Donald Storey has not been seen since July 5. His vehicle was found inside the Joyce Kilmer Forest on Aug. 8, but a week-long search throughout the acreage has proved unsuccessful.
Slickrock – At press time, the search for a missing man in the Deep Creek area of Graham County is still ongoing, after his car was discovered at a gate near the hunter shelter by U.S. Forest Service employees Tory Lynnes and Brent Eller on Tuesday afternoon.
A check of the license plate on the 2020 Chevrolet Blazer indicated that it is registered to Donald Storey, 88 of Springfield, Mo.
The license check also listed Storey as a missing person. He was last seen on July 5, but was not listed as missing until Aug. 4. It is unclear how long the vehicle had been there.
Personnel from several agencies have participated in helping search the rugged terrain during the last week, including the Graham County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Forest Service, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Graham and Cherokee County Emergency Management, the Graham County Rescue Squad, and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.
Recent heavy rains have wiped out hopes of finding tracks and no clues as to his location have been found. The area has dense thickets of rhododendron and laurel so thick that searchers could come within a few feet of someone and never see them.
Several searches for lost hikers have taken place in Deep Creek over the years; a missing plane was not located until several years after it had crashed.
A flyer from the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse lists Storey as 5-feet-6-inches tall, with a weight of 163 pounds.