Community Corner

Search Continues For Erik Lamberg, Missing in Mendocino County

Search and rescue operations for a missing South Bay man are continuing Friday in Mendocino County where his abandoned van was found, said Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Capt. Greg VanPatten.

VanPatten said Thursday's ground search for Erik Lamberg, 51, produced "no useful leads or signs" and that Friday's search would focus on the rugged terrain surrounding Sherwood Road, the dirt road his van was found on 20 miles in from Willits.

Sheriff's personnel and volunteers have conducted an active search on Sherwood Road, using bloodhounds, since Wednesday. The dogs did find a scent trail that went about one mile west toward Willits on the road and then 8 miles the other direction toward Ft. Bragg, he said.

Friday's off-road search will require the use of ATVs for what VanPatten termed "physical human searching." He said volunteers would systematically search in the brush and forested terrain, and, if evidence of Lamberg was located, a search dog would be brought in to see if it picks up Lamberg's scent. VanPatten said the method "save's the dog's energy" and they're "less apt to tire out." Temperatures have been in the 90s in the search area.

Using a person's scent is "not an exact science," VanPatten said, noting that factors include the environment, "the condition of the person leaving the scent," as in how much body odor they were emitting or how dirty or clean they were. He also said searching by scent is "better" if the search is done soon after the scent is left.

Friday's search will include looking for outlet roads and well-developed trails Lamberg might have taken if he walked off the road into the surrounding terrain, said VanPatten.

He expected 6-8 people and at least one dog to be part of Friday's search team.

"We're taking every avenue and every opportunity to search for Erik," he said, noting that searches are fluid operations in which tactics are "constantly reassessed" based on what is discovered during each part of the search.

Authorities have been able to determine that Lamberg's abandoned van was on the road on Wednesday, May 29th. The van was first reported to authorities on Saturday, June 1 and then towed.

Lamberg was last seen Monday, May 27th in Laytonville, where he spent two nights at a hotel waiting for his van to be repaired. He told Budget Inn staff on May 27th that he'd been able to fix his van and had parked it at the inn. The van and Lamberg were gone the next morning, as was expected. 

Lamberg told hotel staff he was going to go south toward Willits, which he did. Sherwood Road intersects with the highway he would have traveled south on and begins as a paved road in a residential area, said VanPatten. The road is hilly and mostly traversed with four-wheel drive vehicles, ATVs and motorcycles.

VanPatten previously told Patch a person can go 10-14 days without food; water is a different scenario with the body requiring it more often. He said someone could possibly go 3-5 days without water and that he expected there would be springs in the area a person could access water at.

On Friday, VanPatten said, "We really need to find him."


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