Emily’s Gift

to Michaela and Dave

I know, this is absurdly delayed in sending; thank you for continuing to check in. I apologize. Please know I’m covering as many bases as I can, obviously as fast as a turtle in high heels.

TOP Priority is Michaela! She and Dave are finally getting married September 27, THIS 9/27/25.

Dave's Proposal to Michaela

I can honestly tell you she has been absolutely, positively, unequivocally indispensable!

Following is a list, but it isn’t just a list. Please read slowly and try to digest the hours each task took/takes – please!!!

Michaela set up Communication Command Center extraordinaire by herself without being asked.

Communication Command Center in Action

Not until the needs and escalation of information increased, did she enlist the help of family and friends with special skill sets that could help her. None of us had any clue the details that would need to be taken care of, i.e., but not limited to:

setting up a dedicated Emily email EmilyUpdates2024@gmail.com, “womaning” that email by dialoguing with those who use it and forwarding them on to me.
creating and updating spreadsheets for tracking dates and times, contacts (political entities, special services such as search teams and devices, volunteers etc.), tips and references for those such as legal assistance, podcasters, crime solvers, mainstream media, and not so mainstream entities, etc.
designing and setting up the billboard and rotating gas station adds with the permission and significant funding of her boss.
brainstorming creative ideas for fundraisers (including researching cross country legalities).
designing and maintaining Emily’s web site (www.EyesForEmily.com), Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561441812867 and Instagram pages (https://www.instagram.com/eyesforemily/), the petition site (successful and closed) and Go Fund Me (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-search-for-emily-rea%20%20%20%EF%BB%BF) pages.
setting me up and ever so patiently schooling me in the use of the Google suite and other useful helps and apps I’d not yet used.
making and selling her own jewelry to assist in funding.
helping fill in Emily history blanks, lending insight, commiserating with the seemingly never-ending delays and what was/is seen as lack of coordination and information, adding well placed humor.
shielding me from harsh pushbacks
making the trip from MA to MT to assist me (with one of my brothers and sister-in-law) to pack up Emily’s belongings on a tight time frame.
managing all of this while being the president of a dominant and respectable marketing company as it went through the acquisition/sale process, planning a wedding and most incredibly, dealt personally with the second loss of a best friend. They are three peas in a pod, Tres Amigos, BFFs: Liv, Emily and Michaela. BFF… the last F = FOREVER. Michaela, they will indeed be in your heart, mind and memories forever.

Miracles still do happen; chapter not yet closed though the physical absence and loss of Liv and Emily are real.

Michaela succeeded in accomplishing all of these with great aplomb and without a single grumphhh, unkind word or even an inkling of "you want me to do what? WHEN?"

Emily and Michaela The Business Side of Michaela Em & Michaela chillin' in MT

I say finally engaged because Michaela and Dave have postponed not only vacations and personal plans but also their wedding to assist with the above list involving Emily’s disappearance. With a bit of encouragement and dare I say permission, she and Dave set a wedding date, 9/27/25.

I am requesting a uniquely fun form of help from you. Emily’s Gift. A way to help Michaela and Dave redeem some of the missed adventures and unstressed togetherness. If any of you have or have access to a second home, camp, timeshare etc., which you would be willing to make available to Michaela and Dave, would you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could have one destination vacation a month for the next year? It doesn’t matter what state; arrangements can be made.

If you’d like to participate in thanking Michaela, here’s a simple-to-use link to a form with instructions:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeb7th1ej5evhXvYJwczRvxub8fxHO-z3EG_x3sLqObWOghkg/viewform?usp=header

If you don’t have a vaca spot to offer and would like to help send them on their way, of course you’re not confined to Emily’s Gift. On that form are non-vacation options with a link as well and a way to reach Michaela directly via email. This is what extended community is all about!

Now for some Emily Search Updates:

We hosted an organizational rally on a gorgeous day with the willing hands and gifts of many which kicked off a petition signing drive.
With the help of many, near and far, we successfully collected over 5200 petition signatures which were hand and electronically delivered to Austin Knudsen, MT’s Attorney General.
Which precipitated a direct call from the head of Montana’s Department of Justice’s DCI.
Gene and Sandy Ralston (deep-water sonar) returned and scanned for a week until inclement weather, including 6” of snow on the summer solstice, sent them home to Idaho with no further finding. They will not be returning a third time.
The services of a well screened and reputable Private Investigator have been enlisted.
He continues to conduct interviews and research many leads. After 2+ months of sleuthing, he too believes Emily’s disappearance was not accidental. The challenge is to prove it – please continue to pray for those who have information, to be forthcoming and for the truth to be found…along with Emily!
He had a meeting with several officials familiar with the case at the Sheriff’s Office last Friday.
Information was shared bilaterally and part of Emily’s case file was given to him.
Thanks to your generosity, the PI’s contract has been extended.
Emily’s computer is currently residing with the FBI – data access very difficult to obtain.
Car and paddle board remain with the Sheriff’s office for possible further processing.
Forensic accountants and cyber security experts have continued to conduct their research.

Please continue to pray

for enough solid evidence of foul play for a federal agency to be invited in by the Sheriff’s office for assistance.
for miracles! Please try not to weary of praying for Emily as you would your own friends and family. There are answers, we just don’t know when and where they will come.

Today’s mission: the biggest Thank You possible being sent to Michaela and Dave.

There aren’t enough words to describe the depth of gratitude and known cost.

Walking that practiced walk of faith,

Nina (aka Mama) Rea

Archive: An Update From The Sheriff (8/1/24)

Michaela Schwartz
May 1
2 min read

Flathead County Sheriff's Office has shared an update about the search to find Emily. We are beyond grateful for the tireless work of these teams. #eyesforemily

Date: August 1, 2024

The Flathead County Sheriff's Office continues the search for Emily Rea, who has been missing since the evening of July 16th. Based on cell phone data, security camera footage, and her vehicle's location at the Riverside Boat Launch parking lot, it is believed Emily was alone when she put her paddleboard into the Hungry Horse Reservoir sometime after 8:30 PM at the Riverside Boat Launch, located 21 miles up the Southfork Road on the east side of the reservoir.

Emily's paddleboard was found upside down in the Flossy Creek area, more than two miles west of the Riverside Boat Launch, on the evening of July 17th. Weather reports show a westerly wind on the reservoir the night of the 16th, consistent with the paddleboard's location. Her paddle was found stowed and assembled on the board. Her cell phone was not with the board and last pinged on a tower reachable on the South Fork Road between Martin City and the Riverside Boat Launch, with the time of the ping consistent with her travel from the last security camera sighting to the Riverside Boat Launch.

The Flathead County Sheriff's Office has deployed multiple Search and Rescue units, including K9 teams, boat teams equipped with sonar and underwater robots, ground teams, Two Bear Air, drone teams, divers, and more. To date, Sheriff's Office personnel have spent more than 1,800 hours searching for Emily. We have also received assistance from the US Forest Service, Montana Fish and Game, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Glacier National Park, and several other agencies and independent resources.

Over the past two weeks, deputies have received numerous follow-up reports and tips regarding the search for Emily. Unfortunately, none of the tips received have provided new substantiated information beyond what has already been reported. Efforts to locate Emily are still ongoing.

During the search for Emily, the Sheriff's Office has also responded to several other rescue calls. On Sunday, July 28th, while boat crews were actively searching for Emily, a call was received for a male who had entered the water in the Wounded Buck area of the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The boat crew responded to the scene, more than five miles away, but was unable to locate the victim. On Monday, July 29th, boat crews and divers located and retrieved the deceased body of the victim, identified as 63-year-old Randel Gilpin of Bigfork. Glipin was not wearing a life jacket when he entered the water.

Additionally, on Sunday the 28th, Flathead County deputies, Evergreen Fire, Creston Fire and Flathead Search and Rescue responded to a call where a kayak had flipped and victims were trapped on a log on the Flathead River. Responding crews successfully rescued a 42-year-old male and a 12-year-old female during the incident. The rescued individuals were not wearing life jackets.

Flathead County is a fantastic place to enjoy the outdoors. With approximately 5,200 square miles of area and many square miles of recreational water, the Sheriff's Office respectfully requests that boaters and swimmers use life jackets for safety