A Guelph family is planning an emotional Mother’s Day trip to search for clues of their missing loved one.
Paul Miller, 51, vanished in California last summer when he went out for one last hike in Joshua Tree National Park. He and his wife were visiting the state in celebration of their anniversary.
“It was really the first holiday that Paul and Stephanie had had just the two of them, and so for it to end that way, it’s just really hard to imagine what they are going through,” says Dawne Robinson, Miller’s sister.
This weekend, Robinson and some of Miller’s friends are returning to where he was last seen, retracing his steps in hopes of finding evidence and closure.
“A lot of people can certainly sympathize with what it's like to have that unresolved grief kind of hanging over you constantly,” Robinson says.
From the ground and sky, more than 90 people set out to search for Miller as soon as he went missing on July 13. Six days later, the search was called off.
This time, the family will once again have the help of local police when they visit.
“We have arranged to have law enforcement, protection staff, with the family as well as members of the Joshua Tree National Park search and rescue,” explains George Land with the National Park Service.
The group will be meeting at the trail known as 49 Palms Oasis on Saturday and Sunday.
Miller’s wife and two children won’t be there, his disappearance still too difficult for them. They believe there is a chance that he may be elsewhere, outside of the park.
Paul Miller would have been 52 on May 24.
