| Search teams continue hunt for missing teen | ||
| By James Robinson Staff Writer The search for a missing Pagosa Springs man intensified over Memorial Day weekend when local search and rescue personnel joined forces with professional trackers and a canine search team. Despite their efforts, searchers turned up empty handed. The man, 19-year-old David Kramer, disappeared Sunday, May 22, during a camping party on the lower Blanco River, near the Blanco Campground. Greg Oertel, director of emergency operations at the Archuleta County Sheriff's Department, said search and rescue teams began looking for Kramer Tuesday, May 24, but found no leads. He said local personnel from Mounted Rescue, Upper San Juan Search and Rescue and the Archuleta County Fire Department teamed up with the Dolores Canine Team and the Rocky Mountain Trackers to intensify the operation over the holiday weekend. Oertel said search teams combed the area Saturday and Sunday, paying particular attention to log jams, fallen timber in the river (called "sweepers") and the river banks. With the recent flooding, Oertel said, tremendous amounts of silt had come down the river and areas once visible are now buried by mud and sand. He said aerial and avalanche-style search techniques were employed during the weekend's search, but high water levels remain a problem and that it could be two weeks before levels drop significantly and a more extensive search can be mounted. Oertel said Kramer, along with four other friends, two from Durango and two from Pagosa Springs, went camping Saturday, May 22. After interviewing members of the group, Oertel said one of them remembered seeing Kramer sleeping on the ground above the river late Saturday night. According to their statements, the campers left the area haphazardly, some leaving earlier than others. They had noticed Kramer missing, but each assumed he had taken an earlier ride back to Durango with someone else. But there was one detail out of place - Kramer's shoes were found near the spot he had been seen sleeping the night before. By Monday, no one had seen Kramer and Tuesday the search began. On Thursday, with the help of the Rocky Mountain Trackers, Oertel was able to outline a possible scenario. The evidence at the scene indicated Kramer might have rolled off the embankment while sleeping then tumbled 30 feet down the hill into the river's torrential current. "We found the spot he was sleeping, and we found the spot he might have gone over the side," Oertel said. Oertel said Kramer had not been located and therefore is still deemed missing. He said the investigation will continue and that search teams will pursue all possible leads. Kramer was last seen wearing black jeans, a black shirt and black leather jacket. He is about six feet tall, thinly built, Caucasian, with short black hair. Oertel asked anyone who has information concerning Kramer's whereabouts to contact him at (970) 731-4799. |
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