Estimated read time: 1-2 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
TOOELE -- Following the discovery of the car driven by missing Dugway soldier Joseph Bushling Saturday night, search and rescue teams found new evidence leading to more information as to where the young soldier could possibly be.
Tooele County Search and Rescue members and Dugway Proving Ground personnel found the baseball hat Bushling was wearing about six miles west of the car.
It's just really hard to think about the fact that he might not come home. People disappear all the time in this country -- I know that -- and it just really worries me.
–Kevin Bushling
Approximately 50 people have been involved in Monday's search of the remote desert area, with the focus being drawn to surrounding caves. Bushling is trained to survive in extreme conditions, but Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park doubts he could stay there for over a week.
"There is a lot of caves out there," said Park. "At first that's very much a possibility, but to stay in the caves for a week is extremely unusual."
Park said crews will search the caves to see if there is any indications that Bushling found a spot to get out of the elements, but pending further information, the search would be suspended until the weekend.
"It's just really hard to think about the fact that he might not come home," said Kevin Bushling, the missing soldier's father. "People disappear all the time in this country -- I know that -- and it just really worries me."
Searchers are using ATV's as well as cadaver dogs in their efforts to locate the missing soldier.
"Young people don't realize, you know, how quickly things can turn bad," Kevin Bushling added. "I know when you're young, you just don't think about that. You just [think], ‘nothing is going to happen to me.' "
Officials have said that the car Bushling was driving has not yielded any new information or given any indication as to where he was traveling.
