(WELCHES, Ore.) — The search for a missing hiker and her two dogs in Oregon’s Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness was suspended late Tuesday after four days, officials said.
However, authorities said they are continuing to gather information and establish a timeline leading up to the disappearance of 61-year-old Susan Lane-Fournier, and said it remains an active missing person’s investigation.
“Based on weather conditions and the likelihood of survivability, the decision was made to suspend operations after all four volunteer search teams returned from the field,” the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“From Saturday through Tuesday, dozens of search volunteers, drone teams, and air-scent and trailing K9s spent more than 800 search hours looking for Ms. Lane-Fournier,” the department said.
Investigators are now looking to speak with anyone who saw Lane-Fournier or has information about her whereabouts in the week leading up to her disappearance.
Lane-Fournier was believed to be hiking with her two large Malinois-mix dogs. She was thought to be in the Green Canyon Way Trail area of Welches in Oregon, according to the sheriff’s department.
Lane-Fournier was reported missing after failing to show up at work.
Deputies did not find Lane-Fournier at her residence after she was reported missing by her employer. A community member saw her white 1992 Ford F-250 parked along a road near the trail a day later.
Lane-Fournier, who also goes by the name Phoenix, is 5-foot-2, weighs 150 pounds and has reddish-brown hair.
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