Search for Missing Scout Continues

Mar 20, 10:13 AM

Current Headlines: By Steve Lyttle, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Mar. 20--Search crews used special heat-sensing equipment and dog teams overnight in a still-unsuccessful effort to find a 12-year-old Boy Scout who disappeared nearly four days ago in a state park off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Alleghany County.

About 35 state and federal park rangers spent the overnight hours looking for Michael Auberry but had no luck.

Tina White, of the National Park Service, said this morning that "search crews had no new clues or leads overnight."

"We'll be bumping back up to what we were doing yesterday, which was about 70 (searchers)," White said.

Officials and parents of the missing boy, Michael Auberry, say they remain confident that the search in the mountains of northwest North Carolina will have a happy ending.

"We're still confident in calling it a search-and-rescue operation," White said.

Temperatures overnight remained above freezing, after falling into the upper teens and lower 20s on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Michael Auberry was last seen about midday Saturday, eating lunch with the rest of the group of 10 Scouts and three adult leaders from Greensboro.

He disappeared a short time later and hasn't been seen since. Searchers found his mess kit late Saturday night, about a mile from the camp site, and they also found wrappers from a bag of potato chips and a candy bar. No other trace of the boy has been seen since.

Michael was wearing two jackets, include a fleece-lined coat.

"We've had people who have been out a week or longer and survived," White said this morning.

Michael's mother, Debbie Hayes, told the Winston-Salem Journal on Monday night that the boy had only potato chips to eat and no water. She also said the boy takes Ritalin to control attention-deficit disorder.

His father, Kent Auberry, told the Greensboro News & Record, "Any sign that he's still out there, that he's still fighting, we're clinging to."

White said the search units used an airplane with special heat-sensing equipment overnight. Other search teams with dogs continued looking during the night. She said the searchers remained on trails overnight, to prevent anyone else getting lost.

But searchers will move off the trails this morning and widen their efforts -- much the same as they did Sunday and Monday.

About 70 searchers have been criss-crossing the rugged terrain, which is lined with logging roads and hiking paths.

White said a number of Boy Scout troops from across North Carolina and Virginia had offered to help in the search, but authorities asked them to wait, because they are not trained to conduct searches.

Wild animals probably wouldn't threaten the boy, rangers said, adding that weather is the main concern.

"We're hopeful he was able to find shelter. There are a number of rock crevasses, and he could have covered himself up with leaves," said Mike Lambert, a ranger with North Carolina State Parks.

The Associated Press, Greensboro News & Record and Winston-Salem Journal contributed to this article.

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