| Trackers search for ‘whole story’ | ||
| June 18, 2006 Trackers search for ‘whole story’ By BOBBI SANKEY - THE GAZETTE When 8-year-old Evan Thompson was carried from the woods near Cañon City in late May, the Rocky Mountain Trackers weren’t the ones who delivered him to his anxious family members. Theirs was a complicated job — determining where the search should begin. The men and women of Rocky Mountain Trackers have trained eyes. Where others might only see a secluded forest or empty road, they see clues. They’re trained to scrutinize the place a missing person was last seen and start a search on the right path — the one that leads to a safe ending. The volunteer nonprofit group formed in January 2005. Its members are search-andrescue workers from across the state whose main interest is tracking. They’re willing to donate time in addition to their regular volunteer search-andrescue duties to be called out on a search, 24 hours a day. The sooner they get there, the better. “You have to know what you’re looking for,” said David Reynolds, the group’s president and a member of El Paso County Search and Rescue. “No one wants to screw up the last scene. If you don’t do anything, at least preserve the scene.” When Evan Thompson disappeared, trackers determined the initial direction Evan was walking when he left his campsite. They worked day and night searching the forest for clues along his trail. Not notified until the boy had been missing for 10 hours, members of the Rocky Mountain Trackers walked into a scene that countless searchers, family members, vehicles and dogs had walked on and combed through. “It’s not usually total destruction. It just makes our job harder,” Reynolds said. They located the boy’s tracks heading out from his campsite, and at one point had to spend several hours scrutinizing the trail dust to decipher Evan’s small footprints from those of seven searchers. Contrary to some news reports, the Spiderman shoes Evan was wearing didn’t leave tracks distinct enough to help much, Reynolds said. It wasn’t until he photographed one of the footprints and used a computer program to alter the contrast that the track could be seen clearly. Tracker Dan Remsburg, the group’s vice president and a member of Teller County Search and Rescue, said tracks don’t simply show the direction a person was heading. “It’s a whole story,” he said. Trained trackers can measure and review sets of prints and make conclusions about whether the lost person was in good health or feeling ill or possibly hypothermic — stumbling tracks look different than an even stride. They can estimate when a person realized he or she was lost, because the tracks appear more frantic and scrambled, deviating from a regular path, Remsburg said. If one knows where to look and the eyes are trained to see the signs, chances are the correct trail can be found and and followed, the men said. Even before the group was official, its members were instrumental in many successful searches. In April 2001, they helped track Milana Casablanca-Bentz, a 5-year-old Calhan girl, from her front yard to a nearby pasture where she’d been trampled by a herd of horses. After they determined the initial direction she traveled, other search-and-rescue members found the girl unconscious with a severe head injury. She recovered slowly after nearly three months in the hospital. They also helped track Ryan Boller, a 5-year-old autistic boy, north of Woodland Park in May 2002. More than 50 family members and friends searched for the boy overnight; search-and-rescue members who now belong to Rocky Mountain Trackers found the boy’s trail the following morning. “We noticed he’d start dragging his feet when he came to an intersection, trying to decide which way to go,” Remsburg said. “We followed it and saw he’d run his fingers under a fallen log he’d walked under.” Searchers found the boy curled in the fetal position wearing nothing but his white Teletubby underwear. Except for mild dehydration and a little sunburn, he was fine. Reynolds said group members prefer that emergency agencies contact Rocky Mountain Trackers early in a search to determine if tracking can be useful. Many times, it can be. “We’d like to be called whenever there’s a search. We track, and they send teams out ahead of us,” he said. “If we can get there and they preserve it, we’re pretty secure.” CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4813 or bobbi.sankey@gazette.com FINDING THE TRAIL The term “tracking” is deceiving. Tracks are just one way of tracing a person’s path, and professionally trained trackers say the average person lost in the woods will leave about 2,000 pieces of evidence every mile. Trackers view their surroundings as a sort of crime scene. If tracks can’t be seen, light may reflect differently on grassy surfaces where a person stepped. The way a branch is broken could be the clue that leads a tracker off a trail and under a half-fallen log. A bit of mud on the other side of a grassy bank could lead them across a stream. Members of the Rocky Mountain Trackers also say nighttime is prime search time for many reasons, and they don’t mind being awakened and called out late. A flashlight often illuminates clues better, said David Reynolds, the group’s president, and Dan Remsburg, vice president. When searchers are in control of their own light source, they can angle it correctly to see shadows and determine where someone may have walked or touched. When darkness falls, searchers also have time to catch up to the person who’s lost, Reynolds said. Trackers were able to inch closer to Evan Thompson at night while he slept. Rocky Mountain Trackers is an agency funded by donations and run by volunteers. To learn more, visit www.rockymountaintrackers. org. |
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