Volunteer-led search for missing Newport News mom begins; police chief weighs in on investigative process
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — In a heat index higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Joe Slabinski spent his Thursday searching.
“We tell the rest of the world we’re better than everyone else, and I want to live up to that standard,” he said.
Slabinski and other volunteers with Water Team Inc. are searching for signs of Shanita Eure-Lewis.
The 35-year-old’s whereabouts are still unknown after she was last seen at Gethsemane Baptist Church in Newport News following an 8 a.m. service. Newport News police quickly issued an Ashanti Alert, or an “endangered” missing adult alert.
According to a criminal complaint, she was last seen having an argument with her husband, Adrian Lewis, on Sunday.
Adrian Lewis is now charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony related to her disappearance after authorities arrested him at Dulles International Airport allegedly attempting to leave the country.
Water Team Inc., a nonprofit community-based search organization, said Eure-Lewis’ disappearance is now the 18th case they’ve begun searches on. The group also spent weeks searching for the still-missing Hampton 4-year-old Codi Bigsby.
Thursday, Slabinksi and several other volunteers searched near the Monitor Merrimac Bridge and will do so again in a different area of the Peninsula Friday afternoon.
“We wanted to wait at least 10 days because we figured the police needed ample time because there would be forensics to gather,” he said.
In a news conference following the immediate disappearance of Eure-Lewis, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said at the time, he didn’t want community based searches interfering with the initial investigation.
“I don’t want individuals to go to those locations and damage or hurt any events that might be there,” said Chief Drew at that press conference.
In an interview with 13News Now Thursday, he expanded on that rationale, saying he doesn’t necessarily discourage community-based searches, but that because the department’s investigation is still active and ongoing, he doesn’t have enough information right now to tell those searches where to look yet.
“I don’t, right now, have a specific location or specific information that I have the ability to give the community to tell them, ‘This is where I want you to search,'” he said.
He added he wants his investigators to be the ones who first collect any possible evidence.
“I’m not discouraging or saying anything negative about that. But we’re still in a strong active investigation, with information still coming in. I want to make sure we’re the first ones responding to those locations to recover any possible evidence,” he said.
Chief Drew previously said that while Lewis had not confessed to the crime, there is currently evidence against him.
“Forensics evidence and homicide cases often times take more than 10 days,” he noted.
