Volunteers are planning a search to find a Staunton man who went missing while hiking in mid-November.
Valley Hikers had planned to search for Bobby Fitzgerald, 60, last weekend. But coordinator Alan White told The News-Leader that the search was postponed because of snow.
The search will be rescheduled. Authorities had eneded their own efforts after looking for him for five days.
Police say Fitzgerald dropped his cell phone while hiking on the Confederate Breastworks Trail and other trails with a friend on Nov. 11. Authorities believe he returned the next day to find the phone.
Fitzgerald hasn't been seen since then. His car was found near the trail containing a trail pack with water bottles, Power Bars, a flashlight and rain poncho.
A cadaver dog gave multiple alerts in an area between the Shenandoah Mountain Trail and Ramseys Draft Trail on Nov. 18, the News Leader reports. Authorities have conducted several searches but haven't found any trace of Fitzgerald.
Jimmy Atkins, a member of a running group with Fitzgerald,
that he believes his friend could still be alive. "While nobody is invincible, he just seems like the type of person who can take care of themselves -- extremely fit, probably the fittest 60-year-old any of us have ever seen," he said.
