Dover – Democratic 1st District U.S. House candidate Gary B. Dodds of Rye remained missing this afternoon after his Lincoln Continental crashed on the Spaulding Turnpike in Dover last night.

New Hampshire State Police issued a missing person bulletin for Dodds and said that Dover police, state Fish and Game officers, the Marine Patrol and the Dover and Newington Fire Departments were helping search for him.

State Police said Dodds “is believed to be the last known person driving the vehicle.” No other vehicles were involved in the crash, state police said.

Dodds, 41, is seeking the House seat now occupied by Republican Rep. Jeb Bradley. Also in the race are Democratic state Reps. James Craig and Peter Sullivan, both of Manchester, and Carol Shea-Porter of Rochester.

Dodds is the chief financial offer and co-founder of Accent Magazine, a home-and-gardens and lifestyle publication based in Portsmouth. His wife, Cyndy, is an art director at the publication. The couple has two young daughters.

Dodds is also vice chairman of the Rye School Board.

Dodds’ campaign manager, Bonnie Winona of Nottingham, said Cyndy Dodds told her today that Dodds attended a campaign-related meeting in Somersworth last night and was on his way to Portsmouth to meet privately with his campaign fiscal agent, attorney Frank Meanor, Jr., of Bedford.

Winona said Dodds’ vehicle apparently crashed en route to the meeting. Meanor could not be reached for comment.

►Dodds' campaign Web site

Shannon Dodds of Massachusetts was reached at Dodds’ home this afternoon and confirmed that the missing man was the congressional candidate.

She said she did not know the circumstances surrounding her brother-in-law’s disappearance but said neither she nor his wife had heard from him. She did not know if Dodds had been traveling alone.

State Police said that at 8:16 p.m. yesterday, they were notified of a single-vehicle crash on the southbound side of the Spaulding Turnpike. They said the vehicle, a 1997 Lincoln Continental, was located between Exit 7 and the Dover toll plaza in the vicinity of mile marker 7.

Emergency personnel arrived within minutes but “no occupants were located at the scene,” the police said in their report.

“As of this time, Mr. Dodds has not arrived home or made contact with anyone,” police said shortly before 2 p.m.

GARY DODDS

Dodds is described as 6-foot-1, about 180 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information as to Dodds’ whereabouts or anyone witnessing the accident is asked to call the state police at 679-3333.

According to Dodds’ campaign Web site, he is an Illinois native who has lived in New Hampshire since 1974 and earned a masters degree at the University of New Hampshire.

Since 1988 he has been a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Rye Fire Department.

In 1994, he was elected to the Rye Planning Board, and in 1996 was elected to the Rye School Board.

He volunteers for the Center for Student Leadership, a non-profit agency, his Web site says.

Winona, who began working for Dodds’ campaign in January, described Dodds as “a wonderful guy. He’s young, healthy, and he’s healthy-living. He’s a martial arts practitioner and he doesn’t drink or smoke or anything like that.”

Winona said she understood that “someone saw his car go off the road and the emergency personnel responded quickly, but he was already not there.”

Rye School Board Chairman Ian Grant said Dodds, as a congressional candidate, “keeps a much different schedule than most school board members.

“He’s a friend, a friend of the board and the community,” Grant said.

He said he last spoke with Dodds earlier this week, “and he was very positive. He was walking the district as part of his campaign, meeting people and was excited about the people he was having conversations with.”

Keith Lemerise, who co-founded Accent Magazine with Dodds, described Dodds as “straight as an arrow.”

“We are praying for his family and hope he shows up,” Lemerise said. “He is a very strong person.”