Incident Summary · Demobilization
Whatcom County Sheriff's Office
Search and Rescue Incident Summary
Incident No. 20-SAR-0412 · Issued October 18, 2020
- Subject
- Walden, Jeremy A., W/M, 22
- Requesting Agency
- Bellingham Police Department (BPD 2020-14027)
- Basis for Callout
- Reported intended destination within Chuckanut Mountain trail system
- Search Initiated
- October 16, 2020 · 0615 hours
- Search Demobilized
- October 18, 2020 · 1615 hours
- Operational Periods
- 3
- Search Type
- Hasty search, presumed route of travel
- Incident Commander
- Sgt. D. Pruett, WCSO
- Status
- Demobilized · Returned to BPD as investigative matter
Pre-Planning Note
Subject was reported overdue for a group hike departing the Arroyo Park trailhead (Old Samish Road) at 0800 hours October 15. Subject's vehicle is present at his residence in the Fairhaven district. No witness places subject outside his residence at any time on October 15. No witness places subject on the Interurban Trail or within Arroyo Park.
No point last seen has been established. Subject's presence in the search area is inferred from a stated intention, not from any observation. Segment assignments are built on the assumption that subject departed his residence on foot on the morning of October 15 and traveled the Interurban Trail corridor toward Arroyo Park. This assumption is unverified.
Sgt. D. Pruett, Incident Commander · October 16, 2020, 0540 hours
Resources Committed
41 ground searchers (cumulative), 3 K9 teams, 1 rotary-wing overflight, 2 drone sorties, 1 swiftwater team (operational period 2 only).
Segment Assignments
Probability of Detection (POD) as assessed by team leader at debrief.
| Segment | Area | Op. Period | POD | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-1 | Arroyo Park: core trail system, both sides of creek | 1, 3 | High | Negative |
| A-2 | Chuckanut Creek drainage, Arroyo bridge to estuary | 1-2 | Moderate | Negative |
| A-3 | Chuckanut Creek drainage, Arroyo bridge upstream to falls | 2 | Moderate | Negative |
| A-4 | Old Samish Road: roadside and pullouts, 1400-1900 block | 1 | High | Negative |
| B-1 | Interurban Trail corridor, Arroyo Park to Fairhaven Park | 1-2 | High | Negative |
| B-2 | Subject residence to Interurban trailhead, street route | 1 | High | Negative |
| B-3 | Interurban Trail corridor, Arroyo Park south to N. Chuckanut trailhead | 2 | High | Negative |
| C-1 | Chuckanut Falls trail and margins | 2-3 | Moderate | Negative |
| C-2 | Unmapped side trails, Arroyo Park: grid search | 3 | High | Negative |
| C-3 | Chuckanut Creek: swiftwater and pool search | 2 | Moderate | Negative |
Segments beyond C-3 were mapped in the initial incident action plan and never assigned.
Operational Summary
Period 1, October 16 Callout 0540. Hasty search of the presumed route: subject's residence to the Arroyo Park trailhead via street route and the Interurban Trail, plus the Arroyo Park core trail system and Old Samish Road pullouts. K9 deployed at the trailhead; no scent alert established. 24 searchers.
Period 2, October 17 Chuckanut Creek drainage worked upstream and downstream of the Arroyo bridge. Swiftwater team searched creek pools following overnight rainfall. Rotary-wing overflight of the Chuckanut corridor. Interurban corridor search extended south. K9 negative. 17 searchers.
Period 3, October 18 Grid search of unmapped side trails within Arroyo Park. Repeat pass of segment A-1 at higher POD. No new information developed. Demobilized 1615 hours.
Demobilization Memorandum
Search demobilized at the conclusion of operational period 3.
No physical evidence of the subject was located in any assigned segment. No trace, no personal effects, no clothing, no scent alert from any K9 team across three operational periods.
The limiting factor throughout this incident has been the absence of a point last seen. Search planning requires a location and time at which the subject is known to have been present. This incident has neither. The subject was reported missing from a residence, not from the field. All areas the subject had expressed intent to travel were searched. No evidence places him in any of them.
Three operational periods at high POD across the presumed route have returned nothing. In the absence of new information establishing that the subject entered the search area, further ground search is not supportable.
This incident is returned to Bellingham Police Department as an investigative matter. WCSO Search and Rescue will remobilize on request if a point last seen is developed.