Parents of Missing Metallica Fan Morgan Harrington Turn to Dr. Phil

The case of missing Metallica fan Morgan Harrington has already garnered considerable media attention nationwide. On Nov. 12, the case will be getting even more exposure, thanks to a hairless shrink with ties to Oprah Winfrey. On Nov. 9, Dr. Phil McGraw of the 'Dr. Phil' TV show sat down with Harrington's parents, who have been searching for their daughter since Oct. 17, when the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student vanished from a Metallica concert.

The program will air on Thursday at 4 p.m. Doing the sit-down with Dr. Phil was crucial for the Harringtons, who are doing all that they can to "keep the story out there," Morgan's father, Dan, told reporters. The interview will air across the country to millions of viewers, and the Harringtons are hoping someone will hear about Morgan's story and offer help.

"It has a large audience, and we want to make sure we get Morgan's story out," Dan Harrington added. During Monday's taping, Dr. Phil asked the Harringtons the same kinds of questions they've been asking themselves day after day since Morgan disappeared. That doesn't make such interviews any easier.

"I think maybe you're not as excited as quaking in your boots, but you also have been doing this for three weeks and not sleeping for three weeks," said Gil Harrington, Morgan's mother. "You could never in your wildest dreams begin to imagine to find yourself in this place."

Meanwhile, another widespread search effort is being planned for this coming weekend, following this past weekend's search, which involved more than a thousand volunteers and turned up little in the way of actual hard evidence.

While the ultimate goal for last weekend's search was to find Harrington, Bob Smithers, founder of the Texas-based Laura Recovery Center, told reporters he's just "overwhelmed with relief that we didn't find a body."

Another group of volunteers will be meeting this week to form a group whose aim will be keeping Morgan's name in the media.

Last week, Metallica's Kirk Hammett spoke about Harrington's case. "We are staying positive that she will be found soon," he said. "We are all hoping for the best and praying for her and her family. We all have children and as parents ourselves, it's our worst nightmare for a child to go out and not come back home. We empathize with that greatly, so we are doing what we can to help find her. We are staying positive."