Family, Friends of Missing BC Student Keep Search Alive

A week and a half after Franco Garcia was last seen in Cleveland Circle, friends and family of the missing student are working to keep search efforts alive. 

"We need to stay in people's minds," family friend Rocio Normand told Newton Patch.

Garcia's family and friends flooded Cleveland Circle Sunday with posters, flyers and balloons. The group stood on the corner talking to pedestrians, waving to drivers and placing flyers on windshields of parked cars. 

The group also spent the morning on a "Walk for Franco," traveling from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir to Mary Ann's bar and back.

around 12:15 a.m. on Feb. 22. show Garcia walking by the bank around 12:18 a.m. that same night.

As time passes, Normand said it is important for the family to continue handing out flyers and keeping the search active so it does not fade out of the public eye. 

Last Sunday, .

Since his disappearance, including four days of underwater scanning at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, K-9 searches, foot searches and aerial scans with a State Police helicopter. 

Through all of it, though, or what may of happened to him. 

Meanwhile, a private investigator has offered services to the family in addition to a (non-police) search dog known for work in other parts of the country. 

A Facebook group, which has grown to more than 2,800 members, has daily updates on search efforts. Documents have been added where people can share services they wish to donate to the family and a thread has been started with theories as to what may have happened to Garcia. 

On Twitter, a number of Garcia's friends have spent hours soliciting the help of celebrities, tagging them in Tweets and asking them to spread the word of Garcia's disappearance. Last week, Boston College parent Bruce Springsteen made a note of the search on both his Facebook and Twitter feeds. 

, and more than $2,000 has been raised in just a few days. 

Anyone with information about Garcia's disappearance is asked to contact Newton Police at 617-796-2100 or Massachusetts State Police at 617-727-4812.

Looking for more stories and updates on Franco Garcia? Check out this page with complete coverage.