CASART - 8th Activation

BREAKNECK MOUNTAIN SEARCH
Putnam County, NY 01/11/05

CASART was notified on Monday 01/10/05 by the NYSFEDSAR to activate the team for 7:00a.m. Tuesday 01/11/05.  Type III and Crew Bosses had been requested by NYS Forest Rangers to search for Myung Choi or subject a 63 year old male of Asian descent.  The subject was last seen on Sunday 01/02/05 and was reported missing to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department on Monday 01/03/05.  The subject, an experienced hiker, had been hiking with a woman companion in the 14,000 acre Hudson Highlands State Park when they encountered two men, also of Asian decent, and his companion decided to hike with the two men on the blue trail and the subject went on alone on the white trail.  The subject was to rejoin his companion at the Cold Spring train station later in the day to return to his home in Queens, NY, but never showed up.  The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, NYS Park Police and NYS Forest Rangers along with about seventy volunteers and K-9 teams have been searching since Monday 01/03/05 on rugged terrain in snow and bad weather without success.

The following two (2) CASART members reported to the Incident Command Post at the Hubbard Lodge near Cold Spring, NY: Paul Littman and Bruce Knudsen.

They searched all day in rugged terrain and snow without success and the search was terminated at the end of the day. 

On 01/28/05 an ice climber was driving along Rt. 9D when he spotted an ice formation on a cliff that he thought might be good for a climb and stopped his car to walk the 300 yards to the cliff to check it out.  As he approached the cliff he stumbled onto the body of the subject laying near the base of the cliff.  There is speculation that the subject might have fallen from the top of the cliff or that foul play might have occurred.

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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