Anthony Mancuso (Subject), 17 years old, was discovered missing late in the evening on November 15th, 2021 after not showing up for basketball practice. His vehicle was discovered by his parents at the Silver Star / Ed’s Trail Headb#180 at approximately 2100 hrs on November 15th, 2021. Both the Silver Star Trail and Ed’s Trail originate at the termination of Forest Road 4109 in Skamania County, Southwest Washington, which was the location of his vehicle. Charon K9 Solutions LLC (CK9S) was contacted directly by Anothony’s mother, Laura Mancuso, at 2119 hrs via email and a telephone call to the Charon K9 administration line. Anthony Mancuso had been the subject of another search and rescue effort in September of the previous year. Charon K9 Handlers, Jensen Huffman and David Price were deployed on that search as well. Their efforts were critical in the rescue of Anthony Mancouso the previous year. Upon receiving the message, Jensen Huffman (Charon K9 owner/handler), was contacted by Charon K9 Admin at 2123 hrs. Mr. Huffman contacted David Price (Charon K9 owner/handler) at 2131 hrs. Jensen Huffman and David Price, were deployed and driving with their primary trailing K9’s, Jax and Blue respectively, to the location of the vehicle by 2141 hrs. Charon K9 handlers were on scene at 0007 hrs and were the second responders to arrive, 20 minutes behind Collin McKean, a friend and coworker of the family.

It was determined immediately that Anthony was in grave danger. The temperature was 32 degrees and falling, and snow was beginning to accumulate, with 20 to 30 knot winds buffeting the very exposed Silver Star / Ed’s trail system that climbs 1300 feet up to the Silver Star Mountain Summit which has an elevation of 4364 feet. It was believed that Anthony was wearing a blue cotton hooded sweatshirt, black basketball shorts and black Adidas tennis shoes. In his car, his school backpack, his wallet, his cellular phone, his car keys, surgical masks and his jeans that he was known to be wearing at school that day were discovered.

Upon arrival, Mr. Price and Mr. Huffman immediately began compiling information from the subject’s father and mother to create a “target packet.” This information is critical to establish knowledge about search efforts already employed, heath and other personal information about the missing subject such as medical conditions, outdoor skills, and anything else that might provide helpful insight.. The interview confirmed the following:

The 3 Man team (identified by the “designation” DOG TEAM 1), consisting of both handlers (and their K9 partners), and a civilian volunteer (Collin McKean) were dispatched with the K9s as support personnel. Basecamp was made up of a single SAR volunteer from Skamania SAR. Mr. Huffman and Mr. Price and their K9’s (Jax and Blue respectively) departed at 0030 hrs, November 16th, 2021. Both dogs were allowed into the car and Anthony’s jeans found on the floorboard of the rear seat were used as the primary scent article. While the dogs were allowed a 360 degree spiral around the car, both selected the “Ed’s Trail #180 / Silver Star Trail” head and began to trial Mr. Mancuso. Weather at this point was swirling 30-40 knot winds, 28 degree temperatures and snowing with 15-30 feet of visibility. The dogs showed a tremendous amount of interest around and near a viewpoint on Ed’s trail (as shown in the dark yellow track in the screen shot here. The coordinates of this point are approximately (558801 5068505, ele 3466 ft). After a rigorous search of this area, the K9’s picked a path which continued up the West side of the ridge towards the summit of Silverstar Mountain. The dogs continued south until a “Highchew” Candy was identified at 0321 hrs (558804 5067351, ele 3986 ft), the location was radioed in and the candy was flagged. The dogs continued up to the base of the summit cathedral and just beyond, showing significant interest and changes of behavior in a sheltered glade of trees, due west of the summit (558899 5066727, ele 4075 ft.). At 0435, it seemed the
dogs had lost odor and a decision was made to return to base and rest the dogs and deploy again after sun up.

At 0723 the a two man team (identified by the designation DOG TEAM 1), consisting of Mr. Huffman and Mr. Price left basecamp with Collin McKean managing basecamp as all other searchers who had come out the night before had left to go home. The other searchers’ plan was to be back at basecamp at 0900 and begin operations. Mr. Huffman and Mr. Price decided to take advantage of the abandoned camp and start the dogs with as little distraction as possible. Overnight the wind had died down to less than 10 knots, due North. Dog teams were walking into the wind which is optimal. Both dogs showed a consistent odor recognition with significantly less confusion than the night before, tracking up the Silver Star Trail and immediately selecting the Ed’s trail turn off (near the significant changes of behavior identified the night before). The dog’s tracked consistently for just over two miles until the intersection of Ed’s Trail and Silver Star Trail on the south side of the summit. This intersection (558967 5066427, ele 4181) consists of the convergence of 5 unique trails. The dogs, while tired, selected the trail that led to the Stairway Trail #175 and “Little Baldy” which is due East towards Mt. Adams. As this loop is just under 20 miles, the dogs were
significantly tired and Mr. Huffman and Mr. Price were not equipped for a potential multi day track, it was decided to turn back to base and report the findings. Mr. Price and Mr. Huffman returned to camp at 1026 hrs.

Anthony Mancuso walked out of the Silver Star wilderness and back into the parking lot, unassisted at 1245, 11/16/2021. It was determined based on an interview with Mr. Mancuso that he had in fact climbed from the trailhead up the Silver Star Trail. It is presumed that he continued down Ed’s Trail #180 to the intersection and out to the Stairway Trail #175 as the dogs had indicated. Through the night he continued to move and sporadically “hunker down” and then walk again. The movement generated enough heat to survive the night. The Stairway trail is a 23 mile loop which he was able to complete in full, in one report he circumvented the entire route and then back to the trailhead. Another report may indicate that Mr. Mancuso hunkered down and spent the night past the intersection.

Regardless, morning revealed that Anthony ventured out after trailbreaking overland to find a day hiker who guided Anthony back to the car. Mr. Huffman and Mr. Price and their dogs would have been “chasing him” but because of his constant movement, it may have been impossible to catch him provided they had followed him around the loop.

Charon K9 Solutions LLC is both proud of our handlers and their K9 partners for their significant effort towards the successful rescue of Anthony Mancuso and honored to be included in the search efforts. We would like to thank the family for their trust in our handlers and our K9s. We would also like to thank the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office for supporting our efforts. Lastly we would like to extend thanks to CCSOSAR, Skamania SAR, Volcano SAR and the
civilian volunteer Collin McKean. We couldn’t be happier for the family and friends of Anthony and we sincerely hope he makes a full recovery from this ordeal.

Established in 2019, Charon K9 Solutions LLC has become known for providing contraband detection, explosive ordnance detection, tracking and private security dogs/handler teams to cargo shipping and fulfillment centers, school systems, private businesses, individuals, special care homes and public institutions.

Questions and comments can be directed to:

Jensen Huffman
Co-founder Charon K9 Solutions LLC
503.849.8781
Charon K9 Solutions LLC
Jensen@charonk9.com
Charonk9.com

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