Concerned community members have been methodically combing the region since last Friday, searching for missing Camas teen Cole Burbank, last seen Thursday morning at Clark College in Vancouver.
Burbank’s family, including his parents, Matt and Michelle Burbank, say the teen’s disappearance is “competely out of character” and that “there is great cause for concern.”
On Friday, one day after Cole’s last confirmed sighting, worried family and friends took to social media to organize regionwide search parties. They formed a Facebook group called “Cole Burbank Search Party” and put out a call for volunteers to look for the missing teen in seven quadrants throughout Clark County.
Since then, the Facebook site has attracted more than 4,000 members, but there are, as of the Post-Record’s print deadline on Wednesday, still no valid leads in the teen’s disappearance.
Members of the Facebook search group have reported checking areas throughout Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon, including the area near Clark College in Vancovuer where Burbank was last seen. Several community members printed and distributed “Missing Teen” posters around the community over the weekend.
Like 167 other Camas High School students, Burbank attends Running Start classes at Clark College in addition to his regular courses at Camas High. The advanced program allows eligible high school juniors and seniors to take classes at a community college. Students receive high school and college credits.
Cole would have started his morning at Camas High on Thursday, then driven to Clark College for Running Start. Police have not yet confirmed if the teen attended all of his Clark College courses that day, but his family has reported online that Cole was seen at the college Thursday morning.
If you have information regarding the missing Camas teen, please call 911.
When last seen, Cole was wearing a red-and-black plaid shirt and blue baseball hat on Thursday. He is 5’10” and about 140 pounds with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was driving a 2010 black Honda Accord, with the Washington license plate number AKW3441.
If you would like to help search for Burbank, organizers have posted maps on the Cole Burbank Search Party Facebook site at www.facebook.com.
