Criminal Investigation Launched in Search for Missing Teen Hiker

A dozen rescue rock climbers and homicide detectives rappelled into deep crevices and caves in a rugged high desert area of Joshua Tree National Park as the search continued into the night Tuesday for a missing 17-year-old hiker.

Eric Sears was last seen by a hiking companion, also 17, who reported him missing shortly after noon Thursday in the park’s Jumbo Rocks Campground, about 10 miles southwest of Twentynine Palms, authorities said.

“Our rescue teams are evaluating what they learn each day,” said park spokesman Joe Zarki. “But we have considerably scaled down the operation. There will come a point at which they will decide to call it off.”

Initially, a small army of more than 100 National Park Service rescue team members and volunteers traveled on foot and on horseback, in four-wheel-drive vehicles and in helicopters, combing a 20-square-mile search zone of maze-like boulder formations in triple-digit temperatures.

On Monday, Riverside County Sheriff’s homicide investigators launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the missing teenager from Carlsbad, Calif.

That came a day after searchers located some of his tracks and bloodhounds picked up his scent in several locations.

Those signs, however, could only be traced a short distance before disappearing, authorities said.

“During the search, information was received after interviews with numerous park visitors regarding activity in and around the Jumbo Rocks area,” said Sgt. Frank Taylor. “Some of the information provided focused on the possibility of foul play being involved in the disappearance of Eric Sears.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Earl Quinata declined to provide details about how the two boys became separated.

A park official speculated that Sears, a cross-country runner, may have been seeking shade or may have fallen into one of the region’s many crevices.

“The steep rock formations are making it hard for people to conduct their search,” said Cindy VonHalle, a spokeswoman for the park. “But we’ve got searchers using ropes and flashlights methodically checking out all those crevices, ledges and caves.”

Separately, the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office on Tuesday filed two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence causing injury against Joseph Allen Tidwell, 35, of Twentynine Palms, whose vehicle struck a van carrying a rescue team to the search zone.

Volunteer Scott Johnston, 30, of Redlands was killed in the head-on collision Saturday morning on California 62 in Morongo Valley, authorities said.

Johnston was a member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department’s San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team.

Sears’ parents and other relatives had been assisting in the effort from a command post established at the Jumbo Rocks Campground, which has been closed for the duration of the search, VonHalle said.

In April last year, Marvin Matsumoto, 60, was rescued four days after he had gotten lost while hiking in the park and then fell into a crevice, suffering a broken foot and head injuries.