CASART - 14th Activation

INDIAN LAKE SEARCH & RESCUE
Hamilton County, NY 04/26/06 – 04/30/06

CASART was notified on Wednesday 04/26/06 at 7:30a.m. by NYS DEC Forest Ranger Capt. John Streiff to activate the team and report to the Assembly Point at the Indian Lake Fire House on Rt. 28 in Indian Lake, NY by 12:00p.m.  Type III searchers and crew bosses were requested to locate George LaForest or subject, a 45 year old male who was last seen on Friday 04/21/06 and was reported missing on Monday 04/24/06 when he failed to appear for an appointment.  He was known to be an avid hunter fisherman who knew this area well.  He suffers from depression, so suicide was considered a possibility.  The subject’s pickup truck was discovered Tuesday morning 04/25/06 in a parking area at the end of Pelon Rd. near the shore of the Cedar River and the Forest Rangers started searching for the subject that afternoon.  The subject’s wallet was found in his truck and his waders were unaccounted for indicating he may have been fishing.

Six CASART members responded for the search on Wednesday, seven members responded on Thursday, five members responded on Friday, ten members responded on Saturday and Five members responded on Sunday.  The following sixteen members participated in the search from one to all five days: Adleor Brigham, Dan Carmichael, Ellie Connick, Ron Dearlove, Todd Golem, Patrick Inserra, Bruce Knudson, Paul Littman, Cheryl Lougeay, Ray Lougeay, Greg O'Hara, Doug Pirnie, Corky Risley, Eileen Tobin, Don Unsworth and Bob Wheeler.  The area was searched on foot using Type I, Type II and Type III searches and K9 teams.  The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, but the Black Flies were out.  Helicopters were used most days to search from the air and the Cedar River was searched by raft using an underwater camera, kayak, air boat and divers. The area got 5 inches of rain between Saturday afternoon and Sunday and the Cedar River was reported to have risen three feet and was flowing pretty well, but dropped two feet during the search.  The six day search ended on Sunday afternoon without finding any clues or the subject.

To find out more about the team or to get a membership application write to CASART at P.O. Box 143, Inlet, NY 13360, call us at 315-357-4381, visit our web site at www.casart.org, or send email to webmaster@casart.org.

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