The daughter of missing hiker Charles Hosch, a Gainesville native and Texas attorney and adjunct law professor, said Monday K-9s have alerted on a promising area in the mountains of Union County.
Julia Hosch tells WJRB 95.1 Radio in Young Harris that for the second straight day Dr. Tracy Sargent and her K-9 partner Taz picked up an “indication” in an area about a half mile from where a similar alert was detected two weeks ago.
“We’re trying hard to both be really optimistic about the outcome of the search and also be careful because it’s been a really long search and we’ve been here before…but this is a good thing,” Hosch said Monday.
She was, however, reluctant to disclose the exact area on Blood Mountain but she says “it’s in a pretty likely place or put another way, it’s not on an unmarked trail far away from his suspected path.”
Meanwhile, the enemies continue to be the wind, the leaves and the terrain.
“(Two weeks ago) the winds changed and we didn’t have enough detail on where the dogs were getting the scent from,” Hosch told the station. “We couldn’t get closer to the source.
“I will be ready to celebrate more when we actually pinpoint the location but it’s still good. We’re not throwing the welcome party yet.”
The 67-year-old Hosch was last heard from Nov. 11 when he left Gainesville following a visit with friends and relatives to drive back to Texas. But first, he told them, he planned to hike some trails in Union County that became familiar with while growing up here.