Parents Plead for Help in Search for Boy Scout

For more info on how you can volunteer, CLICK HERE.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP/KSL News) -- A mother tries to keep -hope alive even as thousands of people search for her missing son Brennan Hawkins.

At moment there's still no sign of the 11-year old. That, in spite of intensive searches by air, on land, and in the east fork of the Bear River.

"We look out into this darkness now and somewhere my son is out there," Brennan's father, Toby Hawkins, said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "If you can find time to come up here and help us, please do. That's what we need now. We need people to come up and help."

The search for the boy resumed around 7:00 this morning, with fewer volunteers showing up. The pool of volunteers looking for Brennan Hawkins dropped to about 60 searchers and 350 volunteers today from about three-thousand people on Sunday.

About 3,000 volunteers searched Sunday, scouring nearly six square miles for Brennan Hawkins of Bountiful, who was last seen near a climbing wall at the 8,500-foot elevation Scouting site in the High Uintas, about 80 miles east of Salt Lake City.

"He's probably dehydrated, sleep-deprived, definitely hungry," said Brennan's father, Toby. "With him being so young at 11, I don't think he's thinking about what he needs to do to survive because he's never been in that environment."


Toby Hawkins, Jody Hawkins, Kevin Bardsley, and Sheriff Dave Edmunds

Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said searches of the rugged wilderness had turned up no evidence so far, but investigators remain hopeful that the boy is simply lost. Nonetheless, investigators were exploring the possibility of foul play.

Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds says they don't have any reason to believe a crime has been committed, but they're still not taking any chances. Because of that, detectives are checking the background of everyone who was in the mountains over the weekend.

"There has been quite a number of people up here over this weekend. There's individuals that came up to the Scout camp for training, there's people that have been camping in the general vicinity," Edmunds told CBS' "The Early Show." "I've got my detectives out there right now trying to ascertain exactly who was up here in the woods and make sure we didn't have a predator or something of that nature."

A climbing-wall supervisor said he saw the boy about 5:30 p.m. Friday struggling to remove climbing gear. At the same time, he saw the boy's friend walking down a dirt road toward the family's campsite about 200 yards away. The supervisor looked away and then looked back, but didn't see either boy, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Dave Booth, the search and rescue coordinator.

His mother, Jody Hawkins, said Brennan had a lot of outdoor experience. His father said the boy is shy and might not approach a stranger to confess he is lost.

"Brennan's the kind of little boy that just gets under everybody's skin. Everybody loves him. He bonds to people very closely," Jody Hawkins told NBC.

The family spoke to the media Monday morning, running on only three hours of sleep since they heard that Brennan was missing,

“A lot of adrenaline in your body can kick in,” said Jody Hawkins, Brennan’s mother.

Standing next to them was Kevin Bardsley, reliving the nightmare of when his son Garrett went missing last summer, only 15 miles away.

“I have never stopped thinking about my son, and I never will the rest of my life,” said an emotional Kevin Bardsley.

“When his wife says to me ‘I know how you are feeling’, she’s the only person that knows how I’m feeling,” said Jody Hawkins.

Scout leaders began a search for the boy about 6:30 p.m. Friday and were joined by the Summit County search and rescue squad about 9:45 p.m. On Saturday, about 1,000 searchers turned out.

Some searchers brought horses and all-terrain vehicles. Helicopters were used, including one that searched at night using infrared devices.

Most searchers don't know Brennan. Some came from as far as Wyoming.

Don Pectol said, "I think this just reachees the heart of everybody. They see Brennan in their son."

Some churches in the Bountiful area canceled services on Sunday so their members could help.

Brennan Hawkins, who recently completed the fifth grade, was wearing a blue sweat shirt, black shorts and white tennis shoes when he disappeared. Search officials were not concerned about exposure, as temperatures were only expected to drop into the 50s overnight.

Authorities are fearful the boy may have tried to cross the East Fork of the Bear River, which comes within about 50 yards of the camp. Two swift-water dive teams searched the river for miles on Sunday.

"The biggest risk is the river," Booth said. "It's over a man's head in some places, and the current is swift."

The mountainous area being searched is just 15 miles from where 12-year-old Garrett Bardsley vanished last summer while camping near Crystal Lake. Bardsley was never found, despite a wide, weeklong search.

Bardsley's father, Kevin Bardsley, joined the search for Hawkins. Booth said the area of the current search is less severe than where Garrett was lost -- not as high, steep or cold.

"When we heard of the situation with Brennan, it made us realize how important it would be to come up and help in this effort and to be here for this family," Kevin Bardsley said.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/missing_children/garrett_bardsley.html

Garrett Bardsley

Garrett Bardsley had successfully passed his outdoor training courses offered by the Utah National Park Council. On Thursday, August 19, 2004, Kevin Bardsley, and six other adult leaders, took his son and 17 boys on a camping trip near Cuberant Lake. The two day excursion into the rugged Uinta Mountains of Utah was sponsored by the Mormon Church which the family attended. It was a part of the wilderness training program for Garrett and his fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 694.

Early that Friday morning, Garrett and Kevin went fishing on the south side of the lake. Around 8 a.m., Garrett got his shoes and socks wet. The temperature was near freezing and it had rained and hailed during the night. Because of this, Kevin thought it was wise to send Garrett back to the campsite to change into dry footwear. He watched as his 12-year-old son walked back to the camp, which was only a few hundred yards away.

Around 11 a.m., when Garrett failed to return, a call was placed to the Summit County law enforcement officials. A search was immediately started for the missing boy. Kevin, law enforcement authorities and volunteers roamed the muddy and steep terrain by foot and horseback. They searched everywhere, including caves, behind rocks and under fallen logs. They would repeatedly call out Garrett's name, hoping to hear a response from him. "One of the difficulties is there is kind of a natural tendency for people, if they're lost, to find some kind of shelter. If they expire, it is virtually impossible to find them," said Summit County Sheriff Department's Captain Joe Offret.

Heidi Bardsley, Garrett's mother, returned on Sunday from a cruise after being notified about her son. More than 200 searchers, air support and dogs joined the search for Garrett. Everyone was concerned that the cold and wet weather would cause the missing boy to suffer from hypothermia. They knew the clothing he was last seen in would not withstand the harsh weather much longer. A strong sense of urgency prevailed in the timing of locating him. "We're holding out hope, but we must be realistic," said Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds. "It's snowed, it's sleeted, and temperatures have dropped below 20 degrees. It's just speculation on my part, but I don't think he made it past the first night."

By Monday, hopes of finding the missing youth alive began to fade. "We remain cautiously optimistic, but as time goes on, it becomes less and less likely," said Edmunds. "But we're never going to stop looking." Captain Offret added, "At this point in the search, a lot of people are saying, is this a search or is it a recovery? Our search and rescue will not give up. They are probably committed at least through the week."

An Amber Alert has been issued on the missing child and the case has received national exposure. Although the search has been officially called off, Heidi and Kevin Bardsley, with help from friends and volunteers, still are searching for Garrett. The family strongly believe Garrett was abducted, since only 30 minutes had elapsed before the adults in the camping party began searching for him. It is felt that he could not have wandered too far off if he were really lost. "We haven't given up hope," said Kevin Bardsley. We don't want to leave Garrett on this mountain. We want to bring him home. "This place is so rugged and so big. All we can do is keep searching and praying and asking for help. We're not going to quit. We will find Garrett but we also feel it's going to be on the Lord's time and by the Lord's will."

Garrett Alexander Bardsley was last seen wearing red sweatpants, a t-shirt, a black hooded sweatshirt, and Converse tennis shoes. He has a small gap between his front teeth and is no longer wearing braces, as shown in circulating flyers and photos. Anyone with information leading to the recovery of Garrett Bardsley should immediately contact the Summit County Sheriff Department at (1-435-615-3600).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.