Friends, Family Want Search For Langlois To Be A 'Priority'

Friends and family continue the search Friday for 33-year-old Eric Langlois, who was reported missing Tuesday night after he returned to the trails near Lovers Leap in New Milford looking for the bike he lost the day before.

Friends of the New Milford photographer (and 1998 Brookfield High School graduate) have been organizing search parties of three and four in the days since Langlois’ disappearance, scouring the shoreline. Late Friday morning, with a break in the persistent rain, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) officials also launched a boat onto Lake Lillinonah to assist the search from the water.

“We have a really great volunteer network that’s come together,” friend Candice Coppola said Friday, including firefighters from Branford coming up to help, search and rescue teams preparing to assist and volunteers from as far as New Hampshire and New Jersey.

What they haven’t seen is a real presence from state and local officials.

“We’ve been very frustrated” particularly with the lack of communication to the family and friends looking for their loved one, she said. “All we want is for it to be a priority and we feel like it hasn’t been.”

The DEEP has stated that, due to the heavy rains here and further up the water system that feeds the lake, the currents are too strong to put divers in the water and, until Friday, to have boats searching along the shoreline.

“We understand the conditions are dangerous,” Coppola said. “But there’s been no communication to whether anyone has investigated if there’s real danger,” as the weather has not been as bad as predicted.

“They should be capitalizing on the volunteers and neighboring resources” and helping to organize the search effort, she asserted. However, state officials “have not been a tremendous presence.”

Coppola said Langlois’ wife Amber and their two children remain at home and are staying hopeful and positive, as is everyone involved.

“It’s all we can do right now,” she said.

Anyone interested in helping with the search should go to Walnut Hill Community Church, 19 Dorwin Hill Road, New Milford, to be a part of the organized effort. Donations of hot food, coffee, blankets, towels and ponchos are also appreciated.

Find out more about the search effort at the Facebook page “Help Find Eric Langlois” and check back with Brookfield Patch for updates as they become available.