CA CA - George Carpenter, 74, San Luis Obispo, 23 Dec 2009

A San Luis Obispo rescue team is expected to travel to rural Monterey County this weekend in hopes of finding 74-year-old George Carpenter, who has been missing since December.

Investigators with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department spent most of the past weekend searching the rugged terrain between Big Sur and Fort Hunter Liggett in southern Monterey County where the San Luis Obispo man’s 1989 Jeep Comanche truck was discovered Saturday.

Those search efforts were suspended Monday after concerns arose about increasingly stormy weather and a lack of clues indicating where to search next.

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Investigators hope that the bond between a man and his dog will help lead to missing San Luis Obispo man George Carpenter.

Scooter, Carpenter’s black Labrador retriever found last week in a remote area of Monterey County, will likely be taken back today to where Carpenter’s truck was found to see if he can lead authorities to Carpenter.

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Members of the San Luis Obispo County Four Wheel Drive Club volunteered their time to help the family of San Luis Obispo missing man George Carpenter bring his truck home from northern Monterey County where it was found.

The truck was found exactly one month after Carpenter was reported missing Dec. 23. The area, at 3,300-foot elevation, is between Big Sur and Fort Hunter Liggett. Because of recent storms and poor road conditions, search crews had to use four-wheel-drive vehicles and ATVs to access the area. The road conditions made it difficult to move the truck of the dirt road where it was parked.

The SLO 4-Wheelers is a non-profit that works to bring together members for family oriented activities in the outdoors.

--AnnMarie Cornejo

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