As she drove farther into the forest through difficult terrain, Linda Bridge couldn’t imagine her father driving up there alone. Although he was an avid walker, he didn’t hike or like to travel long distances. It had been at least six years since he last drove on the freeway, she said. And he had no sentimental connections with the area where his car was found.

Over the next two days, Johnson’s family scoured the woods. Deputies used dogs, helicopters and search and rescue teams from four or five agencies across the region. Friends and family traversed the thick forest calling his name and interviewing nearby campers.

Deputies told the family it might be best to wait several weeks before conducting another search. They claimed the family’s DNA could be confusing the dogs, and scents from any cadaver could take time to develop.

On Aug. 6, there was another major search with 75 to 100 people, including 20 family members and friends who searched a five-mile radius around where the car was parked.

The family hopes the forensic analysis of the car will yield more information, but they worry that evidence was lost because the car wasn’t initially treated as a crime scene.