A little more than three years ago, Zachary Vidal went missing from Pottsville. Last month, family, friends, total strangers, and a cadaver dog named Ara continued the search for him.
On the morning of Nov. 8, a search party of a little more than two dozen people gathered before heading out to an area that was a mix of open field and woodlands outside the city limits.
Led by Ara, a five-year-old German Shepherd who has successfully located 15 cadavers in her career and her experienced handler and owner, Julia Valenti, of Hamburg, the search party was ready to embark on a search for anything and everything that could be a sign of Vidal’s presence.
Valenti says she’s been handling working dogs since she enlisted in the U.S. Army 15 years ago. And she’s been working with Ara for the last three years.
She works in law enforcement but helping with searches like she led this day is a volunteer effort.
In the search party this day was John and Lori Steinhart, of Pottsville. They didn’t know Vidal and had never participated in a search like the one done this day.
John said he’d been part of searches in the past through his work with the Pottsville Fire Dept., but never a grid search.
Lori tells The Canary they decided to head out with others this day because she hoped others would do the same if the roles were reversed.
“If it was one of our kids, we’d appreciate the help,” she says.
What led the party to conduct a grid search in this location was a bit of a hunch. Vidal’s aunt, Cindy Vidal-King, says she arrived at search this particular area because she tried getting in the heads of the people who may have been responsible for her nephew’s disappearance in 2022.
Zachary Vidal was last seen in 2022 at the 7-Eleven store in Pottsville.
“If somebody did something to him … IF … you’re not going to go where the police are. You’ve got to get into their minds,” Vidal-King says.
Just moments before stepping off to begin the search, Vidal-King had some encouraging words for Ara and off the party went.
Once in the field and woods, searchers were instructed by Valenti to call attention to anything at all. Ara would do the rest.
The area searched definitely showed signs that people visit this area that are looking to not be seen.
In one area, some bones were found. Valenti brings Ara to the spot and she sniffs and looks around but it quickly becomes obvious, the bones are that of a woodland animal, not a human.
Valenti says that when Ara finds anything that might be a cadaver or pieces of one, her behavior changes dramatically. Then, she sits. This fact would be critical to know a little later as the search continued.
After dismissing an initial finding, the search party continues combing the field and woods. Pieces of clothing are found, some showing clear signs that they’ve been in the area for a while, years likely.
More than an hour of searching later, the group reconvenes where it started and that’s where a discovery is made.
Unlike the smaller bones found earlier, this one is noticeably larger. There are articles of aged clothing found nearby, too.
And most importantly, Ara gives the party a sign. She sniffes, shuffles around some brush, and then sits near where the bone is found. Almost immediately, the entire search party is focused on this development.
Police are summoned to the scene and ultimately, a member of the Schuylkill County Coroner’s office arrives.
Later, it would be learned that the bone discovered wasn’t human.
The search continued at a different location later this day. And subsequent searches have been conducted on Nov. 22 and this past Saturday.
Vidal-King says the searches will continue until her nephew is found.
“There’s hope all the time. You’ve got to keep your eyes wide open,” she says. “I’m determined to bring this boy home. Zachary Vidal is coming home. When? I don’t know. But he is coming home.”
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