*** Illinois SAR Teams Support State Police Investigation ***
  
August 29th, 1997
Patrick J. Keane
Illinios Emenrgency Management Agency
 
  On August 29th, 1997 at 0038 hrs local, the Illinois State Police (ISP)
contacted the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), who serves as
the state SAR coordination agency, for assistance in locating a missing 80
year old subject thought to be in the Banner Marsh Fish and Wildlife area
in Peoria County. Because this is still an on-going police investigation,
no other details of the initial incident will be covered here. The Search
and Rescue Duty officer, after reviewing the circumstances of the case,
dispatched an IDOT-Aeronautics Bell 206L3 LongRanger with an IEMA SAR
qualified infra-red operator on board to the search area. The aircrew
searched an area of approximately 4,000 acres for over 1 1/2 hours without
success. Due to the very heavy tree and vegetation coverage in the search
area, the aircrew recommended that a full scale ground search be conducted
in the target area. The Incident Commander from the Illinois State Police
District 8 requested that IEMA coordinate the search, and bring in whatever
mix of resources would be appropriate to conduct the ground search.
  
  The IEMA SAR Duty Officer activated the Logan County SAR team (including
their mountain bike patrol, ATV unit, horse mounted patrol and ground
searchers) and the Vermilion County SAR team. The Illinois Department of
Natural Resources, Conservation Police were contacted to provide 4 wheel
drive vehicles and a boat. In addition, the Incident Commander activated
two ISP K-9 teams. All teams agreed to have their personnel on-site by 1000
hrs, and an IEMA searchmaster was assigned to provide SAR planning and
operations management assistance. Initial search personnel were assembled
by 0900 hrs, and a strategy meeting was conducted. Because of the ongoing
nature of the police investigation, special considerations were briefed to
the teams prior to initiating search operations. The initial teams from
Logan County SAR were deployed in the high probability areas by 0930 hrs. A
second IDOT-Aeronautics Bell 206L3 LongRanger with IEMA SAR qualified
observers was dispatched to the search base. During the remainder of the
day, it provided approximately 3 additional hours of aerial search in
support of the ground operations. A press conference was conducted at noon
which included representatives of all agencies involved in the search, and
an appeal was made for any information leading to the location of the
subject.
  
  Following completion of the initial search, a second strategy meeting was
conducted, during which it was determined that acceptable search area
PODcums were 90% for the top 8 areas. Because of the arrival of additional
ground team assets, this was accomplished through multiple searches of the
area by different assets. In addition, because of the presence of numerous
strip mine lakes in the immediate vicinity of the PLS, three dive recovery
teams from Peoria, Morgan and Sangamon Counties were activated and reported
to the search base at 1600 hrs. By 1800 hrs, no additional clues were
located and the day's final strategy meeting was held. The Incident
Commander determined that, for safety considerations, the ground search
would be suspended for the evening at dark, and that a concerted effort
would be made again in the morning. Resources ordered for the morning
included 5 ground SAR teams, 1 dive team, 2 ATVs, 3 mountain bikers, 2
boats, 5 horse mounted searchers, the Bell 206L3 helicopter and a mobile
command post from IEMA.
  
  At 0800 hrs, on August 30, 1997, the first arriving ISP Sergeant found
the subject standing at the PLS. He stated that he had been walking around
the area since the 28th. Subsequent investigation leads us to believe that
the subject was actively evading the searchers during the 2 day period.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency would like to thank all
organizations who participated in this search for their assistance,
excellent cooperation and professionalism.
 
Patrick J. Keane
Illinios Emenrgency Management Agency

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