Photo: La Vista Police Department
(La Vista, NE) -- A piece of evidence relating to the disappearance of Ryan Larsen is found.
On Tuesday, La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten said that the umbrella they believed Ryan Larsen had with him when he went missing more than six weeks ago has been found. “We recovered an umbrella we believe Ryan had and took to school and left with. It was recovered by a person in the apartment complex area of the Southfield Apartments. We sent it in for DNA testing, and the results from the DNA testing had Ryan’s DNA on that umbrella.”
Even though the umbrella doesn’t provide investigators with new information, Lausten tells WOWT 6 News that it confirms what investigators already believed. “That kind of tells us there’s a strong possibility that Ryan probably came back to that apartment complex area after he left the school based on where we understand that the umbrella was found.”
Lausten tells 6 News they don’t believe Ryan went inside his apartment after leaving school on May 17, the day he disappeared. “We know that Ryan didn’t have a key to his apartment so there’s really no way for him to get in, so it’s [the umbrella] something that puts him back to ground zero, and it gives us another starting and reference point to continue on.”
In terms of next steps in the investigation, Lausten says they still have interviews to conduct. “We’re going back from the beginning, looking at everything from when we started, review everything we’re doing,” he said. “We still have people we’re talking to, and we’ll press on.”