The family of missing University of Minnesota student Anarae Schunk is asking the public for help in their search for evidence.

While police continue looking for Schunk, her family has started their own search, looking in areas around Rosemount, including Lebanon Hills, Farmington, Apple Valley, Lilydale and Mendota, where they think she could be.

The family met with Burnsville police Monday morning to discuss the high-priority areas where volunteers should search, Schunk’s brother Tyson Schunk said.

“The police department has become a lot more cooperative, a lot more open to the idea of us publicly searching,” he said Monday.

Burnsville police told the family Monday that they’re sure Schunk was killed, but  they wouldn’t give specifics when the family asked for more details, Tyson Schunk said.

 “We really, really pressed them today to give us more information, and they just can’t,” he said.

Schunk, 20, was reported missing last Monday. She was last seen with her ex-boyfriend, Anthony Lee Nelson, and his current girlfriend following a lethal shooting in Burnsville early last Sunday.

Nelson, also known as Shavelle Chavez-Nelson, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder for shooting and killing a man in the parking lot of Nina’s Grill in Burnsville. His girlfriend, Ashley Conrade, is charged with aiding an offender for harboring Nelson until his arrest.

Police found Schunk’s jacket covered in blood with 18 to 20 holes that appeared to be from stab wounds Friday night, Tyson Schunk said.

Police told the family Anarae Schunk’s jacket was found at the apartment of Nelson’s ex-wife in South St. Paul, he said, and a knife believed to be connected with the case was also found on the roof of the apartment.

Police haven’t confirmed the blood on the jacket is Anarae Schunk’s, Tyson Schunk said Monday.

“A jacket is not 100 percent to me,” he said.

Neither Nelson nor Conrade have given police any information about Schunk’s whereabouts, Burnsville police said in a statement Saturday.

The search expands

Schunk’s family made plans to meet with Steven Matula on Monday night to organize a large-scale search later this week.

Matula’s sister Mandy, 24, has been missing since May. She was last seen leaving her Eden Prairie, Minn., home with her boyfriend, David Roe.

Roe, who was a suspect in her disappearance, killed himself before police could get any information from him.

Now, Steven Matula works with other Minnesota families to search for their missing children.

Steven Matula said he contacted the Schunk family right after he heard Anarae Schunk was missing.

“I wanted to let them know, ‘Hey I’m going through the same experience as you and I know how to help and what kind of steps to take to bring Anarae home,’” he said.

Burnsville police are asking anyone with information to call 952-895-4636.