Dogs can't find missing man, search concludes

By CHERYL SABOL
The Daily Inter Lake

posted Wednesday June 23, 2004

    A year after a Dorr, Mich., man disappeared in Glacier National Park, searchers made one last unsuccessful effort to find him Monday.

    In June 2003, rangers fround Larry Kimble's 1998 GMC truck abandoned at the Rocky Point trailhead on the west shore of Lake McDonald.

    Kimble, 40, was reported missing by the Allegan County Sheriff's Department after rangers reported the abandoned vehicle.

    Search dogs, divers, and others looked for him last summer until wildfires made the search too risky.

    On Monday, searchers tried again near where the vehicle was found. Five cadaver dogs from Idaho, central Montana, Colorado and Washington found no clues. The National Park Service and Flathead County Search and Rescue assisted in the search.

    The last piece of evidence investigators found in Kimble's truck - a year ago - was a park entrance receipt dated May 29, 2003. He had no backcounty permit or camping equipment inside the vehicle to indicate he would be far away.

    After Monday's futile attempt, the park announced, "Pending further developments, the park's search for Mr. Kimble will now be suspended."

    The Allegan Sheriff's Department is taking the same approach.

    Detective Chris Koster said he's not aware of any new information in the case in the past year.

    "It sounds like everybody's done just about everything they could possibly do" to locate Kimble, he said.

    "It'll always be an active case," he said, although now "it is sliding towards the back burner.

    "We won't give up, obviously. We'll put it into a cold-case situation eventually."

    Anyone with information about Kimble's whereabouts may contact park headquarters at (406) 888-7800 or the Allegan County Sheriff's Department at (269) 673-0500.