GRAND JUNCTION — An air search today in rugged Carbon County, Utah has turned up no sign of two Grand Junction men who vanished after they left a sports bar in Price late last Saturday night.
Carbon County deputy sheriff Wally Hendricks said a helicopter and a fixed wing airplane expanded their search beyond the extremely rough terrain of Nine Mile Canyon north of Price, Utah after turning up no sign of the men or of their 2000 gold Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Brian Axe and Mark Widegren, both in their 20s, had been working laying pipe in that canyon for a Rangley-based oil-and-gas pipeline company.
Family members have told authorities the pair drove into Price after work Saturday to watch a football game and were last seen outside of the Silver Dollar Sports Club in Price about 11:30 p.m.
The mens’ employers at the pipeline company thought the men had planned to go to Las Vegas for the weekend when they left the job site.
“At this point we haven’t drawn any conclusions about where they are. I only know that we are still at that starting point of when they were seen leaving the bar on Saturday night,” Hendricks said.
The mens’ cell phones and credit cards haven’t been used since Saturday night. The sheriff’s office has followed up on several tips and leads, but none have panned out, Hendricks said.
About two dozen family members, friends and volunteers with the Abbey and Jennifer Recovery Foundation of Grand Junction have joined in a ground search of Nine Mile Canyon. Those searchers plan to expand their search to other parts of the county that consists of mostly rugged and undeveloped lands.
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
