Missing Montana Woman Sherry Arnold: Beloved Math Teacher and Mother

Jan. 9, 2011 — -- Montana police are searching for a mother and math teacher who was last seen when she went out for an early morning jog on Saturday and did not return.

Police found a running shoe identified as Sherry Arnold's near a truck route that is reportedly part of her normal jogging route, but say they have been unable to determine what may have happened to her.

Arnold's stunned family is praying for her return.

"I'm hoping she's found. I'm hoping that she's healthy. I miss her so badly," Arnold's husband Gary Arnold told ABCNews.com. "We miss her so badly. This community needs her back."

So many people from the tight-knit community of Sidney, Mont., have turned out to volunteer that police had to turn some away.

"It's been absolutely fantastic. The community is roughly 5,000 people and at least 1,000 of them turned out yesterday and they searched all day," Gary Arnold said. He said it brought tears to his eyes to see the school gym filled with loving supporters.

Sherry Arnold, 43, was last seen at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday when she was leaving home for her usual early-morning jog.

"She enjoys sports. She's very athletic. She's a fabulous math teacher. She loves watching her kids play sports," Gary Arnold said.

When asked what he thinks may have happened to his wife, Arnold said in a choked voice, "I don't even want to go there at this point."

The couple has five children between them from previous marriages. Gary Arnold has three and Sherry Arnold has two.

She has been a teacher in Sidney since 1993, teaching at both the middle school and high school, where she is currently a math teacher.

"Sherry is one of those teachers that every parent wants in front of their child," Sidney School District Superintendent Daniel Farr told ABCNews.com.

"She is caring, first and foremost, one that is there before and after school helping students," Farr said. "She gets to know her students. She becomes a mentor to many a student that goes on to become a math teacher."

Counselors are on hand at the school to assist students and faculty. The "Help Find Sherry Arnold" Facebook page already has more than 3,000 supporters.

"We haven't had an incident like this to anybody's knowledge, ever," Farr said. "It's emotionally taxing for our community as a whole and for our students."

The Sidney Police Department is working with about 40 soldiers from the Montana Army National Guard in the search for Arnold, according to ABC News' Great Falls, Mont., affiliate KFBB-TV. Search and rescue teams have used canine units, private planes, a helicopter, searchers on ATVs and on horseback.

"We'll keep looking and we'll maintain looking until we've exhausted all of our resources, which hasn't happened yet," Bob Burnison of the Sidney Police Department told KFBB.

Arnold has brown eyes and black hair. She is 5 feet, 10 inches tall with a slender build, weighing about 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt with white stripes on the sleeves, red nylon pants with black leggings and black gloves.

Authorities are asking that anyone with information regarding Arnold's whereabouts please call the Sidney Police Department at 406-433-2210.