{"id":1311922,"date":"2019-06-28T13:02:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=982573"},"modified":"2019-06-28T13:02:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T19:02:08","slug":"searchers-find-vail-valley-deputy-missing-truck-crews-are-being-recalled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/searchers-find-vail-valley-deputy-missing-truck-crews-are-being-recalled\/","title":{"rendered":"Searchers find Vail Valley deputy missing truck, crews are being recalled"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Ross WIlmore and the Northwest Colorado Incident Management Team is helping organize and coordinate the search.<\/strong>
Randy Wyrick \/ Vail Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

GYPSUM \u2014 Almost four days after he went missing, searchers found a missing Gypsum man\u2019s truck Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Tayler Esslinger, 26, an Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy and volunteer fire fighter in Gypsum, was last heard from around 4 a.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

More than 75 volunteers joined the search Friday morning, locating Esslinger\u2019s black Dodge Ram pickup around 10:45 a.m. Friday, confirmed Jessie Porter, public information officer with the Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Office. A few minutes after the truck was located, Gypsum Fire Chief Justin Kirkland summoned his crew to a private room in the firehouse.<\/p>\n

All search teams have been recalled from their field efforts after Esslinger\u2019s truck was found, the Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

When local law enforcement asked for help in their search for Esslinger, volunteers came by the dozen, some from as far away as Castle Rock. They went out into the backcountry in four-wheel drive vehicles, ATVs, dirt bikes, on horseback and on foot. Fifteen-year-old Logan Trujillo rode his KTM 250 dirt bike. One of his Eagle Valley High School teachers fussed over him a little, making sure he was carrying plenty of water.<\/p>\n

HAATS helicopters took to the air, as did spotter planes geared up with all kinds of search equipment. The Salvation Army\u2019s mobile kitchen rolled in to make sure the searchers had the fuel they needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Office cannot thank our community enough for the enormous outpouring of support during this difficult time. Numerous volunteers joined us in searching for Tayler by donating their personal time and vehicles to assist in the days following Tayler\u2019s disappearance,\u201d she Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

Local born and raised<\/h3>\n

Esslinger was born and raised in Eagle County and graduated Eagle Valley High School, just a few yards down the hill from the Gypsum firehouse where the searchers were gathered and briefed Friday morning. Many know Esslinger. Some don\u2019t. They just know he\u2019s out there, possibly hurt, possibly worse.<\/p>\n

Esslinger, 26, is an Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s deputy and volunteer firefighter. He was last seen early Tuesday morning driving a 2011 black Dodge pickup with firefighter license plates with the number 719YBC.<\/p>\n

Phone pinged 4 a.m. Tuesday<\/h3>\n

For this search, Doug Cupp was the operations section chief. The rest of the time he\u2019s fire chief for the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be able to do this without all these volunteers,\u201d Cupp said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see the community rise to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Searchers were assigned to areas they know. Hunters and outfitters offered information and wisdom about the area where Esslinger was last known to be.<\/p>\n

Esslinger\u2019s phone pinged at 4 a.m. Tuesday in a remote area of western Eagle County, so that\u2019s where the search started. It\u2019ll be systematic and organized, said Ross Wilmore with the Northwest Colorado Incident Management Team.<\/p>\n

The search started early Tuesday with family and friends. Almost immediately volunteers began pitching in prior to Friday\u2019s overwhelming response.<\/p>\n

Search and research<\/h3>\n

During their Friday morning briefing, Cupp urged safety first for the searchers, and also reminded them to get out of their vehicles and put their boots on the ground.<\/p>\n

It was dark when Esslinger disappeared, so it\u2019s possible he simply ran off the road and is stuck somewhere not easily seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn areas where you cannot see over the edge, get out and look,\u201d Cupp told the searchers. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for just a truck at a trailhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ross WIlmore and the Northwest Colorado Incident Management Team is helping organize and coordinate the search.Randy Wyrick \/ Vail Daily GYPSUM \u2014 Almost four days after he went missing, searchers found a missing Gypsum man\u2019s truck Friday morning. Tayler Esslinger, 26, an Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy and volunteer fire fighter in Gypsum, was last heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 19:10:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}