Photo courtesy Linda Bradish
The intensive search for David Elliot Bradish, 80, ended Thursday, Nov. 29. He has been missing since about 3:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, and has not been found. Thursday’s rain and snow made this kind of search more and more difficult.
Bradish is a white male, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a black jacket, black denim pants, a black baseball cap and glasses when he was last seen. He was last at a house in the 54500 block of North Circle Drive in Idyllwild.
“Idyllwild is a hard area to search,” said Lt. Zach Hall of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. “The tree canopies make aerial searches hard. There are many unoccupied homes and structures.”
Idyllwild and the Hill were the scene of an intensive search effort that grew each day through Nov. 28, when nearly 100 searchers, not including volunteers, were involved in the effort to find him.
The Sheriff’s Department enlisted aid from multiple search and rescue units from throughout Southern California. The response was exceptional. Not only did Los Angeles County send search and rescue units, but jurisdictions such as for Montrose responded. Among the other counties and agencies offering help were San Diego County, San Bernardino County and the Sierra Madre Forest unit from the Angeles National Forest. Many were up before sunrise to get to the Hill and assist in the search.
RCSD Sgt. Kenneth Reichle said this search is the largest contingent of law enforcement on the Hill in his career.
Even the Huntington Beach police were contacted to help look for Bradish. That is where he previously lived before moving to Idyllwild. They went to his previous residence, local hospitals and other locations without finding him either.
Wednesday’s efforts included a major door-to-door search throughout town. But the possibility of him reaching Mountain Center was included in the search area.
Monday night, searchers used a canine corps to try to locate a trail to follow. Bradish was thought to have walked away with a reddish-colored dog.
A helicopter began circling Idyllwild late Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, neither searchers in the air nor canines on the ground were able to locate Bradish.
Tuesday morning, the sheriff’s search unit regrouped at its Command Center at the Idyllwild Fire Station to develop new search plans for Tuesday.
By Monday evening, the Sheriff’s Department issued a press release. This was used to activate a Silver Alert broadcast throughout the region.
It reported, “Bradish suffers from stage-two Alzheimer’s. Bradish does not drive and, according to family members, his disappearance is out of character. Bradish does not have a mobile phone.”
Anyone with any information into the whereabouts of Bradish is encouraged to contact the Hemet Sheriff’s Station at 951-791-3400 or after hours at 951-776-1099.
Please share this!!
The Dog ginger was found alive and well!! But Dave is still missing!
We need your help! We need volunteers to help search the area
We got the go ahead to ask for help from the community to search for Dave in the area Ginger was found.
Upper Pine Crest, Chipmunk Drive, Indian Rock
The Riverside Sheriff’s will be up here again when the weather breaks but they will be using search dogs not bloodhounds, so it’s ok for people to get in there and search now before they bring the dogs up.
The area is Upper Pine Crest, Chipmunk Drive, Indian Rock, all along both creeks going down toward 4 corners.
Please work in teams or not at all. Please only work in terrain you can manage physically. We don’t want anyone else lost or hurt please!
We are looking at cabins for signs of forced entry, under decks, tarps, wood piles, leaf piles, etc.
If you find ANYTHING, do not touch it!! Call Hemet Sheriff’s Station immediately! 9517913400.
ANYTHING such little black poop bags, clothing, leash!
We need help to get this to the public so people come to help searching!
#findDaveBradish #findDavidBradish
This needs to get to as many people in the area as possible!!
Dear Idyllwild Community, sorry for the late hour. Logistics are proving to be time consuming. As you know Dave’s dog Ginger was found in Fern Valley yesterday. RSO had a search dog team and deputies there searching the area during the night. This morning when we got the all clear from them we were able to get resident volunteers out there who went over some of that area again. If you were part of that effort today (Thursday) please send a personal messages to Jenni Faith Bradish stating the area you searched today. In a meeting with Detective Reichle this afternoon, we were asked to get as many volunteers out again tomorrow (Friday) as we can to go over more of that area. If you can go out with us tomorrow please meet at Town Hall at 10:30 am. We will be assigning teams of two to specific areas and will have detailed instructions for you. If you don’t have a partner it’s ok, we will pair you with someone. Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear. Bring a flash light if you are a searcher capable of getting into crawl spaces etc. If you are even able to just walk the edges of streets checking drop offs we need you too. Volunteers will need to check in at Town Hall for area assignment and to come back to check out afterward. Gotta be safe out there and make sure everyone gets back safely. Water and trail bars will be there to take with you. Please call a friend not on Facebook and bring a partner if you can. Thank you all so much for everything you’ve all done.
#findDaveBradish #findDavidBradish