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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 19 april 2017

Bootmaker founder’s wife, teen, missing in Grand Canyon

ASTRID GALVAN Grand Canyon in total. was also on the trip, live
Associated Press Matthew Nelson, the ex- in Vernal, a city in eastern
Relatively few visitors even ecutive director of the Utah. McOmie was not on
try to hike a rugged, re- Arizona Trail Association the trip.
mote area at the bottom of and a former Grand Can- Lou-Ann Merrell is “a very
the Grand Canyon where yon backpacking guide, experienced backpack-
the wife of the founder said accessing that area er,” McOmie said.
of Merrell Boot Co. and a on foot takes days and The parent organization of
teenager went missing last requires an arduous hike. the Merrell Boot Co., Wol-
weekend, according to Nelson said the area of- verine Worldwide, issued a
the National Park Service. fers stunning views but is statement Tuesday.
Tapeats Creek, where Lou- also unforgivingly hot. He “Our thoughts, prayers, and
Ann Merrell and Jackson said the water in the creek hearts are with the Merrell
Standefer, 14, lost their comes from a cave and is family. We are grateful to
footing during a family trip, always extremely cold. the people working around
is not particularly difficult “The rock that forms the the clock and continue to
to hike for experienced canyon at Tapeats Creek be hopeful,” said Jim Zwi-
backpackers, said Chris is a particular layer that ers, executive vice presi-
Forsyth, president of the isn’t found everywhere in dent.
Grand Canyon Hikers & the Grand Canyon. It gives The park service said it
Backpackers Association it a more unique sense of hasn’t determined what
board. But heavy water beauty,” Forsyth said. went wrong and that there
rushing through the creek An intense search for Mer- was no rain or flash flood-
can make it challenging, rell and 14-year-old Stand- ing reported in the area.
he said. efer resumed Tuesday, Creeks in the canyon often
Merrell is the wife of Randy Martin said. see higher water levels in
Merrell, who helped found The search includes three the spring as snow melts.
the Merrell Boot Co. ground teams consisting Forsyth said that he hasn’t
The Merrells, Standefer and of about 20 people total, visited Tapeats Creek this
the boy’s mother were on a National Park Service he- year but has been to other
a path known as Tapeats licopter, a drone and an parts of the park, where
Trail when the pair fell, au- inflatable motor raft that In this Jan. 10, 2012 file photo, Randy Merrell shows a custom he’s noticed more water
thorities said. The Merrell was flown into the canyon. orthotic at his lab in Dry Fork Canyon, northwest of Vernal, Utah. than usual, he said.
family accessed the area Search crews are looking Family members say Merrell’s wife Lou-Ann Merrell and her step- The McCallie School in
by hiking down from the within a mile and a mile grandson Jackson Standefer were the two hikers swept away Chattanooga, Tennessee,
while crossing a remote creek in Grand Canyon National Park.
North Rim. and half of where the hik- (Geoff Liesik/The Deseret News via AP, File) said Jackson is an eighth-
The area has a more dis- ers were last seen, as well grade student at the all-
tinct geology than most of as where the creek meets someone maybe would uncle, said the Merrells are boys school.
the park and attracts a fair the Colorado River. have been able to get avid hikers and know the A call to Merrell Footlab for
number of visitors but is not “We’re really just looking in out,” Martin said. area well. He said Lou-Ann comment wasn’t immedi-
as popular with tourists are the water and areas where Mark McOmie, the boy’s and Randy Merrell, who ately returned.q
other spots, like Havasupai
Falls. Forsyth, who says he Man gets 25 years in case of missing boy Etan Patz
has hiked that area five
times, said a visit there calls COLLEEN LONG these years, we finally know of missing children. Etan Patz.”
for a multiple-day back-
packing trip and at least JENNIFER PELTZ what dark secret you had Hernandez, 56, didn’t look Hernandez was a teenager
Associated Press
locked in your heart,” Stan at the Patzes, speak or re-
working at a convenience
some experience in hiking.
He said his first trip through NEW YORK (AP) — Almost Patz said. “I will never for- act as he got the maximum shop in Etan’s Manhattan
four decades after first-
give you. The god you pray allowable sentence: 25 neighborhood when the
the canyon was at Tapeats
Creek. grader Etan Patz set out for to will never forgive you. years to life in prison, mean- boy vanished in 1979, on
school and ended up at You are the monster in your ing he won’t be eligible for the first day he was allowed
About 3,500 people got
permits in 2015 to camp the heart of one of Amer- nightmares.” parole until he has served to walk alone to his school
ica’s most influential miss-
bus stop.
His wife, Julie Patz, wiped the quarter-century.
in the general area where
the two hikers went miss- ing-child cases, a former tears from her eyes as she The lead defense lawyer, Hernandez, who’s from
witnessed the culmination Harvey Fishbein, told the Maple Shade, New Jer-
store clerk convicted of kill-
ing, the latest readily avail-
able data, said National ing him was sentenced to of a long quest to hold court Hernandez wanted sey, confessed to choking
someone accountable for to express deep sympathy Etan. But his lawyers have
at least 25 years in prison.
Park Service spokeswoman
Robin Martin. About 41,000 In a few angry words, their son’s disappearance. to the Patzes but also to said he’s mentally ill and his
Etan’s father condemned The case affected police say “he’s an innocent man confession was false, and
total people that year got
permits to backpack in the the convicted man. practices, parenting and and he had nothing to do they vowed to appeal his
“Pedro Hernandez, after all the nation’s consciousness with the disappearance of conviction.q