Search resumes for Powell man missing on North Fork

Posted 2/9/17

Mathers, 61, was last seen on the North Fork around midday on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

His truck was found Friday in a pullout off U.S. Highway 14/16/20 in the Shoshone National Forest, about a half-mile west of the Wapiti Campground and roughly 30 …

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Search resumes for Powell man missing on North Fork

Posted

After being stymied by weather for several days, the Park County Search and Rescue Unit is resuming the search for Gib Mathers, a Powell Tribune reporter who went missing on the North Fork last week.

Mathers, 61, was last seen on the North Fork around midday on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

His truck was found Friday in a pullout off U.S. Highway 14/16/20 in the Shoshone National Forest, about a half-mile west of the Wapiti Campground and roughly 30 miles west of Cody.

Search and Rescue planned to deploy ground teams and canine units in that general area today (Thursday).

"The public is asked to avoid the area today as the canine units will be concentrating along the highway," Park County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lance Mathess said Thursday morning. "Additional human scent from bystanders as well as traffic speeding by complicate their efforts."

Search and Rescue crews with dogs spent Friday and Saturday searching for Mathers, but weather conditions — and a lack of any idea where Mathers went — had prevented them from searching again until today; warm conditions on Sunday melted some of the snow, making it too difficult for dogs to maneuver in, then more snow fell this week.

When Park County Sheriff Scott Steward went to the area on Wednesday morning to check on the conditions, he found that “the state snow plows stopped at the forest boundary, so we couldn’t even get up there this morning,” Mathess said Wednesday.

At midday, the sheriff was back in the area, checking conditions, but Mathess said there may be “simply too much snow.”

The Sheriff’s Office put out a call for help over the weekend, asking anyone who may have seen Mathers to contact them, but as of Wednesday, that request had turned up no additional leads, Mathess said.

“It’s pretty sad,” he said.

Mathers had taken some time off of work last week, with the Tribune last hearing from him on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 31. When he did not show up for work on Thursday, coworkers tried to get in touch with Mathers and were unable to contact or locate him.

Authorities began searching on Friday morning after a patrolman with the Wyoming Highway Patrol noticed Mathers’ newly purchased, snow-covered truck parked along the highway.

A mail carrier later told the Sheriff’s Office she’d seen Mathers on the highway around 11:30 a.m., taking photographs from his truck — east of where it was later parked.

Anyone with information about Mathers’ whereabouts is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 754-8700.

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