Paul Miller went for a hike at Joshua Tree National Park in July and disappeared.
He and his wife, Stephanie, were on a trip celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary.
“My husband’s my best friend, we do everything together, so it’s tough,” she said.
Their trip began in Las Vegas, and had taken them through several other national parks on their way to Joshua Tree.
Stephanie Miller was going to accompany her husband on the morning hike, but with time constraints pressuring them on the morning of their last day, she decided to stay home and pack.
Paul Miller was supposed to be gone a couple hours.
When he had been gone for three hours, his wife called for help.
After an intense five day search that saw as many as 90 people searching by air and land, efforts to look for him were eventually scaled back and called off.
Miller’s family has not given up on the search, beginning a social media campaign that has gained support from Californians.
“Sometimes I just have this empty feeling, because there’s no closure whatsoever,” said Dryden Miller, Paul’s son.
Dryden said he and his father had gone on annual canoe trips together every year for at least the last ten, and sometimes to pretty remote places.
Stories of survival give the family hope, but based on Paul Miller’s hiking expertise and the fact that no trace of him has been found, the family is pressuring local law enforcement to consider foul play.
Stephanie Miller said she spoke with her local member of parliament, who is putting in a request through global affairs for the local sheriff’s office in California to continue investigating.
