Missing Scout’s Family Hires Private Detective

The family of a 12-year-old El Monte Boy Scout who disappeared on a hike in the San Bernardino Mountains last summer has hired a private detective to investigate the possibility that the youth was kidnaped.

Detective Logan Clarke, who specializes in child abduction cases, said Monday that there were strong indications that Jared Negrete did not die in the San Gorgonio Wilderness, where hundreds of searchers concentrated their efforts for 16 days in July and August. Among other things, there were no signs of a decomposing body during that time, he said.

The boy’s family, including his parents, Philip and Linda Negrete, will appeal to the Boy Scouts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to which they belong, for help in financing the investigation, said Harvey Beach, the boy’s uncle.