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Gone without a trace.
As of early this morning, that was about all authorities could say about sisters Kristin and Kati Lisk.
An intense search for Kristin, 15, and Kati, 12, was to continue today. The Spotsylvania County girls were reported missing from their home on Block House Road Thursday afternoon, about two hours after county school buses dropped them off at the foot of their driveway.
Police fear the girls may have been abducted.
Hundreds of rescue workers, police officers, FBI, military personnel and others were out with dogs yesterday until about 11 p.m. scouring the woods in the area of the Lisk home for clues. But nothing new was found.
Searchers could be spotted in the woods and along roadways for miles around the Lisk home.
The home is one of several nestled in the woods along Block House Road in a rural section of Spotsylvania, about a half-mile off Brock Road.
Most of the homes are about 100 yards back from the heavily traveled, two-lane road running between the trees.
Capt. Pat Sullins of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said authorities had a lot of ground to cover, and "it just takes time."
By last night, Sullins said, officials had covered 50 percent of the area they had targeted to search; they expected to be finished by this evening. That area included the nearby battlefield park.
Interviews with the girls' parents, Ronald and Patricia Lisk, and others have police convinced that Kristin and Kati did not willingly disappear. The girls, the Lisks' only children, are honor roll students with no history of running away or other trouble.
"At this point, we'd love to find these girls hanging out on the beach somewhere," Sullins said. "But there is nothing to indicate that we're dealing with runaways ... we're frightened."
Sullins said a number of people have called the Sheriff's Office to report suspicious activity near the girls' home and elsewhere, such as a van stopping to talk to children. However, none of those calls have given searchers any leads.
The Lisk girls arrived home from school Thursday around 3 p.m.
Ronald Lisk called to check on his daughters shortly after 3 o'clock but got no answer.
He tried several more times before arriving home at 4 p.m. The girls weren't home, but their belongings were.
Kati's book bag was in a closet inside the house. Kristin's bag was found in the front yard with a math book lying several feet away.
There was no evidence of a struggle, police said, and no sign of forced entry into the home.
"There was no sign of anything," Sullins said. "Everything appeared to be very normal, except the girls weren't there."
Ronald Lisk called several of the girls' friends and school officials before calling police about 5 p.m. Kristin attends Spotsylvania High School, and Kati is a student at Spotsylvania Middle School.
Lisk owns Vision Photography in Fredericksburg. His wife is a nursing teacher at Germanna Community College.
Yesterday, Capt. Percy Poates of the Sheriff's Office stood guard at the foot of the Lisks' dirt and gravel driveway, warding off media hoping to talk with the family.
Television news vans were parked along the country road as cameramen tried to film the house and the people milling around the front yard. Later in the day, orange traffic cones lined the road near the Lisks' driveway, preventing vehicles from parking there.
A radio reporter tried to get close to the family by claiming she was with the family's minister. The woman got close to the house before she was stopped by a deputy who noticed a microphone she was carrying.
Even neighbors who aren't close to the Lisk family were shaken by the girls' disappearance.
"It's very upsetting," said one woman. "I have two girls of my own, and it's sad to have to be so cautious and paranoid about playing in your own yard."
Another neighbor, who said she doesn't know the Lisks, said the incident is further proof that there is no place where something bad can't happen. "Absolutely it makes me nervous," she said.
The woman, who also asked not to be named, said her son never goes outside without her anyway because he is so young. But she said this incident, as with the Sofia Silva abduction and murder last September, have reinforced the need for caution.
Kristin and Kati Lisk are active in the youth group at Goshen Baptist Church. A recorded answering machine message at the church yesterday asked that people "please remember the Lisk family in prayer and join us in praying for the safe return of Kristin and Kati."
The Rev. Cliff Reynolds, pastor at the church, said the church community is responding by offering food for the family and rescue workers.
"From the moment all this broke, we called folks in the church and they began calling other folks," he said. "By yesterday evening, there were about 30 people at the church praying."
Reynolds said he and others planned to meet with the church youth last night to comfort them and talk about the situation.
He spent most of yesterday with the family. He said they are doing "remarkably well. I think the good Lord's keeping them."
Staff reporter Kim Douglass contributed to this story.
