An old high school friend of mine, who now lives in the beautiful state of Tennessee, posted a link on her Facebook page several weeks ago. As I went to the page and continued to read of the situation, my heart broke for her and this family. Several weeks have passed since I originally read about Derek Lueking on the "Find Derek Lueking" Facebook page and now I return daily for updates.
To ensure I didn't get any information incorrect, I have copied and pasted a post from the "Find Derek Lueking" Facebook page.
Derek went missing Wednesday March 14th from his home in Louisville Tennessee. Over the next two days he purchased over $1000 in camping supplies from Bass Pro Shop, Knifeworks and Coleman’s. We believe he stayed at the Motel 6 on the 14th, the Smokemont Campground in the Park on the 15th and the Microtel Hotel in Cherokee on the 16th. His car was found March 17th at 8:30am at Newfound Gap in the Smoky Mountains after family saw him leave the Microtel Hotel alone in Cherokee, North Carolina through video footage at 4:00am. A note stating only “Don’t Look For Me” was found in his car along with wallet and car key.
The Great Smoky Mountain Park Service have never quit searching for Derek as they repelled down some high cliffs March 29th and did not find anything. The Rangers, Park employee’s, volunteer’s and Trail runners continue to look for him. Rangers are also still looking into the investigation aspect of this case following up purchases he made and trying to find out if there are any other significant clues in the recent past. We are extremely grateful for their continued efforts.
Derek was a fan of the survivalist Bear Gryll’s TV show and theoretically he did have the necessary supplies to live in the woods for a long period of time. We believe he had a least a backpack, a waterproof watch, a Bear Grylls survival tool pack (including a multi tool, small flashlight, firestarter rod), a Gerber pack axe, Several pages of a military survival manual, a knife sharpener, a compass/thermometer, 100’ of black parachute cord, a head lamp, pocket knife, IPod Touch, a book about the Smoky’s and the trails, and some granola bars. He also purchased additional supplies from Wal-Mart for cash (5 empty bags were found in the car with opened packaging listing Wal-Mart), but we have not been able to confirm what he purchased. Appalachian trail hikers who have talked to the family have said that Derek could survive for a long time with the supplies he had.
Official searchers have hiked hundreds of miles of trails the weeks after his disappearance which included using multiple dog sent trackers, three different days using helicopters, and one night helicopter. Unfortunately no significant clues were found leading to Derek, but Rangers still believe he is in the park somewhere possibly off trail.
The Park Service initially asked our family not to search directly for Derek to avoid contaminating clues and wanted trained park service searcher on the trails, so we handed out flier with Derek’s picture to everyone who hit the trails. As the Park Service’s direct search wound down their foot search we started our own. Our family, and friends along with other concerned people gathered the 24th and 25th of March to search for Derek. A total of over 60 people show up to hike and hand out flyers. Hikers that showed up hiked a total of about 175 miles of trail and people handed out about 3000 flyers to people in the park and the surrounding areas.
There is still the possibility that Derek is not in the Great Smoky National Park, so the family would like to make sure that information is available for people to look for him elsewhere.
The family has not given up home on finding Derek and is doing anything in their power to work with and help the rangers who are investigating as well as trying to make sure the information is out in the world as well. There is a facebook page Find Derek Lueking that the family is keeping up to inform anyone interested in the case. Please help spread word to anyone hiking in the Smoky Mountain area to keep an eye out for Derek Lueking.
I've never met Derek nor his family however, I do know he a child of Christ.
My prayer is his family and close friends find closure.
Here is a link to the Facebook page I have referred to. Please get the word out. http://www.facebook.com/FindDerekLueking
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