Items found in search for man missing in SNP

MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: October 9, 2008

Searchers have found a hat, cigarettes and a tent stake while looking for a 50-year-old man who has been missing more than a week. But as of Wednesday afternoon, Earl Funk remains missing, said Karen Beck-Herzog with the Shenandoah National Park Service.

“At this point, we’re still looking for Mr. Funk,“ she said.

About 40 people, including friends and family of Funk, were searching the secluded and rugged Cedar Mountain area where the Staunton man disappeared about 1 p.m. Sept. 29, according to Beck-Herzog.

Funk has brown hair and green eyes, stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 145 pounds. He was last seen wearing dark pants and a light-colored shirt.

Funk and a friend went out Sept. 29 looking for ginseng root. He was driving an ATV, and dropped off the friend before going onward with his search.

The friend later found the ATV but not Funk.

The hat, cigarettes and tent stake found Tuesday were within a mile of where the ATV was left, Beck-Herzog said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the national park at 1-800-732-0911.