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"We just want to thank all the community members, family members and friends who took time to be in the search party and brought food and gifts,"Amber said last Friday, from her home in Olympia, Washington. On Dec. 13, 2007, the Grand Traverse Sheriff Office reported that the body found in a wooded area near the intersection of Cedar Creek Road and Fife Lake Road on Nov. 20, 2007, was that of Kardes'. Staff members at The Leader have been holding this story, in order to include comments from the Kardes family.

On Jan. 5, 2007, nearly 60 friends, neighbors and volunteers gathered at the Union Twp. hall on Fife Lake Road, just east of US-131 to search for Kardes. Michigan State Police had scheduled a helicopter equipped with infrared to arrive in the area by noon that day. Flyers bearing pictures of Marty were everywhere, for months. Volunteers searched, for days.ÊÊ

Marty Kardes was a Vietnam vet and suffered from the affects of Agent Orange and was a diabetic, according to the family.

Marty's niece, Katrina Fritz Intwala, who grew up in the Fife Lake area, is a graduate of Forest Area high School, and now lives in the state of New York, said last year that when Marty went missing, he did not have his insulin with him.

On Nov. 26, 2007, GTSO reported that Marty Kardes' body was going to be sent to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing for a forensic exam, in an attempt to determine the cause of death by forensic pathologists and personnel from the Anthropology Department of Michigan State University. In that release, GTSO advised, "This process may take up to three weeks."

A memorial service for Marty will be at the end of July or in August, when the entire family can come together, according to Amber.

"I really think it was amazing what people Ð even total strangers - put forth,"she said. "It made a pretty stressful situation a positive experience."ÊÊ