Search for Caylee Continues -- Online

Search for Missing Girl

Solomons was unaware of how many volunteers were in the field searching on their own, and said that, while searches may yield false leads, every tip is important.

But volunteer-organized search parties that aren't handled well can slow down an investgation, according to experts.

"Unless they're working with law enforcement, it sort of sets up a situation where they're sort of working against each other," said retired Los Angeles police detective Frank Linley.

His wife Sarah Linley, who he met on the job when she was a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, agreed.

"Sometimes, it's people that are wannabes that are struck by the excitement of law enforcement, or people that watch 'CSI' too much. People who decide they want to get involved [but] they don't know anything about what they're doing," she said. "I have no doubt they are good at heart, but at the same time, how would they know if they find something that might be of interest?"

Some search groups have been choosing their sites based on case "landmarks" mentioned in publicly available court documents and media reports about the case.

Wyatt Locke, a 27-year-old Orlando, Fla., resident, met Jordan while responding to calls for another search party through message boards on a local news station's Web site.

"The station kept saying, 'visit our message boards,' so I said, 'What the heck?'" Locke said.

There, Locke found a like-minded community that included Cookie Wilson, a 51-year-old Orlando hotel concierge and grandmother. Wilson, like Locke, had been following the case and felt a pull to Caylee.

"When I see this little girl's face, I just want to cry because it could be my granddaughter," Wilson said. "It just felt like nobody was out looking for her."

The group that coalesced on these boards formed a search party and agreed to meet for the first time on Aug. 12. Jordan soon combined his group with theirs.

In recent weeks, the group's work unearthed what they thought might be of interest in a local park: clothing, including underwear that fit the description of a pair that Caylee had been wearing, as well as two backpacks.

"The easiest way for me to describe it is, everybody's heart dropped. We didn't believe we were going to find anything," Locke said.

When the group found the items, they immediately called the sheriff's department, according to Locke. Authorities responded, roped off the area and walked away with items.