wfn.org | Presbyterian Minister Feared Dead in Wyoming Wilderness

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27-August-1998 
98281 
    Presbyterian Minister Feared Dead in Wyoming Wilderness 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Though rescue teams have called off their search for a 
Presbyterian minister who is presumed dead in the Wyoming wilderness, 
detectives there are still searching for leads from backpackers along the 
Wind River, where he disappeared. 
 
    The Rev. Michael Turner, 48, of Caldwell, Idaho, was last seen July 30, 
just two miles into a planned 10-day trip that was to mark the end of a 
three-month sabbatical, according to the Sublette County Sheriff's 
Department in Pinedale, Wyoming, where the initial search originated. 
Turner was accompanied by his black Labrador, Andy. 
 
    Turner served as pastor of the Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church in 
Caldwell, a 500-member congregation in the Presbytery of Boise. 
 
    "We're still hoping to find him alive ... but the likelihood of that - 
with him being out there all this time -  is pretty nil," said Detective 
Sergeant Rocky Shaver of the Sublette County Sheriff's Department.  "He was 
set [with food]  for a nine-day trip.  We're going on to 22 to 23 days." 
 
    The two-county air search for Turner was complicated by the fact that 
rescuers have no confirmed reports of  Turner's whereabouts since the first 
day of his trip, the last time other hikers spotted him along the trail. 
 
      The search - in terrain that officials say is treacherous but 
trafficked - began when Turner's family told authorities that he failed to 
meet them at the Big Sandy trailhead, the end of his nearly 60-mile 
itinerary. 
 
      Rescue teams were also dispatched from both Sublette and Fremont 
counties, which border the remote wilderness along the Wind River, home to 
the highest peaks in Wyoming.  The teams were assisted by Turner's family 
and members of the Boone Memorial Church, as well as childhood friends and 
members of churches he served in Rayton, Mo., and Polston, Mont. 
 
      The search ran for two weeks and the church paid for several 
additional measures, such as the hiring of mountaineers to explore some of 
the more rugged passes on Turner's intended route and the use of a 
helicopter. 
 
    "Nobody we've been able to contact in the mountains in the last three 
weeks has seen him. We've talked with rangers.  We've talked with packers 
coming out of the trailheads.  We've talked with students at the National 
Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming ... and nobody has come up 
with a clue," said Chip Williams, who coordinated the volunteer team from 
Lander that searched for Turner. 
 
      "In this case, there was absolutely nothing," he told the 
Presbyterian News Service. "We don't have anything to run on." 
 
    Williams said that stream crossings, lightning strikes and crevasses in 
glaciers are the most treacherous parts of a solo backpacking trek in the 
area. 
 
    "We've contacted just about everyone we can who works up in this 
country or who recreates up there," said Williams.  "The word's out.  If 
something is going on out there, we'll know about it." 
 
    In fact, the Sublette County Sheriff's Department said that in more 
than 30 searches, only one other hiker has not been rescued alive from 
wilderness.  At presstime, he said that two deputies were checking out 
another report by some hikers of a black Lab along one of the wilderness 
trails.  He said detectives will continue to follow up on any leads. 
 
    The Rev. John Bowen, associate pastor of the Boone Memorial Church, 
told the Presbyterian News Service, that Turner was "dearly loved" by the 
congregation he has served for over 10 years.  "People [here] are trying to 
hang on to hope as long as they can," he said, adding, however, that many - 
including Turner's family - are beginning to conclude that he is dead. 
"That's definitely what the professionals say," he said. 
 
    He said the Turners had hiked other trails in the Wind River area last 
summer as a family. 
 
    The family issued the following statement Aug. 20:  "We leave Wyoming 
with the peace that both counties and all volunteers have exhausted all 
reasonable possibilities of finding Mike alive. ... We are still praying 
that Mike will be found, but until new information comes to light we are 
preparing to return home assured by both counties that they will follow any 
new leads. 
 
    "Our family was aware that an extended solo hike through rugged 
territory could be dangerous, but we believed that full living involved 
risk." 
 
    The statement also said that family members now believe that Turner was 
seriously injured early in his 10-day hike. 
 
     Bowen said Turner was an experienced climber who had the goal of 
spending 365 days - a full year of his life - in the wilderness. 
 
    Turner's family includes his wife, Diane, and three teenagers: Jill, 
18; Ben, 15; and Katie, who turned 13 Aug. 21. 
 
    A search fund has been established at Boone Memorial to pay for the 
extra measures taken to find Turner.  Contributions to that fund may be 
mailed to Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church, 406 14th Street South, 
Caldwell, ID 83606-0427. 

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