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Nearly a year after disappearance, search for Typhenie Johnson intensifies

FORT WORTH-Sundays typically mean another chance for Art Sahlstein to trudge through creek beds, navigate six-foot weeds, and look for any signs of a missing 25-year-old he never knew.

This Sunday is no exception.

"I didn't know her but her family has become like family," says Sahlstein.

He regularly organizes searches for Typhenie Johnson, a woman who was last seen with her ex-boyfriend outside of her east Fort Worth apartment last October.

"Sometimes, there is five of us, sometimes 15 of us," he says. "Ideally, we would love to see her alive, but at this point we have to do these searches where we might be looking for Typhenie's remains."

Chris Revill, her former boyfriend, remains behind bars on kidnapping charges related to the case.

Salhstein says despite efforts, there had been little progress on actually locating Johnson over the 32 square-mile search zone they'd mapped until very recently.

"We now believe we've got it down to about a ten minute radius of a key location within north Arlington and east Fort Worth," he said.

He wouldn't elaborate on that spot, or if authorities pointed him in a certain direction.

Fort Worth police said over the weekend they have no update on the case.

The Johnson family, who largely live out of state, count on Art and other locals to be their eyes and ears on the ground and on Facebook.

But the case has garnered some recent attention out of state.

Jordan Youngberg, a Republican state senator from South Dakota, recently pledged $3,000 of his own money to a reward fund which now totals six grand. Typhenie's mom, Deb, lives in South Dakota.

"People are still talking about it up here," said Youngberg by phone. "$3,000 in the realm of life is nothing, ya' know. Yeah, it's a lot up front [...] but compared to somebody's life it's nothing."

Another Fort Worth family also believes Revill is connected to the disappearance of their daughter and sister more than a decade ago, although he was never charged in connection with that case.

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