Custer County man still missing after 1 week

CUSTER COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - Days of aerial and ground searches have yielded no sign of a missing Custer County man.

The Custer County Sheriff’s Office says it was alerted on April 14 that Max Butcher had vanished. The sheriff’s office pinged his phone for his last known location and say that it showed a location near the Silver West Airport south of Westcliffe -- but that the ping wasn’t current. Deputies searched the area that night, and his friends searched the following day, without luck.

To date, 6 p.m. on April 14 is the last time Butcher used his phone.

Over the weekend, two planes flew over a 220-mile area looking for Butcher.

“No joy with air search for Max. We had two aircraft and five sets of eyes spending 1.1 hours each searching over 220 miles within the target area (Highway 69 on the north, middle of Junkins Park to the east, 10 miles to south of the target address to the Silver West airport to the west). ... Absolutely, no sign of a pickup on, off or by a road or home,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post Sunday.

There has been no further update from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office.

Butcher’s vehicle is described as a 2002 tan Ford F-150 with a camper shell and license plate HEQ713. If you saw this vehicle or have any information on Butcher’s whereabouts, the sheriff’s office asks that you call 911 right away.

Copyright 2023 KKTV. All rights reserved.