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At approximately 5:50 p.m. today, National Park Service (NPS) rangers lead a multi agency search and found the body of a missing Hobart man. His name is being withheld until family notifications have been made. On routine patrol closing parking lots at Dunes National Lakeshore, a National Park Service ranger discovered a car in the Inland Marsh parking lot just before dark on Wednesday September 16, 2010. Thinking the person had just gone for a short hike two NPS rangers searched the area around the parking lot until approximately 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning when the heavy rain stopped their search. The rangers determined the car belonged to a 68 year old male Hobart resident. This morning the Hobart Police department, including three K-9 units, offered assistance to locate the man who lives alone and was known to enjoy walking at Inland Marsh. By 11:00 a.m. today other local agencies were asked to provide assistance and they all responded to the call for help. Ogden Dunes Police and Volunteer Fire Department Portage Police Department, Burns Harbor Fire Department, Porter Fire and Rescue and Lake County Sherriff all joined the NPS and Hobart in the search. Lake County Sherriff’s Department provided a helicopter to search by air. By 4:00 p.m. over 100 people from nine local agencies led by the NPS were scouring approximately 200 acres in and around the national lakeshore’s Inland Marsh unit. Tragically about 5:30 p.m. the multi agency search came to an end when the body of the man was discovered by Hobart police officers in the woods, off of the trail, approximately 300 feet from his parked car. Porter County coroner will conduct an investigation as to the cause of death. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is one of 393 units of the National Park System ranging form Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore includes 15 miles of the southern shoreline of Lake Michigan and 15,000 acres of beach, woods, marshes, and prairie inn the northwest corner of Indiana. More than 2 million visitors come to this national park each year. More information can be found at www.nps.gov/INDU |
Last updated: April 10, 2015