the woods near Yokum Road just
outside Riddle.
(Photo: Steve Durrant)
With no significant leads and no trace of Mark Bosworth in five days of searching rural Douglas County, officials have shifted gears away from the large-scale, volunteer search effort.
“The volunteers have been asked to go home,” shared volunteer Mickey Deagle a few minutes ago, “At this point, there’s only a need for a fraction of the manpower.”
At its peak, the search effort included well over 120 people — 80 of whom were citizen volunteers that had come from Portland and other areas throughout the state.
“It’s a little disheartening to have not found a clue to Mark’s whereabouts, but we did our job, which was to eliminate places that he might currently be.”
— Mickey Deagle, volunteer
Deagle says a debrief by local authorities revealed that they believe Bosworth is no longer in the area where the search efforts have focused since he went missing late Friday night. “They’re scaling back the search efforts in the immediate vicinity,” he reports, “and are now looking for clues in ‘the outside world’.”
A post on the Cycle Oregon Facebook page says, “the local search and rescue team is confident that the search area has been thoroughly examined and, in all probability, Mark is not in Riddle or the surrounding area.”
“They encouraged us to… turn our efforts to Portland, where the family believes he might find himself trying to find his way home, or to familiar surroundings.”
— Steve Durrant, volunteer
According to Cycle Oregon ride director Jerry Norquist, today’s effort focused on large swaths of land like hillsides and meadows. 25 person teams fanned out 30 feet apart diving through blackberry bushes and scratching through the brush alongside Yokum Road. But still, nothing has turned up.
Deagle expressed his feelings upon hearing the news today: “It’s a little disheartening,” he shared via email, “to have not found a clue to Mark’s whereabouts, but we did our job, which was to eliminate places that he might currently be.”
Another volunteer, Steve Durrant, emailed me a few minutes ago to say that officials expressed deep gratitude for their efforts at the debrief session this afternoon. Durrant also said officials want a heightened awareness for the search in Portland. “They encouraged us to help keep the attention on, and to turn our efforts to Portland,” Durrant says, “where the family believes he might find himself trying to find his way home, or to familiar surroundings.”
While this portion of the search has ended, it doesn’t mean authorities have stopped looking. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) said via a statement today that, “Additional ground searches may be conducted as further information becomes available.”
The DCSO has also just launched a “Find Mark Bosworth” blog to share information and gather tips on the case.
— Read more about Mark Bosworth’s disappearance here.
UPDATE: A $10,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to Mark’s discovery.