Car Belonging to Missing Person Found at Sauk Trailhead

Marblemount, WA – The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office received information around 3:30 p.m. on October 24th, 2017 about a vehicle belonging to a missing person from Whatcom County that was located at the trail head to Sauk Mountain, east of Concrete.

Stacy Frazer and others  hiked Sauk Mountain on October 23rd and took note of a vehicle that was in the parking lot when they arrived.

She wrote on the Washington Hiker and Climbers Facebook page “The nature of the trail: the trail has 26 switch backs, all but the last 2 right on the face of the mountain, would make it impossible not to see another hiker. We did our hike, never saw or heard another person and no evidence of footprints in the snow leading elsewhere. When we got back the car was still there. We decided to call the ranger station, just in case.  We got a return call today, the car belongs to someone reported missing last week.”

In a release from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, the missing person last used his cell phone on Wednesday, October 18th. No one has heard from him since that date.

The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office initiated a search and rescue effort on Sauk Mountain during the afternoon of October 24th around 5:30 p.m. and searchers looked for the missing man until about 9:30.  The search was called off for the night and resumed around 07:30 a.m. on October 25th.   Searchers checked the area from the trailhead up to the top and down to the lake but were unsuccessful in locating the victim.

The Search was discontinued on Sauk Mountain due to extreme weather conditions and low visibility.  Search and rescue units were then reassigned to check adjacent areas where the victim may have hiked.

The rescue effort is scheduled to continue on Thursday morning, October 26th, when the weather is forecasted to clear.

The identity of the missing man was not released.  If you have been hiking on Sauk Mountain between October 18th and October 23rd and may have seen the vehicle pictured or the person associated with it, please contact the Ranger Station at (360) 436-1155.

This is not the first person to go missing on Sauk Mountain. 65-Year old Patti Krieger went missing under suspicious circumstances  on Sauk Mountain on October 2nd, 2010. She was reportedly left on the mountain by her then boyfriend, Larry Pressley  and his friends after they say  she became emotional while spreading the ashes of Larry’s parents and took a separate trail down to the trailhead.    Her remains have never been located.  Mr. Pressley remain in Prison on unrelated drug and weapons charges. Read more about Patti Krieger by visiting www.findpattikrieger.net