15 in Taos, New Mexico Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Update: Found dead in New Mexico)

61 year old Walter Scheib has been missing since Saturday, June 13, 2015 in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. Scheib was last seen setting out for a hike over the weekend alone on the Yerba Canyon Trail. The local police have found only his vehicle, which was parked at the Yerba Canyon Trail Head in Taos, NM, a town some 70 miles from Santa Fe. Nearly 30 searchers, including teams with dogs and horses, have fanned out across the trails in the area, scouring for any sign of the missing Walter Scheib.

Former White House executive chef Walter Scheib has been reported missing in New Mexico’s rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where he was last seen setting out for a hike over the weekend, police said. For days since, search and rescue teams have been scouring the area to find him.

Scheib has been missing since Saturday. Local police have found only his vehicle, which was parked at the Yerba Canyon Trail Head in Taos, N.M., a town some 70 miles from Santa Fe.

Scheib, 61, earned his reputation in Washington for his New American-style cuisine, cooking for, among others, White House guests Nelson Mandela, Boris Yeltsin, Princess Diana and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He served for 11 years under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.

Crews will resume Scheib’s search and rescue mission Friday morning both on the ground and in the air, New Mexico State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Liz Armijo told The Washington Post. Authorities have been working with search and rescue dogs and using helicopters to view areas too rough and remote to reach on foot.

UPDATE I: Walter Scheib found dead in New Mexico.

The Taos News reported that Scheib’s body was found in a river approximately 20 to 30 feet off a hiking trail in the mountains above the Taos Ski Valley. The New Mexico State Police said the spot where the body was found was approximately 1.7 miles from the Yerba Canyon trail head where Scheib’s car was located.

Authorities said that they did not believe Scheib had not informed anyone of his hiking plans and was not believed to have been prepared for more than a day outdoors. Scheib had recently moved from Florida to New Mexico, and reportedly went for a hike June 13. His girlfriend reported him missing the next day. The 4-mile Yerba Canyon trail follows a canyon bottom before climbing to 3,700 feet in elevation, according to the U.S. Forest Service website.