Search called off for 'missing' Florida hiker

The search for 19-year-old Florida hiker, Brian Ponder, was called off at 4:30 p.m. Thursday after authorities were sufficiently satisfied that Ponder wasn't in the area.

The man's calls for help to police dispatchers on Wednesday spurred an intense 53-hour rescue effort in and around the snowy hills near McClellan Peak in northeast Carson City, eventually involving the resources of three counties and upward of 60 volunteers.

According to Sheriff Kenny Furlong, there were credibility gaps from the beginning, but he stopped short of calling the event "a hoax."

"We combed the area as finely as possible," he said, Friday, being very careful in choosing his words. "But what if? That's the question you've got to focus on."

Neither five aircraft nor legions of ATVs, horse-mounted volunteers and foot patrols could answer that question nor come up with any evidence at the scene to corroborate the man's story.

Working nonstop for most of the search, Lt. Ken Sandage said it was tough to walk away without gaining at least one kind of closure or another.

"Can we back away and say we gave it our all?" he asked. "Yes, we can. And we did."

The hills at the end of Goni Road where the man claimed to have wandered into were shrouded in a literal and figurative fog, Friday, as the event raised puzzling, difficult questions: "Why?" for one. "Who's going to pay for it?" for another.

"Once aircraft get involved it starts to get expensive," Furlong said. But the overhead for the search will be mitigated by a mutual aid agreement Carson City has with surrounding Washoe and Lyon counties.

It wasn't a financial decision that called off the search. If anything, the police erred on the side of caution.

"What if there really was somebody up there?" repeated Furlong.

If it turns out that it was a hoax, the person responsible faces some potentially serious charges, including the misuse of 911. He may also be liable for the cost of the search.

n Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.