UPDATE: Volunteer search parties have continued searching Monday for Anna Schmidt. The family is asking volunteers to meet at Oregon’s Tooth Rock Trailhead parking lot.
ST. GEORGE — Authorities have suspended the search for the 21-year-old missing daughter of Jon Schmidt, one of the members of the Utah-based music group The Piano Guys.
Anna “Annie” Schmidt, an avid hiker, was reported missing in Oregon Wednesday when her mother, Michelle Schmidt, arrived in Portland for a camping trip and her daughter wasn’t at the airport to pick her up or at her apartment.
Anna Schmidt was last seen by her roommate Oct. 16 – three days prior to her mother’s arrival. Her roommate reportedly thought the two had already left for their camping trip.
The missing 21-year-old’s vehicle was located Thursday in the Columbia River Gorge at the Bonneville Dam near the Tooth Rock Trailhead, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
“Searchers were deployed to saturate the network of trails in and around the area of the Tooth Rock Trailhead,” Portland Police said Sunday. However, an extensive three-day multiagency search yielded no other clues to her whereabouts.
Michelle Schmidt told KOIN 6 in Oregon Saturday she believes her daughter is dead.
“I don’t think she’s still alive,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think she’s survived. Honestly, that brings me comfort knowing she is with her Heavenly Father, that she’s not hurting, that she’s not suffering. But we do want to find her body.”
After consulting with a Clackamas County EMS wilderness doctor, the Portland Police Bureau announced Sunday evening that officials were “making the decision to suspend search efforts pending new information or developments in the investigation.”
Search efforts will resume in the event search and rescue coordinators at the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office establish credible leads.
Since Friday morning, more than 150 volunteer search and rescue personnel participated in the effort, searching more than 150 miles of the trail system in the Columbia Gorge by way of ground, air and K-9 resources.
“No signs of Anna Schmidt have been found,” the police bureau said in a statement issued at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Search and Rescue resources from Multnomah County, Washington County, Clatsop County, Clackamas County and Hood River County sheriff’s offices, along with Multnomah County Trail Hornets, The Crag Rats, The FLIR Corporation and Portland Police Bureau air units, Portland Mountain Rescue. Search and rescue crews from Pacific Northwest, Mountain Wave and Northern Oregon, as well as more than 100 volunteers also participated in the search.
“There are no signs of foul play,” officials maintain. “Investigators are concerned that she may have gotten lost or injured hiking in the Gorge.”
Although officials have suspended their search, the Schmidt Family is continuing to search the area for their daughter.
The Piano Guys posted the following update on Facebook Monday:
We’re still looking for Annie. There has been so much support and we are so grateful! Thank you! Although the local authorities have suspended the official search, we are not giving up and are organizing our own efforts. We need volunteers! We need people willing to go off the trails (bush whacked), physically fit, can hike 5-10 miles etc. There are some VERY dangerous areas and steep terrain! Bring warm clothes, hiking boots, rain jackets etc. We are setup at the Toothrock trailhead parking lot (I-84 exit 40). Ask for Al van der Beek or David Simone when you get here. Please share this post and keep praying! Thank you.
Anna Schmidt is described as a white female, 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 125 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with current information about Anna Schmidt’s whereabouts is asked to call 9-1-1. Anyone with nonemergency information is asked to contact Detective Heidi Helwig by email at [email protected].
The Piano Guys world-famous musical group was founded in a St. George piano shop. The group became an internet sensation by way of its immensely successful series of original self-made music videos. The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel currently has more than a billion total video views and over 5 million subscribers.
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well she may still be found alive