THIS IS MY COUSIN THAT IS MISSING. His mom is my first cousin and I grew up in Bountiful, 5-10 miles from the Hawkins. Please be sensitive. I will be going to help search in the morning. My brothers went up this morning to help search.
Additional information: The boy who disappeared last year was not at an organized scout camp. Even though they were lost 15 miles from one another, the boy last year was lost while fishing at a mountain lake in a rugged area in the back country. His dad was fishing with him when he disappeared without any trace as he headed back to the tents. I went on a 50 mile hike through this area when I was a scout.
Brennan is lost at an organized scout camp that is used every year all summer long for scouting activities. The area is a large bowl without a lot of trees. The edges of the bowl have a lot of now thin timber that was recently burned in a forest fire. There is a river running through the camp that is not very big. maybe 10-15 feet wide and is higher than usual due to the heavy runoff this year. Brennen is 11 so he was not there officially as a scout. I believe most of the scouts there at that time were 16 and 17. Brennan went because he was invited by his friend whos dad was volunteering at the camp. He promised Brennan's Mom that he would take care of the boys. I can't immagine what the parents are going through or what their neighbor who took the boys up there is also going through.
My brother said you would almost have to try to get lost in that area because everything in the camp is in a mostly flat open area. Going up any hill means you are leaving the camp. The two most likely scenarios are that he drowned in the river or was abducted. They are doing background checks on camp workers and other people in the area. There just aren't that many people that live anywhere near there but there is a criminal investigation going on as well. There have been divers searching the river too. I will post more information when I can. Please pray for Brennan and his family during this horrible time.
Thank you for your post. Please keep us updated and you have my prayers for the little guy being found safe, sound and soon.
Prayers that searchers find him alive and well and very quickly.
All our prayers for your family.
Even though I am from Pennsylvania, I know your area well as having spent much time there in the late '80s. I understand the frustration everyone must be feeling given the relatively "open" terrain.
Have faith.
ping
A freepers young cousin is lost!
See post #28.
Rad_J, I will pray very hard for Brennan's safe return.
I hope and pray as well that a break comes soon and that Brennan is returned safe to his family.
FYI
There was just a report on FOX news about Brennan.
Freeper Rad_J's 11 year old cousin is missing in Utah.
See post #28
Please post your replies to Rad_J
Rad_J, My prayers go up for your cousin and your family. God's protection over your cousin!
Velveeta - thank you for the ping.
Blessings,
trussell
If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.
I join in urgent, earnest prayer for Brennan and his family!
Thank you for your post. I have been following the story about Brennan and praying for you all.
Prayers continuing for your cousin and his family.
My prayers are with you for the quick and safe return of your cousin. His parents must be going nuts.
Most people are more sensitive...
..I saw the mom/dad on TV last night, and it was heartbreaking.
Please know they have my prayers.
Couldn't help but notice what amazing parents Brennan has. Wonderful people.
If it is an abductor, please notice how the two missing boys resemble each other. I did.
Hang in there.
sw
MORE INFO:
Thanks for the prayers and support. It is very heartwarming.
My brother and I went up to search. It is 50 miles from Kamas, Utah. About half way there is an area with 2 feet of snow along the road with frozen lakes. Near the scout camp there is no visible snow. We turned off the highway onto the dirt road that goes to the camp. It is about 5 miles on the dirt road to the camp. There is no gate or booth or signs for that matter. The camp is huge. The news said there were 1500 people at the camp on Friday, staff, adult leaders, and scouts. The area where the scout got lost last year was 15 miles away and I believe it was just a small group that hiked in to a mountain lake to camp and fish. The scout camp is in a narrow valley. The road in goes all the way to the south end of the camp and then heads back through the camp to the north end where Brennen was lost. The east, south, and west sides are surrounded by steep slopes that go up for about 2 miles. There are plenty of supplies, food, and water for searchers up there. There are two rivers. The smaller one flows into the larger bear river a few hundred feet behind the climbing wall. The smaller one is piped under the camp.
The area is mapped out for searching with a two mile ring and a four mile ring. Then those rings are mapped with square grids that are 500 yards by 500 yards. They divide searchers into groups of 25 that form a line. The two end people have GPS units and 5 people have radios. We hiked straight up hill for two miles to our first grid. After finding the coordinates, it takes 3.5 sweeps to search a grid. It took our most of the day to do 2 grids.
There was a forest fire there last year and everything above the valley floor is burned. Very little brush. Mostly just black poles with few branches and no green. There are patches of unburned trees. There are no cliffs or boulders in the area. The pine trees that aren't burned are pretty thin and you can see the trunk all the way up so they aren't bushy and we were instructed to look up in the trees also. It is easy to see the camp once you start up the slope. Once you get over the ridge it is very hard to keep any sense of direction. There is plenty of water in the area, little pools and marshy areas and streams.
The entire day we found a bicycle type water bottle, an old broken glass jug that had been there a long time, and a six inch piece of foil.
If I was to rank the possiblities I would say that it is most likely that he fell in the river. Second kidnapped and third that he wandered off and got lost.