Crater Lake Park Search for Brea Man Halted : Missing: Engineer, 33, was touring national parks in the West. Car found at 7,100-foot-level viewing area; snow covers possible clues.
Following five fruitless days, the search for a missing Brea man in the snowbound Crater Lake National Park area of Oregon is being discontinued, park officials said late Monday afternoon.
Missing is Glenn Allen Mackie, 33, a mechanical engineer who reportedly came to Crater Lake as part of an extended tour of national parks in the West. He is believed to have been missing since at least last Wednesday, and perhaps longer.
“We found nothing today (Monday), and we’re discontinuing the field (outdoor) search as of Tuesday, primarily because the continued snow is covering any possible clues,” said George Buckingham, chief park ranger at Crater Lake. “We’ll still continue our investigation, but we’re just not putting people outside in a continued field search.”
Mackie, who was traveling alone, left his car in a parking area of a 7,100-foot-elevation viewing area of Crater Lake, authorities said. A snowstorm hit the national park on Wednesday, and snowplow crews noticed that no one had claimed the car, officials said.
“We started searching for him on Thursday, and each day, until through Saturday, the search got bigger,” said Buckingham. “The more we looked, the more concerned we became. On Saturday we had three search dogs and about 40 people out in the snow.”
Mackie said search operations were reduced on Monday.
“Today (Monday) we scaled back and only had the dog teams out. It’s still snowing very hard here, and the snow on the ground ranges from 2 1/2 feet to 5 feet.”
Lt. Jim Winders of the Brea Police Department said on Monday that Brea officers have assisted Crater Lake rangers by relaying information about Mackie.
Winders said Mackie owns a townhouse on Mountain Court in Brea, and the residence is listed for sale. Mackie, who reportedly has been touring for several weeks, has no known relatives in Brea or nearby, Winders said.
“His family is back East, and we gave that information to the rangers so they could be in touch with his relatives.”
Buckingham said in a telephone interview on Monday that Mackie’s car contained items that a person would not leave behind if he were going to make an extended side tour from the national park. “He (Mackie) may have been in the park before Wednesday,” Buckingham said. “We found a park entrance receipt in his car dated Oct. 14, but we’re not sure he has been here since then.”
Mackie is described as 6-foot-1, 165 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
More to Read
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.