funds and ate very simply. Dave didn't even have a credit card with him."
In Shangri-la, the last city he was spotted in, he stopped by a Korean café to say goodbye to some people, Nathan said. The bus was only about a mile from the café, but he never made it there.
"We are very grateful for the support and help of the Chinese government and state department," Kathleen said. "They have done great work."
There have been rumors that Sneddon had run off with some Chinese girl or had just wanted to change his life. But the family does not see this scenario panning out.
"We do not believe that David is staying with a Chinese woman somewhere in China as his religious training and missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would preclude this type of behavior," wrote his father and brothers in a report to the family from China. "David Sneddon is a chaste, well mannered, disciplined young man who, just a few weeks before his disappearance, told his parents that he was looking forward to returning home, finishing his degree, meeting a nice young woman and getting married."
He was very focused and excited to be in China, but also to come home, Nathan said.
David is described by family members as being focused.
"He could make goals and keep them by hard, hard work," Kathleen said. "His senior year in high school he decided to switch from football to cross country. He came home every day, in the heat and humidity of a Nebraska summer, and ran and ran. That year he won the award for the most improved cross country runner."
After studying in Beijing, Nathan said, David planned to get a joint MBA and law degree. Before David's disappearance, he was preparing to take the LSAT.
"He had clear purposes and goals and he was talking about them up until he went on his little trip," Nathan said.
Nathan said David was very talented with languages and was easy going and laid back.
"He changed majors as a junior and in order to make up for some lost time in Chinese, he decided to live in the Chinese Language House then study in China during the summer," Kathleen said. "It was a goal and he worked hard to complete it."
The family said their deep home comes from the results of the search in China and from spiritual experiences.
"After going to China we feel more strongly than we did before that David is alive," Kathleen said. "We have three witnesses [father, two brothers] to the events."
The father and two brothers were very prayerful in their search for David.
"It is significant to note that in a city of over 120,000, they were truly lead and blessed to find where he stayed, ate, visited and talked with people during his short stay there," she said.
The family said they are appreciative of all the support they have received.
"People from all over the world are praying for the family and Dave," Nathan said. "The outreach and concern of the community at large has been great. We are grateful for the prayers of so many people."
Friends and acquaintances from the past, as far back as high school, have emailed to show support, Nathan said.
"We are grateful for the prayers of so many people on David's behalf," Kathleen said.
The support isn't just from the LDS community. Whole congregations of all faiths are praying for David back in Nebraska, she said.
"I just miss him," Nathan said. "I wish he were home."
David's employer, Multiling, has set up a Web site in an effort to find David, http://www.multiling.com/finddavid.
Copyright Brigham Young University 27 Sep 2004
