Search may be cut back


Karen VandeKieft -- KTWO/MSNBC

LANDER -- More than eighty people searched an area of the Shoshone National Forest again Wednesday for signs of the missing Lander woman as officials looked at scaling back their efforts.

Deputy Kelly Smith said it's not something that they want to do, but they may have to. He said "That decision comes from all the staff members of the search, not just one person. What we have to do is evaluate the safety of our mission still, our people the area we've searched. We have formulas and forms that help us do that."

As the search for Amy Bechtel entered its sixth day Wednesday, some Fremont County officials were considering kidnapping as an explanation.

Bechtel was reported missing by her husband, Steve, July 24 after she failed to return from running in the Burnt Gulch area off of the Loop Road near Lander

The search of the area on the ground and from the air resumed Wednesday morning and Kim Lee, Fremont County's emergency management coordinator said officials might scale back the search by Thursday if no new clues to Bechtel's whereabouts were found.

He said. "We've just exhausted all of our areas. We need to scale back somewhat and re-evaluate the whole thing and go on from there."

Some searchers with specialized equipment, aided by helicopters and airplanes, will remain in the area to continue looking for Bechtel, Lee said.

"There are some other canyons and creeks that run back into town that need to be checked again," he said. "for the most part, the area that we've been concentrating in has been saturated."

Meanwhile, Fremont County Sheriff Larry Mathews said his office has sent descriptions of Bechtel to authorities around the region.

He said if authorities feel Bechtel was kidnapped, the search would be expanded to include places to hide a body such as mines, old cabins and culverts.

Searchers from several counties, mostly volunteers, have carefully searched the five to six square miles with the help of air support.