Search For Missing Hiker Called Off
CHICAGO (WBBM/AP) - The search has been called off for a Chicago man who went missing while hiking in rugged Colorado terrain.
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The rescue teams started pulling out Tuesday afternoon. And by midnight, Eagle County, Colorado Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly said the search was officially called off for 31-year-old James Nelson of Chicago.
"There's a number of things that could've happened with him. Unfortunately, he's not the first person to go missing in that area and most likely won't be the last."
Cordingly says after four days of searching by foot and three days by air, rescue teams had found nothing. Not a trace.
She says they still hope to help Nelson's loved ones get closure.
"We are going to try to get them up in a helicopter so the entire family can see the area and how rugged an area it was, in hopes of getting them some closure."
Nelson's fiancee reported him missing last Friday.
He has been missing since Oct. 3 when he left for a five-day, 25-mile solo trek on the Mount of the Holy Cross near Vail. Nelson is an experienced hiker and belongs to a backpacking club in Chicago, but this was his first trip to this area of Colorado.
The mountain 15 miles southwest of Vail is one of the best known of Colorado's peaks over 14,000 feet.
KCNC-TV reported that Nelson had the proper gear, but only enough food for five days.
Nelson is a records director for the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is known as a friendly, detail-oriented employee, according to John Brooks, a spokesman for the organization.
Nelson did not have a cell phone with him. He went out completely alone without any knowledge of the terrain.
© Contents of this site are Copyright 2010 by WBBM. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
