Jeromy Ivan Childress, 31, vanished on October 17, 2004, while on an annual elk hunting trip in Tillamook County, Oregon. He was with a friend and the friend’s young son near Trask Mountain in the Tillamook National Forest. Around 4:30 p.m., near Tucca Creek Road and Boundary Road, the party became disoriented; believing he could find the campsite, Jeromy walked into the brush alone and never returned. He left all overnight gear at camp.

At last sighting he wore a dark brown Carhartt-type jacket, stonewashed Levi’s jeans, brown Copeland hiking boots, and a blue Nike baseball cap. He wore a gold wedding band with five inset diamonds and a silver Citizen Eco-Drive watch. An extensive search found no trace. The terrain is steep, rugged, thick with brush, gullies and fallen trees, and inhabited by bears, cougars and coyotes; foul play is not suspected and it is believed he became lost or was injured and did not survive. Jeromy was an industrial bridge painter and blaster who enjoyed hunting and fishing and had tattoos of a phoenix on his left shoulder and a dolphin on his right shoulder blade, a pierced left ear, prior fractures to fingers on his right hand, and two upper front teeth with a chip on the left one.

Did anyone in the area at the time see a lone hunter matching Jeromy’s description or remember signs of a search in the Trask Mountain area that autumn?