Police dive teams have suspended their water search for a missing Saco man, although officers will continue to follow up on other leads, according to police.

The Portland-South Portland Police Dive Team spent the last three days in Portland Harbor searching for James Dyer, the 23-year-old man reported missing after spending New Year’s Eve in Portland’s Old Port.

Divers continued to search the water along the Portland waterfront Wednesday but did not find any sign of Dyer.

“There’s certainly a sense of relief,” said Dyer’s mother, Amy Dyer, because a successful water search would mean recovering her son’s body. However, she said not knowing the fate of her son has been excruciating as well.

“It’s horrifying, and it hurts more than I’ve ever felt before in my life,” she said. “I just want answers, closure, I want him to come home.”

Dyer was out with three friends in Portland’s Old Port on New Year’s Eve and was last seen outside The Pearl nightclub on Fore St. at about 1:45 a.m. Police say they have no evidence that Dyer went into the water, but that is a fate that has befallen some other people who were reported missing in that section of the city.

Divers were searching the water near Union Wharf, where the car Dyer was planning to get a ride home in had been parked.

The missing person’s case is technically a Saco investigation, because that is where he was reported missing. However, Portland has taken the lead in the search because Dyer’s last known location was the Old Port.

Saco’s acting Deputy Police Chief, Corey Huntress, said investigators would continue to follow up on leads as they come in.

Police also continue to review video tape, looking for clues about where Dyer went after he was last seen on Fore Street.

Amy Dyer said the ordeal has been difficult on her entire family. Dyer has three sisters who have been hit hard by his disappearance.

“I don’t want to let go of any of them again,” Amy Dyer said. The three young men James Dyer accompanied to the Old Port also are struggling with his disappearance, bringing the close family friends even closer.

“I call them my extended family now,”Amy Dyer said. “They’re all my kids. … Jim and them were very, very close. They have been for years. They’re hurting just as much as we are.”

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