Rescue teams have been relieved in the search for 28-year-old Ian O’Brien, who went missing June 24 while hiking in the La Plata Mountains.
O’Brien was camping with partner Beth Henshaw near the upper end of Echo Basin along Forest Service Road 566. He went hiking about 2 p.m. June 24 to Hesperus Peak and never returned.
The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office said it is exhausting all options in the search for O’Brien, but it had to call off search teams after going a week without finding any conclusive evidence of O’Brien’s whereabouts.
“This has been a very extensive search from the ground up, and from here we have nothing,” said Montezuma County Sheriff Steven Nowlin.
The Sheriff’s Office is continuing to coordinate with the FBI and the U.S. military, which are implementing technological solutions to try to provide a geographical location for O’Brien.
“They’re using different types of data collection that they’re able to obtain from the cellphone company and the GPS company, as well as any other previous data that was collected by those devices,” Nowlin said.
Open Sky Wilderness Therapy staff is coordinating ground-based search efforts, and Nowlin is confident in their ability to organize the search.
Nowlin said there have been more than 100 volunteers searching for O’Brien since it started the night of June 24.
Teams have been searching everywhere along the west side of the La Plata Mountains from Shark’s Tooth to the Red Arrow Mine. Teams also searched La Plata Canyon early last week. La Plata County Search and Resue notified O’Brien’s partner and sisters that they had moved the search out of the canyon early last week after a false sighting of a disoriented hiker was reported in the canyon on the morning of June 27.
Teams searched those areas based on routes O’Brien had previously taken when hiking to Hesperus Peak.
O’Brien is said to be an experienced hiker who has led multiple trips to Hesperus Peak on his own and as a guide with Open Sky Wilderness Therapy.
Four helicopters have supported the search so far with a fixed-winged aircraft. Search dogs, drones, infrared cameras, night vision, RECCO reflective technology and horses have also been used in the search.
Community volunteer search teams are seeking more people to search for the missing hiker and looking for volunteers with ATVs and drone operators to help locate him, according to their website.
“I certainly don’t prohibit anybody from going to look, but I’m just concerned for everybody else’s safety as well,” Nowlin said. “I don’t want anyone else getting lost or hurt out there.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
