CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. -- Searchers climbed aboard ATVs on Thursday night to comb a rugged area of Caldwell County for a mother missing since Wednesday night.

Amber Pennell left her job at Hannah's Barbecue off Highway 321 in Lenoir about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Pennell's husband said she called him and told him she was going to get gas. Pennell's husband said she never showed up and he called police.

Volunteer firefighters searched areas off the main highway but had not found Pennell by late Thursday night.

The woman's friends posted a sign earlier Thursday outside the restaurant where she works. The sign read, "Let there be light for Amber."

Pennell's friends also handed out flyers on Thursday.