Dog picks up scent of missing hiker

KETCHUM, Idaho – A cadaver dog has picked up the scent of a hiker missing since July in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho, the hiker’s father said.

David Francis, of Stillwater, Minn., a Democratic candidate for the Minnesota state Senate, said the dog over the weekend picked up the scent while searching for his 24-year-old son, Jon Francis.

“We’ve covered a lot of areas, and we’ve narrowed it down to the north side of Grand Mogul,” Francis said. “We have a high level of confidence that’s where Jon is – on the north side near the northeast ridge at about 8,000 feet, or perhaps higher.”

Jon Francis was a counselor at a Bible camp in the area. According to friends, he told co-workers he planned to climb 9,733-foot Grand Mogul. Searchers said he made it to the top on July 15 and signed the log book, but they don’t know what happened to him on the way down.

The search initially drew the attention of the governors of Idaho and Minnesota when Custer County officials called off the search, a move the family called premature. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty wrote Idaho Gov. Jim Risch, asking that state and local authorities assist in the search, and Risch met with the Francis family at Redfish Lake, near Grand Mogul, on July 23.

The search resumed, and Idaho authorities obtained a U.S. Air Force plane with infrared sensors designed to see body heat in the mountains. But Francis wasn’t found.

David Francis said the cadaver dog, from Madison, Wis., indicated it had located something in an area with crevasses and granite cliffs above the tree line.

“What we need now are very skilled, experienced mountaineers with technical skills because this is a steep, challenging area,” he said. “We need to brief them ahead of time to make sure they’re qualified. We’ve turned a lot of people back.”

He said he hopes to recover his son’s body before winter sets in. The family hired Sawtooth Mountain Guides to aid in the search after becoming dissatisfied at what they called inadequate search efforts by Idaho officials.

David Francis said that more than 300 people, mainly volunteers, have taken part in the search.