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Show Whereabouts Of Missing Ogden Man Puzzles Sheriff And Family Members ESCALANTE Garfield County law enforcement authorities are puzzled about the whereabouts of a 40-ycar-old Ogden man who failed to report for work at his construction con-struction job at Bryce Canyon National Na-tional Park on Monday, July 25. Neil Olofson, a heavy equipment equip-ment operator for GilbertWestern, left work on Friday, July 22, telling co-workers he planned to go camping, possibly in the Tom Best Springs area in the northwestern part of Garfield County or the Hells Backbone area in the county's north central part. When Olofson, termed "responsible" by co-workers, failed to return to work by Tuesday, July 26, his parents, Robert and Mary Olofson of Ogden, were notified by the company he works for. A description of Olofson was circulated by the Garfield County Sheriffs Office to the Forest Service, Ser-vice, Bureau of Land Management and Division of Wildlife Resources to be on the watch for the missing man and his 1979 two-tone gray Chevrolet pickup, with Utah license plate 1942CF. All three agencies had numerous employees in the field. When the senior Olofsons arrived ar-rived on Thursday, they joined in the search for their son. Robert Olofson described his son as quiet and as somewhat of a Ioancr who loves the outdoors and often camps alone. The missing man is six feet one inch tall, weighs 185 pounds, has brown eyes, long brown hair, and a beard. In Escalante, county search efforts ef-forts brought a response from the Moqui Motel where owner Sharol Bernardo reported that Olofson had stayed the night on Saturday, July 23. The search intensified in the Hells Backbone area and in the canyons southwest of Escalante, into Kane County. Deputy Celeste Bernards reported re-ported searching the Hell's Backbone Back-bone Road area, Main Canyon, Widtsoe, Alvey Wash and Death Ridge areas. Tropic area Search and Rescue teams joined in on Saturday, and on Sunday, three Civil Air Patrol planes searched in a grid pattern without success. To date, there has been no success suc-cess and neither law enforcement officers nor Olofson's parents are certain if he is actually missing and unable to return or absent by choice. None of the searches turned up anything related to the missing man and with over 5,000 square miles in the county, the search has been virtually suspended unul more informauon is available Anyone with information about the missing man is asked to contact the Garfield County Sheriiffs Office at 801-676-2678. |