THOUSAND OAKS : Search for Nurse Yields No Clues

The search in Thousand Oaks for a Westlake nurse who disappeared Sept. 14 continued Friday without success.

Before dawn, FBI agents using specialized thermal-imaging equipment aboard a Ventura County sheriff’s helicopter flew over six sites in Thousand Oaks looking for any sign of 34-year-old Kellie O’Sullivan.

The agents completed their scans in the early morning, when heat sources would stand out in high contrast to the cool ground, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Hansen.

Hansen said the equipment proved sensitive, but failed to turn up any signs of O’Sullivan, who disappeared while running errands in Thousand Oaks.

After the FBI’s special gear spotted a heat source on the ground, the agents landed in a brushy area near Thousand Oaks, but found only flattened grass that might have been left by a deer startled from sleep by the helicopter’s approach, he said.

Meanwhile, about 60 civilians and 20 to 25 sheriff’s personnel fanned out over the search area, looking through dense thickets and remote canyons for clues to O’Sullivan’s disappearance. The search is expected to continue this morning, and O’Sullivan’s family members said they still are seeking volunteer searchers.

O’Sullivan’s black 1991 Ford Explorer was found Monday in Reno, Nev., following the arrest of a kidnaping suspect. The suspect, Mark Scott Thornton, 19, told police he found the truck empty with the keys in it and used it to abduct his ex-girlfriend and drive her to Reno.

But Thornton and the ex-girlfriend denied ever seeing O’Sullivan, police said.

Civilians searching for O’Sullivan in Los Angeles County did find a suspected drug lab near the vacant Woodview Calabasas Hospital, Hansen said.

Ventura County authorities turned over the information to Los Angeles County narcotics officers for investigation.