Update, 11 a.m. Monday: Dozens on Search and Rescue volunteers on foot, horseback, and riding quads and motorcycles are searching for a 74-year-old retired nuclear engineer from Redwood City who went missing while on a weekend retreat with friends in the Aptos hills, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office reported.
George Sliter ate breakfast with friends at the Monte Toyon Retreat Center Sunday morning, then separated from his companions before the morning church service and disappeared, according to deputy April Skalland.
"They went one way, he went the other way," Skalland said.
The friends checked Sliter's room when he didn't show up for church. His belongings and his car were still on-site, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Deputies began looking for Sliter around noon Sunday. A resident in the Vienna Woods area, which is on the other side of The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park from the retreat center, reported that a man who looked like Sliter asked for directions back to the center around 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
That's the last anyone has seen of him, Skalland said.
Monte Toyon Retreat Center is at the end of Cathedral Drive, adjacent to Nisene Marks, 10,000 acres of rugged, dense Redwood forests.
Skalland said Sliter is not carrying a cell phone, and has no camping or other outdoor experience. He has no serious medical issues, but may be experiencing depression and/or lapses in short term memory.
He doesn't have any friends in the area, the Sheriff's Office noted.
Sunday's search ended around 10 p.m. Volunteers picked up again at 7 a.m. Monday.
About 100 Search and Rescue volunteers are looking for Sliter. Volunteers are on foot and on horseback, as well as riding quads and dirt bikes. Six police dogs and a helicopter also are involved in the search, Skalland said.
"We're lucky. We have really nice weather right now," Skalland said.
Sliter is married and works as a math tutor in Redwood City schools, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Original story, 9:30 a.m. Monday:
A 74-year-old Redwood City man on a retreat at the Monte Toyon Retreat Center in Aptos went missing Sunday morning and an active search is underway to find him, the Sheriff's Office reported.
Few details have been released.
Volunteers on the Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Team are looking for the man.
The retreat center serves nonprofit groups and is part of a 10-center company with locations throughout California. Monte Toyon is at 220 Cloister Ln., the top of Cathedral Drive above Aptos Village and adjacent to The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, 10,000 acres of rugged semi-wilderness.
This story will be updated.
