With No Leads, Search for Missing Boy Scaled Back

After nine days during which hundreds of searchers spent thousands of hours combing a wooded area near Big Bear, authorities on Sunday said they would dramatically scale back the search for a 9-year-old Lake Elsinore boy who vanished while camping with his family.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy Beavers broke down Sunday afternoon when announcing the end of the active search.

“After nine full days of searching for David Gonzales, we have no real leads, no sign of him at all,” Beavers told reporters at the search command post. “We still believe that David walked off into the forest and became lost.”

Members of the boy’s family tearfully hugged searchers about 4 p.m. before boarding a white van and heading down from the mountain.

“They’re completely devastated,” Beavers said. “They have to go back to their home in Lake Elsinore without their son.”

The search for David, which is likely to continue on a intermittent, small-scale basis, grew to one of the largest in recent memory in the area, with 260 people looking for the boy at the peak of the search on Saturday and 128 on Sunday.

Authorities had hoped that the all-out effort over the weekend would turn up at least a clue. But as searchers dismantled tents and headed home Sunday afternoon, they had no more insight about what happened to the boy than they had just hours after his disappearance.

“It’s surprising to me we haven’t found not only him, but [even] a shoe, a piece of clothing,” said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Chip Patterson. “It’s really frustrating.”

The Gonzales family was camping at the Hanna Flat campground on the morning of July 31 when David said he was going to the family’s pickup truck to get some cookies, authorities have said. Another camper reported seeing the boy on a nearby road shortly after 8 a.m. Not a sign of him has been reported since.

Searchers began scouring the rugged terrain less than two hours after David disappeared. The doors to the pickup were locked, the cookies still inside.

As the search grew, officials brought in dogs to track David’s scent. Authorities identified and checked every vehicle that was at the campground at the time, officials said, and then investigated registered sex offenders who lived in the area.

Authorities found no evidence of foul play. And day after day, searchers found no evidence of the boy.

On Saturday, Jose Gonzales, 40, spoke at the command post, outside a rural county fire station. “I know my son is with God,” he said. “If he wants to take him, take him. If he wants to give him back.... “ His voice trailed off.

Earlier Sunday morning, the family attended services at Bread of Life Fellowship in Lake Elsinore, where about 350 worshipers prayed for David and his family before the family headed to the command post.

Theresa Molina, a church member, also made the trip. “We’re praying for him,” Molina said. “We’ll keep praying.”

*

Times staff writer Eric Slater contributed to this report.