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Searchers in the New Mexico mountains have found the body of a former White House chef who had been missing for more than a week after a hiking trip.
The body of 61-year-old Walter Scheib, who was White House chef for 11 years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, was found Sunday night near a hiking trail in the Taos area, according to the New Mexico State Police.
He had recently moved from from Florida to Taos.
“The body was discovered off the immediate trail,” police said in a statement.
Scheib, who had recently moved to Taos from Florida, worked with Atlanta’s City of Refuge, which provides services to homeless and abused residents, for more than three years, and assumed the role of chief culinary officer in January as a contract employee, according to Terry Tucker, chief strategy officer for the shelter.
Tucker told Channel 2 Action News that Scheib taught the culinary students at the shelter, headlined events and collaborated to open a fine dining Bistro on City of Refuge’s campus.
“We are overwhelmed with grief of the news, ” Tucker said last week after hearing of Scheib’s disappearance. “He was also a dear friend.”
Scheib reportedly went on a hike June 13 in the mountains near the Taos Ski Valley. His girlfriend reported him missing the next day.
Taos police found his vehicle Tuesday parked at the Yerba Canyon trailhead. The 4-mile trail follows a canyon bottom before climbing 3,700 feet in elevation, according to the U.S. Forest Service website.
The Air Force, Civil Air Patrol, National Guard, State Police and volunteers took part in the search for Scheib, who graduated from New York’s Culinary Institute of America in 1979 and worked at hotels in Florida and West Virginia before becoming White House executive chef in April 1994 when First Lady Hillary Clinton hired him.
Scheib left the White House in 2005, becoming a food consultant and speaker. He appeared on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” program in 2006.
— The Associated Press and staff writer Chris Seward contributed to this article.
