Family Calls Off Search for Missing Utah Hiker

Family Calls Off Search for Missing Utah Hiker


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STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) -- The family of a former Minnesota man living in Utah and missing for more than a week in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains has called off the search for Jon Francis.

The 24-year-old director of youth ministry for the Ascension Lutheran Church in Harrisville, Utah, left the Bible camp where he was working July 15th to hike the nearly ten thousand-foot Grand Mogul. Searchers think he made it to the top but they don't know what happened to him on the way down.

Francis was reported missing by co-workers the next day.

The missing man's father said they decided to end the search Sunday evening.

David Francis, who is running as for the Minnesota Senate, said they were physically and emotionally tired, but were at peace that everything humanly possible was done to find Jon.

He said the family stopped at Luther Heights Bible Camp, where Jon was a counselor for the past four summers. They also planned to visit his friends in Utah before they return to Minnesota.

Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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