Volunteers were instructed to look for items that might help investigators. Melson recounted details of that June night to the scores of searchers who surrounded him:
Burgess picked Jou up on a black motorcycle at her parents' home in Rancho Santa Margarita. Both wore helmets as they sped off, family members recall. The motorcycle and one of the helmets have not been found. Jou wore a navy blue JanSport book bag; multicolored, checkered Vans tennis shoes; and a gold diamond-studded horseshoe necklace.
As he addressed the volunteers, Melson paused, leaned down and whispered into Nili Jou's ear. He wanted to warn her about what he was about to say next. "Unfortunately, we also have to acknowledge the fact that we may find Donna up there," Melson told his searchers. "If Donna is up there, we will find some type of human remains. If you do find human remains, you will know it."
Finally, Melson handed his searchers maps of the region divided into 24 zones and told them to stay on the main road.
"If you can't go off the road, [Jou's abductor] probably wouldn't have stopped either."
The all-day search turned up a book bag, a dumped motorcycle and a helmet. None was linked to Jou, however.
The search will continue again this morning.
"We won't give up until we find Donna," said the family's attorney, Gloria Allred. "And good people will help us."
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jp.renaud@latimes.com
