Website:  http://www.jeremygriess.com/

The only lead to a Westminster, Colo., man’s disappearance may lie in the last contact with his Blackberry device, recorded at Badger Mountain just east of Wilkerson Pass in southeastern Park County.

Westminster resident Jeremy J. Griess, 39, was last seen around noon on April 11.

According to a Web site set up to assist in his search, a check of his cell phone by Commnet revealed that it registered a signal in the Badger Mountain area on April 11 and April 14, when contact with the device was lost.

Griess is a mountain biker, fisherman and hiker who is familiar with the Eleven Mile Reservoir and Canyon area.

California Teenager Chelsea King was last seen out running in San Diego.

This  appears to be a stranger abduction.

You can help the family find her by checking in here and following the information at Facebook and Twitter:    www.FindChelsea.com

There appears to be a lot of activity on Twitter and Facebook about this case so this will be something of a test of how effectively social media can spread the word.    In a case like this I’d be more optimistic about the use of mass media targeted to the region where the victims were last seen than social media, but it probably can’t hurt unless the family gets a lot of spurious sightings.    That was a challenge with the James Kim family here in Southern Oregon where bogus sightings sucked some of the resources away from the search, and distracted officials from the real data that eventually helped find the Kims.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2009/07/last-word-on-steve-fossett.html

Manitoba Search and Rescue Association on Saturday to look for Amber McFarland, 24, and Jennifer Catcheway, 18, both of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

More about the missing women.

More about the missing man is here

Fossett’s disappearance led to one of the largest search and rescue efforts of the past several years, where even internet satellite imagery was scanned by thousands of volunteers in an effort to find signs of Fossett or his plane after he flew from Barron Hilton’s ranch in Nevada on a day trip to scout the area for dry lakes.

The wreckage was found about 125 miles south of the ranch in the mountains near Mammoth Lakes.   The fact that this area is wooded and was not a major focus area of the search may explain why the plane was not located in the initial search efforts.

A hiker and locals, apparently from the Mammoth Lakes area of California, have found ID, money, and a jacket that appear to be from missing aviator Steve Fossett who was flying in this area almost a year ago. The items were found Monday according to the hiker.

I’m really confused about this turn of events because it does not add up that Fossett survived the crash only to fail to create enough of a ground footprint to be found. Fossett was one of the most advanced adventurers in the world and it seems he would have been able to create signals visible for hundreds of miles. I’m thinking this is either a hoax by the hikers (my top choice), or an indication Fossett’s death is indeed mysterious. Why would he not leave a crystal clear trail?

Here is the full story which includes this:

Tattered and crumpled on the ground, the Mammoth Lakes local found what appears to be two FAA cards that listed the name Steve Fossett, both were apparently either issued or had some sort of connection to the State of Illinois. The two cards were found with a small amount of money and not far away, a sweat jacket, also a bit worn and beaten up from the weather.

Read More

Update:  This may have been an unfounded internet rumor…. he was declared dead in February, not clear if payout made yet.

Here is a good summary of the situation

Obviously the insurance company has an incentive to challenge the finding that Fossett is dead, forcing them to pay some 20 million pounds in life insurance, but it’s also remarkable that no evidence of Fossett’s plane or body have been found so many months after extensive investigations.

Update: New Search