Lance Hering Search
The following are releases from the Boulder County Sheriffs department mixed in with some of my photographs:
11:00 a.m. 08/30/06 - Case #06-5025
Boulder County authorities are coordinating a search for a missing injured hiker in Eldorado Canyon State Park, five miles south of Boulder.
Lance Hering, 21, of Boulder, was hiking in Eldorado Canyon State Park late Tuesday evening with a companion, Steve Powers, 20, also of Boulder. While free-climbing on a rock face near the trail that runs between Eldorado Canyon and Boulder County’s Walker Ranch open space preserve, Mr. Hering fell, striking his head. Mr. Powers estimated that Mr. Hering fell approximately 10-15 feet, but then rolled down a steep slope another 30 feet before coming to rest. Mr. Hering reportedly lost consciousness.
Mr. Powers reported that he remained with Mr. Hering until he regained consciousness, then left him to summon help. He notified the Sheriff’s Office of the accident at approximately 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Sheriff’s deputies and search and rescue personnel returned to the scene, which Mr. Powers had marked with articles of clothing, but were unable to locate Mr. Hering.
A ground search of the area has been initiated under the direction of Sheriff’s office emergency services personnel. Three search dogs from Front Range Rescue Dogs (FRRD), and approximately 25 members of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group are presently conducting the search. Additional resources from the Boulder Emergency Squad and Alpine Rescue groups have been requested. A media helicopter from KCNC-TV assisted by conducting a fly-over of the area early Wednesday morning. Paramedics from the Pridemark Ambulance Service are also standing by at the scene.
Local residents have been alerted to his disappearance as have area hospitals. His family has also been notified.
Mr. Hering is a white male, 21 years of age, approximately 5’8” tall, and was last seen wearing long white pants and a torn black T-shirt (fabric from the shirt was torn away to fabricate a bandage for his head wound).
Team 2 hiking into the Search area.
Some of the search area.
Search for Missing Injured Hiker Enters Its Fourth Day - 7:30 p.m. 09/02/06
Personnel from nearly a dozen search and rescue groups concluded the fourth day of the search for missing hiker Lance Hering, 21, without finding any sign of him. Over 100 professional rescue team members coordinated by the Sheriff’ Office, complemented by nearly 100 citizen and military volunteers, continued to scour Eldorado Canyon and environs without success Saturday. The rescue teams’ efforts were complicated in the morning by cool, wet weather and heavy fog and cloud cover which made for poor visibility and treacherous footing.
The weather gradually improved after noon, allowing the use of the Denver Police Department helicopter, “Eagle –1”, which flew repeatedly over the canyon with Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) equipment, looking for any significant heat sources (eg. the heat generated by a human body) within the search area. Unfortunately, nothing that couldn’t be attributed to another source (eg. a rescue team member) was found.
Efforts were scaled back again overnight with the expectation that the search would resume shortly after day break Sunday morning. Ground search efforts were concluded for the day by 6:00 p.m. Canine teams will check the trails again this evening in the hope of locating a scent that might give an indication as to Mr. Hering’s location. To date, those efforts have also proven unsuccessful.
Sheriff’s Office’ Emergency Services supervisors expect to field approximately 100 professional search and rescue personnel again on Sunday and plan to re-focus on the area where Lance was last seen early Wednesday morning. They will be supplemented by a group of retired and active duty Marines who have volunteered to assist. Additionally, the Hering family has made a public request for assistance from private citizens for assistance with the search of peripheral areas near Eldorado Canyon.
The command post for the incident is being re-located Saturday night to the Mesa trail head off Eldorado Springs Drive, with parking at the Doudy Draw trail head. The move is occasioned by the need for additional space to accommodate the vehicles and equipment that accompany an effort of this magnitude, as well as to minimize the impact on Eldorado Canyon State Park, the west end of which has been effectively closed for the past four days. The new command post will be operational late Saturday night.
Line formed to do Grid Search.
Arrest Made in Missing Person Search;
Witness Admits Hering's Disappearance Was Staged - 09/07/06
Sheriff’s detectives arrested Steve Powers, 20 years of age, a resident of Boulder, late Wednesday night for his role in falsely reporting the disappearance of Lance Hering, 21. Hering has been the subject of a massive search effort following Power’s report that he had inexplicably disappeared after being injured in a hiking accident on Tuesday night, August 29th. The efforts made are documented in a series of media releases that may be found on the Sheriff’s Office web-site at: www.bouldersheriff.org
Powers was arrested for False Reporting, a misdemeanor, and taken to the Boulder County Jail. The Sheriff plans to seek restitution for the thousands of dollars expended in the search effort. Mr. Powers mug photograph is right.
Investigators brought Mr. Powers in for an interview Wednesday when further investigation began to highlight discrepancies and inconsistencies in his story. For example, Mr. Powers’ narrative regarding the timeline of events was improbable and left many questions unanswered. Additionally, the repeated searches of the area where Hering was supposedly last seen, including several searches by canines, without any evidence turning up was deemed suspicious. The discovery that Hering had access to $2,000.00 cash (rather than being broke) and had discussed “disappearing” in the past, fueled detectives’ concerns. Confronted by detectives with the inconsistencies in his story, Mr. Powers ultimately admitted that he had assisted Lance Hering with staging his disappearance. The motive for Hering’s disappearance appears to be his reluctance to return to duty as a Marine.
Hering’s whereabouts remain unknown, though Powers provided a number of clues that investigators and military official are following up on. According to Marine Corps officials, Hering is currently classified as “unauthorized absent” because he left prior to the official approval of his leave request. If he fails to return by September 11th, he faces potentially much more serious federal charges. He faces local charges as well.
Sheriff Joe Pelle and Division Chief Dennis Hopper met with Mr. and Mrs. Hering Wednesday evening to inform them of the developments in the case. The Hering’s remain very concerned for their son’s welfare. They do not wish to speak to the media at this time.
During the search one searcher from Arapahoe County injured his ankle and had to be carried out. The following pictures are from that extraction.
Packaging the subject.
Subject packaged and lowered to trail, ready for carry-out.
Carrying subject through rough ground.
It's easy to see how an ankle injury could occur in this terrain.
On steep sections the litter was secured by rope to an anchor and lowered.
As we approached the base we detoured down a seperate ridge to avoid the media.