Search continues for law professor missing in North Georgia mountains

Charles Hosch, a Dallas attorney and law professor at Southern Methodist University, has been missing since Nov. 11 after going for a hike on the Byron Herbert Reece Trail near Blood Mountain in Union County, according to the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

It’s a trail that loved ones said he has hiked since childhood, because he is from Gainesville.

“Each day and each hour really matter,” his daughter, Julia Hosch-Singh, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We are really heartbroken with worry and at the same time, what is keeping us going is the overwhelming support.”

The search includes 95 search and rescue professionals, multiple K-9 units and a drone team. Helicopter operations ceased Saturday after scanning all suspected areas, according to updates provided by Hosch’s law firm partner online.

The Union County Sheriff’s Department also requested the help of hunters in the area, whose cameras may have captured information that can help determine Hosch’s location, in a Facebook post.

Hosch’s last sighting was at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday as he descended Blood Mountain.

“There was somebody at the top of the trail that had a ham radio that talked to Dad and remembers that conversation,” Hosch-Singh said. She said the sheriff’s office said the account was credible enough to rely on as a last known sighting.

Friday, a canine indicated a location he had likely been on the trail, she said.

He was last seen wearing khaki pants, a camel-colored sweater and a dark green jacket, according to the sheriff’s department. He is described as 67 years old, 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds.

Many of Hosch’s friends and family have traveled to Georgia to look for him.

Kate Morris, Hosch’s law partner at Hosch & Morris, said she first arrived at the trail early Wednesday morning. She spent Sunday scouring the mountain.

“I climbed down some pretty steep boulders and then went bush whacking through the cliffs, looking, and saw absolutely nothing,” she said. “It’s just absolutely nothing. It’s like he’s just vanished. It’s awful.”