EATON, Ind. — After teams combed the area for three of the past four days trying to find any trace of a missing 14-year-old boy, it's likely formal search operations will end Tuesday.

Scottie Dean Morris has not been seen since he left his family's home about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Jay Turner, police chief in the town of about 1,500 nine miles north of Muncie, said police, emergency responders and volunteers have simply run out of logical places to look for the missing youth.

"Today, we're coming to the end of the searches," Turner said late Monday afternoon. "We've (searched) the entire town at least four times. We've done all the outskirts, we (searched) both the north and south sides of the (Mississinewa) river.

Scottie Morris: Eaton teen still missing after polygraph tests, infrared cameras, search parties

"We've had horses, we've had the helicopter with infrared, we've had a fixed-wing (Indiana State Police) helicopter, (the Department of Natural Resources) had boats in the water. We've pretty much exhausted everything we can looking in this area. Now we're hoping for someone to call and give us a tip and we'll move on that."

Turner said officers had checked with "every friend, the family, teachers. ... We've checked houses. People have been very cooperative."

Investigators continue to hope Morris might be hiding in a local home. Del-Com schools are on spring break, and some families are on vacation this week.

On Monday, one group of about 30 searchers made its way west along the banks of the Mississinewa River to west of the Walnut Street bridge.

Curtis Little of Albany said he took part in the search as a parent.

"It's a missing kid," he said. "If it were my own kid, I would hope someone would come out and help me.

"This is somebody's baby. We can do the second-guessing and that stuff later, we just need to find that young man."

Little said he did not personally know Scottie Morris, but that the missing teen is a classmate of Little's son at Delta Middle School.

Several of the searchers Monday traveled a significant distance to offer their assistance.

Thomas Frost of Bloomington said he had also he also volunteered his services after two teenage girls were found slain near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.

He also recalled the June 2011 disappearance of Lauren Spierer, an Indiana University student, in his city.

"This isn't the first time I've been exposed to this kind of thing," Frost said. "Those two (cases) had horrible outcomes. And I want to help if possible avoid that."

Morris lives with his parents — both employees of Del-Com schools — and three siblings, including a twin sister.

Turner said many of the adults interviewed said Scottie Morris was "the sweetest kid you ever want to meet," described as both "very polite" and "jovial."

The police chief said the teenager apparently tried to run away once before, but that effort was interrupted by a member of his extended family.

'Come home,' teen's mother urges

The teen's mother briefly appeared on an Indianapolis TV news broadcast Monday, urging her son to return home.

"I love you and I just want you to come home," Felicia Morris said tearfully.

Turner, a police officer since 1985, said he could recall participating in no previous investigations involving missing teens that for an extended period turned up nothing in the way of evidence.

"I've never any case like this," said the police chief. "Usually by now we hear something."

He also said he intended to review the case this week with investigators from Indiana State Police and the Delaware County Sheriff's Department.

Anyone with information on Scottie Dean Morris is asked to call the Eaton Police Department at 765-396-3297 or 911.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Scottie Dean Morris: Search ends with no sign of missing Eaton teen