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Parents of Missing Boy Scout Seek Help

Posted on: Monday, 20 June 2005, 09:00 CDT

SALT LAKE CITY - The parents of an 11-year-old Boy Scout missing in the Utah wilderness pleaded for continued help on Monday, a day after a fruitless search by thousands of volunteers, some on horseback or riding ATVs.

About 3,000 volunteers searched Sunday for the boy, Brennan Hawkins of Bountiful, who was last seen near a climbing wall at the 8,500-foot elevation Scouting site in the High Uintas, about 80 miles east of Salt Lake City.

"We look out into this darkness now and somewhere my son is out there," Brennan's father, Toby Hawkins, said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "If you can find time to come up here and help us, please do. That's what we need now. We need people to come up and help."

Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said searches of the rugged wilderness had turned up no evidence so far, but investigators remain hopeful that the boy is simply lost. Nonetheless, investigators were exploring the possibility of foul play.

"There has been quite a number of people up here over this weekend. There's individuals that came up to the Scout camp for training, there's people that have been camping in the general vicinity," Edmunds told CBS' "The Early Show.""I've got my detectives out there right now trying to ascertain exactly who was up here in the woods and make sure we didn't have a predator or something of that nature."

A climbing-wall supervisor said he saw the boy about 5:30 p.m. Friday struggling to remove climbing gear. At the same time, he saw the boy's friend walking down a dirt road toward the family's campsite about 200 yards away. The supervisor looked away and then looked back, but didn't see either boy, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Dave Booth, the search and rescue coordinator.

His mother, Jody Hawkins, said Brennan had a lot of outdoor experience. His father said the boy is shy and might not approach a stranger to confess he is lost.

"Brennan's the kind of little boy that just gets under everybody's skin. Everybody loves him.... He bonds to people very closely," Jody Hawkins told NBC.

Scout leaders began a search for the boy about 6:30 p.m. Friday and were joined by the Summit County search and rescue squad about 9:45 p.m. On Saturday, about 1,000 searchers turned out.

Some searchers brought horses and all-terrain vehicles. Helicopters were used, including one that searched at night using infrared devices. Some churches in the Bountiful area canceled services on Sunday so their members could help.

Brennan Hawkins, who recently completed the fifth grade, was wearing a blue sweat shirt, black shorts and white tennis shoes when he disappeared. Search officials were not concerned about exposure, as temperatures were only expected to drop into the 50s overnight.

Authorities are fearful the boy may tried to cross the East Fork of the Bear River, which comes within about 50 yards of the camp. Two swift-water dive teams searched the river for miles on Sunday.

"The biggest risk is the river," Booth said. "It's over a man's head in some places, and the current is swift."

The mountainous area being searched is just 15 miles from where 12-year-old Garrett Bardsley vanished last summer while camping near Crystal Lake. Bardsley was never found, despite a wide, weeklong search.

Bardsley's father, Kevin Bardsley, joined the search for Hawkins. Booth said the area of the current search is less severe than where Garrett was lost - not as high, steep or cold.

"When we heard of the situation with Brennan, it made us realize how important it would be to come up and help in this effort and to be here for this family," Kevin Bardsley said.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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