Search fails to find hunter

DAYTON, Ore. – A renewed two-day search in a rugged section of the Coast Ranges of Oregon failed to find any trace of Jeromy Childress, an elk hunter missing since mid-October, his wife, Kristen, said Sunday night.

Saturday would have been the couple’s sixth wedding anniversary. Kristen Childress said she wants closure for herself and the couple’s two children, 3 years old and 8 months old.

Jeromy Childress, 31, an industrial bridge painter from the Willamette Valley town of Dayton, headed into the brush shortly before dark on Oct. 17 on a hunch that he could find a lost campsite, his two companions said. He hasn’t been seen since.

The area searched is in the Trask Boundary region above the town of Beaver, south of Tillamook.

On Saturday, about 80 volunteers heeded a call by Kristen Childress to comb the area again, and about 40 turned up on Sunday.

“There was nothing,” she said. “You could see it in their eyes – they were really discouraged; they really wanted to find something for me.”

She said they covered some areas that were not searched during the official effort in October that at times involved more than 300 searchers, including some from seven county sheriff’s departments, plus trained dogs.

The steep, heavily wooded terrain is mostly covered with thick undergrowth, and Tillamook County sheriff’s deputies say several hunters become lost there in any given year but are found or find their own way out.

Jeromy Childress had only a rifle, a knife and a half-pack of cigarettes when he went into the brush. His overnight gear was back at the camp he was trying to find.

Kristen Childress said she doubts there will be another organized search effort until spring.