Over 1,000 people sign up to join mass search for missing Madeline Kingsbury amid family ‘harassment’

Mass searches continue for mother-of-two

The mother of two hasn’t been seen since 31 March (Winona Police)

Over 1,000 people have signed up to search for missing mother-of-two Madeline “Maddi” Kingsbury in Minnesota to support the Kingsbury family as they receive harassment online.

On SignUpGenius.com, hundreds of people have signed up across four different location and time slots to look for any traces of Ms Kingsbury.

The 26-year-old vanished without a trace on 31 March after dropping her two young children off at their daycare.

The searches took place on Friday, with nearly 600 people searching from 9 am to 12 pm then again from 1 pm until 4 pm. There are expected to be more over the weekend.

For the last week, Ms Kingsbury’s family and friends have been fervently looking for her via physical searches and generating media attention.

A GoFundMe has been set up to pay for Ms Kingsbury’s family to stay in hotels nearby while they look for her and members of the community are donating water and food for the mass searches.

Supporters have created flyers, t-shirts, and social media posts to get the word out about the missing mother.

But the media attention has also drawn spectators and commentators who have allegedly harassed the Kingsbury family.

On the Finding Madeline Kingsbury Facebook page, one admin made a post asking people to refrain from reaching out to the Kingsbury family during this difficult time.

“We will not condone the harassing of Maddi’s family or friends for information,” the post read. “When there is an active investigation, they do not need to disclose every detail for any number of [reasons].

“We post this information so that people can be aware but we will not post info like that anymore if people are going to harass family, friends and businesses that may be involved.  And that would be a huge disservice to Maddi,” the post continued.

The admin said anyone who tries to contact the missing woman’s family or friends would be banned from the Facebook page and continued communication attempts would be reported to the police for harassment.

According to Winona Police, the mother-of-two and the father of her children dropped their children off around 8 am.

Ms Kingsbury returned home around 8.15am but her whereabouts after that remain unknown.

The Minnesota mother did not show up for work and when the father of her children, who has not been named, returned to her home shortly after the dropoff, she was gone.

Ms Kingsbury’s phone, wallet, ID, and the jacket she was wearing that morning were found in her home.

The children’s father said he left her home around 10am but came back later that day only to find she had still not returned.

Investigators are now looking into the movements of Ms Kingsbury’s Chrysler Town and County van in the hours after she dropped off her children.

“Based on all this we believe Madeline’s disappearance is involuntary, suspicious and we’re all concerned for her safety,” Tom Williams, Winona Police Chief said.