A massive search and rescue effort on foot, horseback and in the air was launched Wednesday to find a 22-year-old Brigham Young University student missing since hiking into the hills east of campus this past weekend.
Authorities closed down the “Y” Mountain trail for a second day Wednesday to resume a grid search of the area where Tyler Mayle of Windsor, Colo., was believed to have last been. Earlier this week, police had located Mayle’s car parked nearby the popular trail, and pings of his phone off of area cell towers had indicated the device was in the general area of Eagle Pass Trail.
Meanwhile, Mayle’s parents, Gary and Lori Mayle, were on the scene Wednesday, too, having arrived from Colorado overnight.
Gary Mayle said he had “the utmost confidence” in the search efforts under way for his son — and in his son’s own backwoods experience.
“Tyler could tough it out. He’s an Eagle Scout and has spent many times on the mountains with me as a child elk hunting” and hiking, the elder Mayle said.
“He would know that we would come looking for him,” the father added.
Mayle’s cell phone responded to pings between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, but has not been responsive since, the battery apparently having died. Searchers planned on using the father’s cell phone — the same model as his son’s — for comparison of pinging results to earlier pings from Tyler Mayle’s phone.
More than 50 searchers, some on horseback, aided by 10 dogs and a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter, were involved in Wednesday’s efforts.
Provo police Lt. Matt Siufanua said that with Mayle missing now for four days, time was critical, justifying Wednesday’s intensified search efforts.
Augustus said a primary concern was that the rugged west-facing mountain slope is hot and dry, and daytime temperatures there can reach 100 degrees.
Tyler Mayle is a junior at BYU, studying communications and political science. His family asked Wednesday that any friends or classmates of their son with information on his hiking plans call Provo police.
