Searchers concluded a third day of searching in the disappearance of Michael Auberry in the NC mountains without finding any additional clues. They will continue searching throughout the night along trails and roadways. Searching the dense brush and rough terrain will be discontinued till daylight returns and searchers can more safely navigate the rough terrain. A plane will be used to night that has heat seeking capabilities that will hopefully be able to pick up his body heat and pin point him.
Two other possibilities on what happened to Michael
National Park Rangers have discounted that a wild animal could have played any part in the disappearance of Michael.
Wild animals probably wouldn’t threaten the boy, rangers said.
“Most likely, he won’t see anymore wildlife than turkeys or groundhogs or squirrels,” White said. “Our main concern would be if the weather changed and we got rain.”
Although it is unlikely but with coyotes as well as bears in the area there is a small chance he fell victim to one.
The National Park Service today also Issued an Amber Alert in case Michael wandered on to a road and was picked up. Additionally the FBI has joined in even though at this point there is no suggestion of any foul play.
The search has covered the places that search coordinators thought was most likely to find the scout now they will refocus and search all areas within the search area.
David Bauer, National Park Service spokesman, said the search party first looked in the most obvious places for the boy. Now that those areas have been covered he said the party will slow down their efforts to more closely comb the area.
Although it has been a number of days and nights Michael has been missing there is still reason to be hopeful he; is dressed for the conditions, he has had some survival training, and despite the cold weather at night the temperatures during the day are up into the 50’s. Our hope and prayers are with all involved in the search as well as with Michael and his family.
