Ground Search Ended For Missing Plane

Sat., Dec. 2, 2000

From Staff

Washington County Sheriff Jim Nelson on Friday suspended the ground search for an airplane which disappeared Nov. 16 in the southern end of the Hells Canyon area carrying two men, one from Spokane.

Idaho Power Co. employee Keith Williams, a wildlife biologist, and pilot Brian Moody of Baker Air Service in Oregon were conducting an aerial survey of mule deer in the rugged mountains east of Brownlee Reservoir.

Williams, 29, is a 1989 graduate of North Central High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife resources from the University of Idaho.

Nelson decided to halt operations due to heavy snow, fatigue and difficult terrain. As many as 100 volunteers from Idaho Power, Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue and the Inland Wildlife Council had hiked through an area near Corner Mountain northwest of Weiser since Tuesday.

The ground search followed a weeklong hunt by air using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

The ground search was conducted in that area because a radar contact last placed the Cessna 206 there. In addition, radio-collared deer Williams was watching for also are in that locale.

Searchers will follow up on two leads which placed the aircraft outside that zone.

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