Found Deceased CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018

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Oh man. Bighorn sheep. Yeah, I'd miss a flight if I could get a really good photo of bighorn sheep.

Scenario, hypothetical: So he parks the car, gets out with his camera--and there at the edge of the parking lot, not even on the trail, are a couple of bighorn sheep looking at him.

He tries to get as close as he can and gets some pictures. Nice pictures but maybe he can get a little bit closer, or a better angle...and let's try again...something startles them and they run away.

And you look up and look around and realize you don't know where you are. You think you came in that way--or was it the other way? It doesn't look the same any more. What happened to your footsteps?

I've done this, trying to get a good picture of a woodchuck. Thank goodness there were some noisy kids on the main trail that let me re-orient myself and get back to where I belonged. Yes it was stupid. But if you like to take photos, and you get absorbed in your subject like that, you get completely absorbed in the picture you're trying to take. I thought I had been off trail maybe five minutes. It was half an hour. I thought I was maybe twenty feet off the trail. It was close to a quarter of a mile. Mom and Dad were just about to panic. They were looking for me in the entirely opposite direction.

So yeah. Lost, maybe injured but maybe just lost.
 
Jackeee said:
I’m in Canada and can drive to the US border in 10 minutes. If I wanted to disappear, would I be be better off crossing the border to pull this off or stay in my own country? Communications between Canada and the US are good as far as I know. I’m just curious by the way.
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But Joshua Tree would be a great place to stage a disappearance. It seems to be notorious for search and rescue and visitors getting lost. The hiker might even have google it to come up with JT as a convincing spot for a disappearance.

The 9 am to 12 pm time frame may have been on purpose to make it seem as though a fatality was very likely. He could have gone at 6 am, for gosh sake, but if he had gone at that time and disappeared without a trace, SAR might quite soon have concluded that he disappeared on purpose.


The other obvious fact is that Joshua Tree is far out of a convenient loop from Las Vegas and the 3 other parks he and his wife went to. It seems very odd that they'd pick that one. There are so many other places they could have gone to than Joshua Tree, including Lake Mead, Havasupai, Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase Escalante, Vermillion Cliffs, Monument Valley, Goosenecks.... The choice of JT is strange unless you were perhaps wanting to go to the place where it would be easiest to get lost and not find-able with likelihood of fatality.
 
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carbuff said:
Oh man. Bighorn sheep. Yeah, I'd miss a flight if I could get a really good photo of bighorn sheep.

Scenario, hypothetical: So he parks the car, gets out with his camera--and there at the edge of the parking lot, not even on the trail, are a couple of bighorn sheep looking at him.

He tries to get as close as he can and gets some pictures. Nice pictures but maybe he can get a little bit closer, or a better angle...and let's try again...something startles them and they run away.

And you look up and look around and realize you don't know where you are. You think you came in that way--or was it the other way? It doesn't look the same any more. What happened to your footsteps?
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One nice thing about this trail is that it's directly south of Twentynine Palms, and the highway that runs east-west. If you get lost, you can always head north. That will lead you to civilization, if not the trailhead.
 
RickshawFan said:
But Joshua Tree would be a great place to stage a disappearance. It seems to be notorious for search and rescue and visitors getting lost. The hiker might even have google it to come up with JT as a convincing spot for a disappearance.

The 9 am to 12 pm time frame may have been on purpose to make it seem as though a fatality was very likely. He could have gone at 6 am, for gosh sake, but if he had gone at that time and disappeared without a trace, SAR might quite soon have concluded that he disappeared on purpose.


The other obvious fact is that Joshua Tree is far out of a convenient loop from Las Vegas and the 3 other parks he and his wife went to. It seems very odd that they'd pick that one. There are so many other places they could have gone to than Joshua Tree, including Lake Mead, Havasupai, Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase Escalante, Vermillion Cliffs, Monument Valley, Goosenecks.... The choice of JT is strange unless you were perhaps wanting to go to the place where it would be easiest to get lost and not find-able with likelihood of fatality.
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O/T but Joshua Tree is a 22 hour drive straight down the coast from where I am in Vancouver. I have a better perspective now.
 
Hatfield said:
Me too. I can see eventually coming home but I personally would not leave after just 6 days of trying to find him.

Reported missing on Friday the 13th and reported to have left on Wednesday the following week.

"Miller’s wife returned home to Guelph on Wednesday,"

Missing Without a Trace: Family, friends of Canadian hiker Paul Miller hold tight to hope he's alive in Joshua Tree

ETA
IMO Its really only 4 full days because a partial day on the 13th and on Wednesday there had to be travel planning or at least travel so not sure if I even count that Wednesday the 18th either.

Its just bizarre to me leaving so shortly because if his body was found in the 1st couple weeks then what? Turn right around and fly back of course. That is one main reason I would have stayed at least a little longer because he may be found any day closest to when he went missing. At some point yes would have to give up and go back. 6 days is way too soon to give up that he was going to be found and maybe even alive still.

People have been known to survive extreme situations and longer than 6 days. Especially if he managed to find a water source and maybe a cave for shade. I would have still been holding out hope he was alive.
JMO of course
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100%. I understand how expensive it is to stay in another country and a I personally don’t have unlimited resources, but 6 days.. I could live in a tent 6 days. Plus, were such a friendly society, you can obtain help to stay. I’d dang sure die trying. I’m not victim blaming and I know that people react differently but it doesn’t bode a ton of confidence in me. Compounded by so many more details. He has such a lovely and friendly face. I hope I eat my words.
 
The friend who was interviewed for the latest Desert Sun article has set up a campaign for Paul's wife/kids ($100,000 goal).

I don't know if I'm allowed to provide a link (per TOS) but if you search for "Paul Miller" it will be the first result displayed.
 
jash said:
The friend who was interviewed for the latest Desert Sun article has set up a campaign for Paul's wife/kids ($100,000 goal).

I don't know if I'm allowed to provide a link (per TOS) but if you search for "Paul Miller" it will be the first result displayed.
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I know that my posts about this have maybe come across as being rude, so I won't voice my opinion now and keep sitting on my hands.
 
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SeesSeas said:
I agree with the search dogs:
"Six canine search teams" "never detected Miller’s scent".

Search for Canadian hiker missing at Joshua Tree National Park scaled back
Rangers launched an immediate search which included up to 90 ground searchers, six canine search teams, an ATV search team and a helicopter, Land said.
Over the past five days, canines never detected Miller’s scent and search crews couldn’t find any tracks, discarded equipment or hikers who may have seen him, Land said.
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6. Six. SIX.
I fail to believe that 6 canine search teams never detected Paul's scent if he had been there.

6 humans, yes I could believe that, but not specially-trained dogs.

That, plus our resident S&R VP's opinion to me says Paul wasn't there.

Will happily eat my words if he is found.
 
whatsnext said:
I know that my posts about this have maybe come across as being rude, so I won't voice my opinion now and keep sitting on my hands.
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You are not alone. While I try to remain neutral and factual, I have to say the optics of some decisions/actions are not good.

I hope there is resolution in this case, sooner rather than later. I followed a case on WS of a young hiker (Drake Kramer) who went missing at the Grand Canyon in 2015; he has never been found.
 
You are not alone. While I try to remain neutral and factual, I have to say the optics of some decisions/actions are not good.

I hope there is resolution in this case, sooner rather than later. I followed a case on WS of a young hiker (Drake Kramer) who went missing at the Grand Canyon in 2015; he has never been found.[/QUOTE]

Of course him being lost and succumbing to the heat is the most likely explanation. But if he really was a victim of the heat or an accident how far could he have come? Our VP said that dogs, like humans, are not infallible. But, like purplepixii said, Six dog units? That just keeps killing me...
 
whatsnext said:
Of course him being lost and succumbing to the heat is the most likely explanation. But if he really was a victim of the heat or an accident how far could he have come? Our VP said that dogs, like humans, are not infallible. But, like purplepixii said, Six dog units? That just keeps killing me...
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It's now 10 days since Paul went missing. I would imagine, since he was not waiting for rescue at the Oasis, that he would have died within a day or so due to heat and dehydration. If so, I'd have thought that a dead body would have been found by scavengers by now, including carrion birds. Would such activity be specifically looked out for by SAR?
 
MelmothTheLost said:
It's now 10 days since Paul went missing. I would imagine, since he was not waiting for rescue at the Oasis, that he would have died within a day or so due to heat and dehydration. If so, I'd have thought that a dead body would have been found by scavengers by now, including carrion birds. Would such activity be specifically looked out for by SAR?
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Exactly, maybe our VP @bbbd4u could answer that question ? I remember him saying that he would deploy cadaver dogs as soon as the temperatures cool down...

ETA still don't know if our VP is male or female, if I am not being politically correct, my apologies ....
 
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With time that has passed a deseaced body would have been found by passer bys. The smell of a decaying body is a one of a kind smell.

Honestly if they have not spoken about being SAR cadaver dogs out there I personally would not believe they are leaning towards the fact he is out there. If the probability based on the clues and evidence or lack of evidence he was there it is not work putting a dog, their handler and flanker at risk of injury. Jmo
 
bbbd4u said:
With time that has passed a deseaced body would have been found by passer bys. The smell of a decaying body is a one of a kind smell.

Honestly if they have not spoken about being SAR cadaver dogs out there I personally would not believe they are leaning towards the fact he is out there. If the probability based on the clues and evidence or lack of evidence he was there it is not work putting a dog, their handler and flanker at risk of injury. Jmo
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You're quick , thanks !!!:);)
 
MelmothTheLost said:
It's now 10 days since Paul went missing. I would imagine, since he was not waiting for rescue at the Oasis, that he would have died within a day or so due to heat and dehydration. If so, I'd have thought that a dead body would have been found by scavengers by now, including carrion birds. Would such activity be specifically looked out for by SAR?
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Good point about Carrion birds like Turkey Vultures and crows. With the open desert terrain I think it would be rather easy to spot carrion type birds flying and circling overhead of a deceased person within a week.

I suspect SAR is aware of this and probably have had people on the lookout for these types of birds. The lack of these types of birds may give a clue that he may have never been hiking on that trail.

If they do spot the birds then it would be a good way to focus on an area where he may have ended up.

Carrion for Birds - Where Does It Come From?
 
I’m not sure why people question him not being found. All you have to do is go read the Rachel Nguyen/Joseph Orbeso thread from last summer to realize that people disappear and neither dog teams nor humans find them that easily in the desert. Their dog teams and humans initially found traces of them and still weren’t able to find them during the initial week search. It took Joseph’s father and a ton of volunteers months to actually find them. I know WS members tend to look for foul play but I haven’t read anything yet that screams foul play to me. I just hope this case doesn’t go the way of Bill Ewasco or the Death Valley German tourists cases. I hope he is found soon.
 
Hatfield said:
Good point about Carrion birds like Turkey Vultures and crows. With the open desert terrain I think it would be rather easy to spot carrion type birds flying and circling overhead of a deceased person within a week.

I suspect SAR is aware of this and probably have had people on the lookout for these types of birds. The lack of these types of birds may give a clue that he may have never been hiking on that trail.

If they do spot the birds then it would be a good way to focus on an area where he may have ended up.

Carrion for Birds - Where Does It Come From?
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Exactly what I was thinking, though I did wonder if my mental image was unrealistic and based more on a film image of vultures circling over a dead burro.
 
The fact that the dogs found no trace of him and that was released to the public along with the fact that he was reporting missing so soon really makes me wonder if he was ever there.

Suglo said:
Rachel Nguyen/Joseph Orbeso thread from last summer to realize that people disappear and neither dog teams nor humans find them that easily in the desert. Their dog teams and humans initially found traces of them and still weren’t able to find them during the initial week search.
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So, their dog teams found a trace of them. How long from the time they were there until the dogs found the scent? Longer than the 3/4 hours that Paul would have had when he was reported missing?

Just wondering if anything can explain this, why the dogs didn't find a trace of him when they did in similar circumstances for another case. Could it be the same reason (whatever that is) of why Rachel & Joseph's dog teams weren't able to keep tracing them? How does that part happen, like if they have a scent and then they lose it?

I hope he is found soon.
 
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