After official search ends for man, family calls for volunteers

HILLSBORO, Ore. – A Washington County family sent out a call for volunteers Thursday night to help them find their missing loved one.
 
The official search for 48-year-old Kenneth Thies Jr. ended Thursday night. Thies disappeared Sunday in the foothills of the Coast Range near Cherry Grove about four miles west of Gaston.

Deputies and explorer scouts searched on foot Wednesday and spent Thursday searching the Tualatin River above and below Lee Falls with no success.

With the end of the official search, family members of Thies will organize a volunteer search party beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. They ask anyone interested in joining the search to call 503-443-5938.
 
Thies took a Sunday evening walk not far from his Washington County home. He had his three dogs with him. Two came home that night; however, the third didn’t return until the next night and it was covered in mud. Thies didn’t return.

Thies was last seen near a gate on Lee Falls Road.

“It’s been days. It’s been hard,” said Lori Thies, Kenneth’s daughter. “Tuesday was the hardest, because I was hoping to find something.”

Even though the road makes a large loop through the foothills of the Coast Range, Thies’ family said they feel he wouldn’t have gone that far.

His family said they may have found signs he walked near Lee Falls.

“There was tracks of him going through there today,” said Edwin Elsey, Lori’s fiancé. “We found that the search and rescue – I’m not sure that they went up that road or if it was just missed. It was easy to miss.”

“There’s a possibility, you know, he’s not alive, but there’s still a possibility he could be and that’s what I’m hoping for,” said Lori.