Teams of searchers combed the Bovina countryside Sunday looking for a local man who disappeared days after providing help to another man who later died of stab wounds.

To help

Report any information related to the disappearance of Ben Bearrick, 5123 Warriors Trail, to the Warren County Sheriff’s Department at 601-636-1761 or the Central Mississippi Crime Stoppers at 601-355-8477 or 866-481-8477.

Benjamin “Ben” Bearrick, 55, 5123 Warriors Trail, was last seen Jan. 25, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. Two days earlier, Bearrick had taken Shawn Sponholz, 50, to River Region Medical Center, where Sponholz died of stab wounds. The case was termed a homicide and remains under investigation.

“We looked in several different areas, all in the Bovina community,” Pace said late Sunday afternoon. About 62 searchers, including 15 Warren County deputies, were involved in Sunday’s effort, which lasted about eight hours.

Five search and rescue organizations from Mississippi and Louisiana participated with trained dogs. Some teams involved searchers on horseback working with dog units, and each team included a local deputy.

“We have specific information we are acting on,” Pace said. “We have reason to believe foul play was involved (in Bearrick’s disappearance) and we are acting on specific leads.”

Last week Pace requested help from Mississippi Gulf Coast Search and Rescue Team, coordinated by Pat Sullivan, Gulfport’s fire chief. Sullivan notified other groups, who arrived in Bovina early Sunday morning.

Pace would not identify the specific areas in Bovina that were searched, or comment on suspects or a motive in Sponholz’s death or Bearrick’s disappearance.

Sponholz, who rented a cabin from Bearrick, was bleeding heavily from stab wounds to his neck when Bearrick took him to the hospital around 7 p.m. Jan. 23. Sponholz died in the emergency room, and an autopsy the next day confirmed his death was a homicide.

Bearrick was questioned by deputies and released. Pace said that when investigators went to speak with him again on Monday, Jan. 26, he was not home and has not been seen since.

Sullivan briefed the assembled teams gathered at the Bovina Fire Station, which was opened as a command post. “We’re all here to search for Ben,” Sullivan said, “and we hope he is maybe somewhere in the Caribbean with one of those little drinks with the umbrella in it.”

Besides the Gulf Coast group, searchers included the search and rescue team from the Gulfport Fire Department, Lamar County Search and Rescue from the greater Hattiesburg area, Delta K-9 Search and Rescue from Bolivar County and LASAR, Louisiana Search and Rescue, from Slidell.

“These people are here as volunteers to assist us, trying to get a job done,” Pace said. “They do this as a service to the state, and they are good.” The county pays only for their lunch.

To the rescue teams, though Bearrick was not found, the search involved a measure of success. “Clearing an area is a positive, because we know then that we don’t have to put resources there,” said Dee Wild of LASAR.

Wild, of St. Tammany Parish just north of New Orleans, searched with her dog, Sky, a 9-year-old yellow Labrador retriever. She said dogs and handlers undergo continual training, working every Saturday as well as seven or eight hours during the week to stay sharp. All expenses are borne by the volunteers.

“This is a calling,” Wild said.

Pace said there are no immediate plans for another search for Bearrick.

Little was known about Bearrick, except that he has a daughter, is not married, is unemployed and is a longtime resident of Vicksburg.

Sponholz, who had lived in Vicksburg for only a year or two, had been employed by Energy Services International on U.S. 61 South, said a stepson who lives in Vicksburg.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.