Mark Bacon has been searching for his missing nephew, Scott Michael
Herr, who was last seen near Mountain Center on July 20. Bacon lives in
Dunsmuir, near Mt. Shasta, and says that Herr lives with a cousin in
Seattle. He was visiting his mother who lives in La Quinta and was doing
some side work to get money to pay for the return trip.
Jeremy McGrath, owner of a local tree company, confirmed that Herr was
working for him that day, but not doing tree work. He was helping build
a tree house for McGrath’s children on his property, just east of
Mountain Center. McGrath said that there was nothing out of the ordinary
that day, that he saw Herr return from lunch, and thought he had
remained in his car. When he went over to check, 15 or 20 minutes later,
Herr was gone and had left his effects in the car. Herr’s uncle
confirmed that those effects included his cell phone.
Bacon has been posting updates on the search for Herr on Facebook. He
told the Crier that he and a few friends came to Idyllwild and searched
themselves with drones. Riverside Sheriff’s Office confirmed that their
search for Herr continues. “The investigation is ongoing, and they
continue to pursue all leads in the case.”
Bacon’s Facebook posts include a report that hikers saw a man answering
Herr’s description on the Ernie Maxwell trail on Monday, August 26. The
hikers said they saw a barefoot man with a beard wearing a red tee-shirt
and pajama bottoms.
Bacon said that Herr was very close to his mother, “they talked every
day, he left her jokey voice mails.” He said Herr “had lots of friends
he was always in contact with, no one has heard from him, he’s just
fallen off the map.”
Bacon has been in contact with the families of other local missing
persons, including those of Lupe Fajardo, and Dia Abrams and Melissa
Lane, who were both last seen in June of 2020. He hopes to get the FBI
involved to bring greater resources to the searches. The FBI only gets
involved in these kinds of cases at the request of local agencies
Scott Michael Herr is 50 years old, 6’ tall and 210 lbs. He is bald and
has brown eyes. He was last seen wearing shorts, a red tee-shirt, and
sunglasses. He has a “superman” tattoo on his chest. Anyone with
information should contact RSO Hemet station at (951) 791-3400.
