MOUNT VERNON — The disappearance of a hiker on Sauk Mountain in the North Cascades has left Skagit County searchers questioning whether she’s there.
“The most likely scenario is she wandered off and got lost,” sheriff’s Chief Deputy Will Reichardt said Tuesday.
But officials have to consider other possibilities as they look for Patricia Kreiger.
“There’s some evidence to indicate from the search dogs, maybe she walked out,” Reichardt said. “We have to start dealing with the idea maybe she came off.
“We’re not closed-minded to the possibility there is foul play.”
The search was suspended Monday, although a volunteer helicopter pilot continued checking logging roads Tuesday.
Detectives are following leads and learning whatever they can about the 65-year-old Mount Vernon woman, Reichardt said.
She and her fiance went up the 5,500-foot mountain near Rockport on Saturday in a group of a half-dozen people to spread the ashes of her fiance’s parents. Kreiger became separated from the group on the way down with her pet Rottweiler.
The others assumed she knew another way to the trailhead, but when they went to look for her, she was gone.
Kreiger was not equipped to stay out overnight in the mountains 45 miles east of Mount Vernon, where temperatures have dropped below freezing.
If Kreiger were injured or fell off the trail, it’s puzzling the widespread search involving helicopters and dozens of people on the ground was unable to find her or her dog, Reichardt said.
“Right now she’s missing,” he said.
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