Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- In deteriorating health, a 78-year-old Seattle resident who was born in Utah returned to the state he loved best for possibly his last visit.
Kenneth Schneider vanished Monday after leaving his stuck car on a dirt road in Manti-la Sal National Forest just west of Monticello, Utah. He was pulled out with help from others, but got stuck again in another wash a half-mile away in Stevens Canyon.
"I am walking to the ranch," Schneider wrote on a note he left with his Nissan Sentra sedan. He left behind his jacket, canteen, food and medication.
San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy said Schneider probably meant Dugout Ranch, an eight-mile walk, but "we've saturated everywhere out there" and Schneider hasn't turned up.
"It's a puzzle for us," the sheriff said.
His family fears Schneider, who couldn't walk a half-mile without exceptional effort, may have succumbed to the desert.
"Nothing makes sense right now," said Leslie Schneider, 45, one of the missing man's daughters. "We're going on the possibility he's still alive because we don't have any choice."
The search for Kenneth Schneider began Monday night with rescue teams on the ground and on horseback, using dogs and a helicopter. That ended Friday night, but the sheriff said his office may do a smaller-scale search again Monday.
All five of his children, who live on the West Coast, were searching for him over the weekend in Utah, but he was still missing on Sunday, said San Juan County dispatcher Bruce Bushore.
Leslie Schneider said her father has a history of high blood pressure and wasn't in condition for vigorous exercise. He was born on a ranch outside of Delta in central Utah and was visiting the canyons of southern Utah, "the country he loved the best," Leslie Schneider said.
------
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
