Search for missing biker enters day 4

By Andrew Scott Pocono Record Writer 6/17/17

Kevin Woolf of Jackson Township was reported missing Tuesday

Saturday will mark the fourth day of the search for missing off-road biker Kevin Woolf of Jackson Township.

Woolf, 32, was reported missing Tuesday. He was last known to be operating his 1997 Suzuki 350 on off-road trails from his family’s residence on Boulder Drive in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, back to his residence in the 2500 block of Mountain Road in Jackson Township, state police said.

Woolf has often ridden the trails between these two destination points, which a map shows to be about 22 miles apart, police said.

“Off-roading’s his passion,” girlfriend Cassandra Lynne Youngling said Friday night about Woolf, a mechanic and Bangor High School graduate.

Youngling last saw Woolf when leaving for work Monday morning and spoke to him at about 10 that night. He told her he was going out to ride the trails.

Youngling last spoke with him by phone at about 5 a.m. Tuesday.

“He told me he had tipped the bike a couple of times and fallen,” she said. “The bike had flooded and he’d been letting it sit for awhile. He was going to start it up again and head home soon. I told him to just hurry home. I said I’d come looking for him if he wasn’t back in an hour. He said he couldn’t wait to get back and hold me. The last thing he said was ‘I love you.’”

When well more than an hour had passed and Woolf still hadn’t returned home, Youngling went looking for him.

“I drove back roads, thinking maybe he’d broken down or run out of gas,” she said. “I figured maybe he’d forgotten his tools, which he always keeps on the bike. I figured he was somewhere walking and that I’d run into him. When some time passed and he still didn’t turn up, I called his mom and she gave me a general area of where he might be. I kept looking, driving and walking on trails and calling his name.”

Tuesday became Wednesday.

“No one had seen or heard anything from him,” Youngling said, struggling with tears. “It finally got to the point where I realized I had to call and report him missing. So, I did.”

State police at the Belfast barracks, which covers the portion of Northampton County bordering Monroe County, informed authorities here that Woolf was missing and could be in this area.

The search began Wednesday in the area of Route 191 and Poplar Valley Road in lower Stroud Township. That’s the general area where Woolf had indicated he was during his last phone conversation with Youngling on Tuesday morning.

Conducting the search is Northeast Search & Rescue, the National Park Service (in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area) and Stroud Township and Delaware Water Gap fire companies, with ambulance personnel on standby. Assisting are search-and-rescue teams and fire companies from other areas.

On Thursday, searchers found Woolf’s bike and helmet near the top of a cliff next to the Appalachian Trail in Delaware Water Gap, not far from a fire tower, said Bruce Barton, head of Northeast Search & Rescue.

“The bike doesn’t have any damage indicating there was a crash,” Barton said. “The only other scenario we can think of is that the bike broke down. Kevin left it and went on foot to maybe get to the nearest phone or back to his dad’s house to get tools and got lost.”

As of Friday, “we’re searching within a square-mile area around where the bike was found,” Barton said.

Walmart bought a drone for the search teams, Barton said. The drone was used Thursday, but had limited capabilities in Friday’s overcast weather conditions.

“It’s rough woodland terrain we’re searching,” he said. “We’re trying to remain hopeful that Kevin will turn up safe, but it looks increasingly more bleak the longer the search continues. We’re praying this ends well.”

Searchers planned to regroup between 8 and 9 a.m. Saturday at the Delaware Water Gap firehouse to continue for another day.

“(The searchers) are working so hard,” Youngling said. “I’m very thankful for them.”

Youngling said Woolf is adept at outdoor survival, keeps a calm, clear head in emergency situations and isn’t the type to just give up if he’s gotten hurt.

“He’s strong,” she said. “He’s helped me through so much. He’s my best friend. I’m not going to stop looking for him. I believe he’s still alive and trying to get back to the people who love him. He has to be.”

The search is being coordinated from the Delaware Water Gap firehouse, Route 611, N. Main St., Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327. The number there is 570-476-0092 for anyone who would like to find out if volunteer help is needed.

Photo and Story from the Pocono Record