TheRuckSack: Joseph Clewley

You're here: MiBSAR :: SAR Ops :: Joe Clewley SAR Ops Page :: The SAR op response
You're here: Backpacker Magazine's Midwest Forum :: Joe Clewley Discussion Thread :: Joe Clewley SAR Ops Page :: The SAR op response

A Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue Op
for
Joseph Robert Clewley
Missing since July 13, 2008

by
Michael A. Neiger (a.k.a. LandNavMan)
Senior SAR Team Leader
Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue
Marquette :: Michigan

The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office Responds

Page contents
     • The interagency SAR effort
     • Investigating agency
     • How to report tips or sightings

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry that I couldn't travel both and be one traveler
I stood and looked as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other one just as fair and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear
though as far as the passing there had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step and trodden black
oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence;
two roads diverged in a woods, and I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference.
—Robert Frost, 1874-1963, The Road Not Taken, 1916

<< Prior page Return to Table of Contents Page Next page >>

Top of page
The interagency SAR effort

To date, the search for Joe Clewley has been a huge, multi-agency effort:

Chippewa County Sheriff's Office

Bay Mills Tribal Police Department

Michigan Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team (ERT)

Michigan State Police

U.S. Coast Guard

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

U.S. Boarder Patrol

Michigan Search and Rescue (K9 teams)

Dozens of searchers have spent countless hours searching the bush for Joe and his dog Chip. Searchers on foot were assisted by tracking dogs, cadaver dogs, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, vehicles, ATVs, boats, etc.

While the official search has been called off, the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the disappearance of Joe Clewley, calling in search assets when new leads turn up.

Family, friends, and volunteers continue the search.

According to the Sheriff's Office, the search-and-rescue operation for Joe has been the biggest manhunt in the county's history. To date, the Sheriff's Office has dedicated over 3,000 man-hours to the primary search area, which covers some 10,000 acres.

Taking a break at the confluence of Cheney Creek with the Tahquamenon River.
(Photo from SAR Team Op No. 3 by Michael Neiger)

Top of page
The investigating agency

Chippewa County Sheriff's Office
325 Court Street,
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 49783

Sheriff: Jeffrey L. Moran
Undersheriff: Robert Savoie
Detective: Mike Bitnar

Sheriff's Office: 1-906-635-6355
Emergencies: 911
Central Dispatch: 1-906-495-3312
Crime Stoppers Tip Line: 1-800-465-7867
Fax: 1-906-635-6336

Official Joseph Clewley Web page (rev. 10-23-08)

Top of page
How to report tips or sightings

If you saw Joe Clewley or his dog Chip along the North Country Trail on or after Sunday, July 13, 2008; observed any activity, vehicles, or subjects around his van at the NCT trailhead on the Tahqua Trail; or have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office lead detective—Det./Sgt. Mike Bitnar—on the case immediately:

Cell phone: 1-906-440-3297

E-mail: mbitnar@chippewacountymi.gov

Fax: 1-906-635-6336

Crime Stoppers Tip Line: 1-800-465-7867 (anonymous tips)

Up to
$1,000 Reward
for anonymous tips
about Joe Clewley's disappearance
Northern International Crime Stoppers Tip Line:
1-800-465-7867

View/print poster

<< Prior page Return to Table of Contents Page Next page >>

Top of page

In God's wilderness lies the hope of the world,
the great, fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.
—John Muir (1838-1914), Alaska Wilderness, 1890

If you've been able to read this Web page...
thank a Teacher;
If you've been able to read this Web page in English...
thank a Veteran.
—Author unknown

Learn about upcoming trips and expeditions of the Michigan Bush Rats

Joe Clewley, Joe R. Clewley, Joe Robert Clewley, Joseph Clewley, Joseph R. Clewley, Joseph Robert Clewley