CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Editor's Note: The story has been corrected to show that Caleb Harris was last seen at an off-campus apartment complex.
Ellee Carlisle has been friends with missing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi student Caleb Harris since middle school.
She was just one of the many in a group of friends, family, volunteers and Corpus Christi Police Academy cadets who joined the search for the 21-year-old second-year student, who has been missing since early Monday morning.
"He means a lot to a lot of people," she said. "And I think that was very evident for how many people tried to share and get the word out, and how many people came and helped out today to try and look for him."
Law enforcement also was part of the search along Ennis Joslin beginning at around 7 a.m. Wednesday, looking for clues that could point them in Caleb's direction.
Corpus Christi Police Department Public Information Sr. Ofc. Antonio Contreras said the department is expanding the search for Caleb by bringing in the department's Dive and Recovery Team.
"I had noticed that there's some canals to the east of us that can only be checked by either boat or by our team, our dive team, and we've also continued to move towards the Oso wetlands," he said. "So they're also checking with drones and also checking on foot."
A&M-CC student Logan Johnson is close friends with Caleb's roommate and has been part of the ongoing search.
"As soon as I found out about it, I got all of my work out of the way and set aside of all of yesterday to spread the word," he said. "As much as I can, basically, through this entire zip code."
Caleb's father, Randy, has also enlisted the help of San Antonio private investigator Charlie Parker, who advised him as to how to access the last calls Caleb made before his disappearance.
"I asked him to call the phone supplier, and since it was in his name, he was able to get the last phone calls the son made on that phone," he said.
Randy Harris is grateful for the help of a community that has mobilized to help him bring his son home.
"Anything we can look at, find, that's what we're trying to do," he said.
The full-scale search begins
A Snapchat ping reported Harris' last location -- his off-campus apartment complex The Cottages at Corpus Christi -- near the search site at 2:45 a.m. Monday after letting his dog out.
"By 3 o'clock his phone was dead," Harris' father, Randy, said Tuesday. "He was totally gone. He doesn't have his wallet. He doesn't have any identification on him."
Randy said Caleb's keys also were still at his apartment. Caleb was reportedly last seen wearing teal pants and a white shirt.
A missing person's report was filed for the New Braunfels native on Monday.
"There's just nothing there that would cause us to believe he was in any danger, he had actually ordered in his food [for] the next day for school," Randy said.
He said he's grateful for the shares across social media and for his son's roommates who were out for hours Tuesday placing missing flyers on campus, nearby businesses, and bait stands he used to frequent.
A&M-CC officials released a statement at 5 p.m. Tuesday regarding the disappearance:
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has been made aware of a missing person’s report regarding one of our students, Caleb Harris. According to the Corpus Christi Police Department, Caleb was last seen at an off-campus apartment complex.
The safety and well-being of our students is our utmost priority. We urge anyone with information on Caleb’s whereabouts to contact CCPD at 361.886.2840 or 361.886.2600; or UPD at 361.825.4444.
We ask our university community and the public to keep Caleb and his family in your thoughts. TAMU-CC remains hopeful for Caleb’s safe return.
This is a developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.
Digital content producer Emily Salazar contributed to this story.
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