Q: I’ve seen a few reports about a man who went for a walk around the Preserve in North Georgia. For several days they reported him missing. They had people searching for him, but they never said what became of him. Can you provide an update?
—Jane Garner, Norcross
A: Ben Thebaut, who disappeared while on a hike near his home in Pickens County in October, is still missing.
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, trained search and rescue personnel and K-9 teams conducted both full-scale and smaller searches for Thebaut, who lived in the Preserve at Sharp Mountain, a community near Jasper.
Thebaut, who was 79 at the time of his disappearance, is a retired surgeon. Thebaut hiked often, the AJC reported in October.
“We’ve just exhausted all possible leads and searched a very broad wooded area, but because of the terrain and the area where it was, if he had gone to harm himself, there is always the possibility that he did it in a way that’s just going to be very difficult to locate,” Capt. Kris Stancil of the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office told Q&A on the News.
The search area covered a “several-mile radius,” he said.
Detectives have placed alerts on Thebaut’s name, Social Security number and credit card information, should they be used.
“There’s not been any sign, whatsoever, that’s popped up of him coming back on the radar,” he said.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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