Search for missing San Mateo County hiker continues

(KRON) — The search for an elderly hiker with dementia who vanished in a mid-Peninsula wilderness area continued over the weekend. Margaret “Elaine” McKinley, 79, was last seen on May 1 in the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.

This weekend’s search involved over 100 specially trained search and rescue volunteers who canvassed the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve and surrounding areas. Search efforts focused around the area where McKinley was first reported missing.

Search teams were deployed on foot and horseback with drones and specialized K9s also involved. Officials described the terrain as “extremely dense and challenging,” with heavily brushed areas and poison oak as high as 15 feet.

“Unfortunately, despite these extensive and exhaustive efforts, no new information was gathered,” SMCSO said.

Since McKinley vanished 18 days ago, SMCSO and partner agencies have deployed over 600 specialized search and rescue volunteers to look for her.

“The Sheriff’s Office extends its sincere appreciation to the incredible volunteers from across the region for their unwavering and selfless commitment to the search for Elaine,” officials said.

Despite McKinley having been missing for more than two weeks now, officials with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office maintain the search is still a rescue operation, and not a recovery. A recovery, according to officials, “begins when there is evidence to support such a mission.”

“At this point, our search teams have not found evidence to support moving to a recovery operation, and our continuous search phase continues,” officials told KRON4.

Sheriff’s office officials said the current Limited Continuous Search phase will continue for the time being, but with scaled back resources. Anyone with information about McKinley’s whereabouts is asked to contact the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.

Last week, in a separate incident. a camper who had been missing for three weeks in the Fresno County wilderness was “miraculously” found alive.