The search for Charles Harper, 62, of Moapa has been called off, according to Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee. ?We have reviewed the maps of our previous searches,? he said, ?searched a couple of small, little areas that we thought might be of interest, based on computer programs that the state forwarded to us. Still nothing. Now it?s like looking for a needle in a haystack, depending on how far he may have walked.?
Harper went missing Sept. 24 after leaving home ?to cool off,? his wife Bella reported, following a dispute between the couple. But he did not return home.
On Nov. 4, his 2000 Ford F-250 pickup was found by a Nevada Fish and Game ranger in Lincoln County in the Mt. Wilson area, about 14 miles east of the Pony Springs rest area north of Pioche on U.S. 93.
The ranger had seen the vehicle in that area some weeks before, but thought it might just be hunters. However, after seeing the pickup still in the same place later on, he investigated, found the vehicle was unoccupied, with the keys still in the ignition. Running the plates, the ranger learned it was registered to Harper, listed as a missing person out of the Las Vegas jurisdiction.
An extensive search involving a number of agencies Nov. 5 turned up nothing, nor did any subsequent searches.
?What we are doing now,? Lee said, ?is to notify hunters, Fish and Game, everybody that is in that area to be aware, but outside of that, we are going to basically wait and see. There is no place more we really know where to go.?
He noted a bull and cow elk hunt is ?ongoing right now in that area, and we saw several elk hunters while we were searching who were curious as to what was going on.?
Hunting season in the Mt. Wilson area is expected to continue for another couple of months.