Found Deceased Ny - Bruce Decker, 71, Hiker, John Boyd Thacher State Park, 19 Feb 2018

[JerseyGirl]

Bruce Decker’s car was found unmoved in the Paint Mine parking lot. A check of his residence indicated he may not have been home since last Monday. He went hiking in John Boyd Thacher State Park.

Decker, 71, is white, about 5-foot-9 and has gray hair. He was last seen wearing gray pants, a black jacket, a gray plaid scarf and dark boots.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Search-renewed-for-missing-Guilderland-man-in-12708938.php

 

[houndpounder]

There are miles of Limestone cliffs in Thatcher Park and trails.

 

[hot cawfeee]

what was the temp and weather ? Its a little cold to be hiking

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

drones and dogs... they have to find something...

ETA: Some hikers hike no matter the weather.

 

[Elana619]

drones and dogs... they have to find something...

ETA: Some hikers hike no matter the weather.

I’m one of those hikers. Snow, rain and sunny day. I this person is found soon. It is easy to get disoriented and lose trail. I’ve done it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[moonriverfarm]

This is happening far too often.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Weather hinders search for missing 71-year-old hiker in Upstate NY state park


Search operations included 2,442 acres of intensive searching, 502 acres of extensive searching, 56.7 miles of trails, 355 acres of drone searching, and 4.5 square miles of State Police helicopter searching. No trace of the missing man was found. The search will transition to a limited-continuous search with additional field searching to occur once the snow melts.

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdo...-year-old_hiker_in_upstate_ny_state_park.html

 

[Arixtotle]

As far as I know he still hasn't been found which confuses me greatly because it was said that they did an extensive, full search and the area is not that big. But there is a path that goes all the way to New Jersey that starts in Thacher Park called the Long Path. He could have decided to walk on that some but to continue on he would have had to walk along and then cross Beaver Dam road. And if he was going on longer than a day hike he most likely would have told someone.

Long Path: Long Path - Wikipedia

 

[watcher9]

Hope they are able to locate him soon and safely.
The pictures in this link show how beautiful and vast the area is.
It also includes a list of trails.

John Boyd Thacher State Park

 

[Arixtotle]

Hope they are able to locate him soon and safely.
The pictures in this link show how beautiful and vast the area is.
It also includes a list of trails.

John Boyd Thacher State Park

I guess I'm just used to bigger parks because to me it honestly isn't that vast. I live near there and have been many times. Paint Mine, where his car was found, is a place I have parked many times. There's also a large, beautiful overlook there at another parking lot. I suspect that he did not go off to commit suicide since a far easier way would be to leap off the overlook which has happened before.

Part of me wants to go and hike a bit there to see what I can find but I really don't want to find his body.

 

[Tripod]

I've been very puzzled this man hasn't been found yet, too. I hate to say I'd forgotten his name, and I live not far away, myself I'll try to keep watch for any updates.

 

[deadfoot13]

This article contains some interesting information about Mr. Decker: Hiker search scaled back.

 

[Gardener1850]

Human remains were found in Thacher State Park on Saturday.

New York State Park Police say it could be a person that went missing back in February.

Police were called in around 6:45 p.m. after a hiker found the remains off the Indian Ladder Trail. They say items including an ID, wallet and backpack belonging to Bruce Decker were located at the scene.

Police say the Albany County Medical Examiners Office will confirm the identification and cause of death.

Body found off Indian Ladder trail in Thacher Park

 

[Tripod]

Body found off Indian Ladder trail in Thacher Park

Sad update, but a not surprising one. Thank you for posting.

 

[deadfoot13]

Sad update, but a not surprising one. Thank you for posting.

Very sad update, he seemed to be a very lonely individual from the descriptions in MSM.

 

[Gardener1850]

Dr. Bruce Decker, missing since February, presumed dead

NEW SCOTLAND – He was a loner, but he had family — and they want everyone to know it.

Warren Decker, a first cousin of Bruce Decker, says that he hadn’t seen Bruce in 60 years when he was 20, and Bruce was 10.

Simons told The Enterprise in February that no missing-person report had been filed for Decker, and, when park police identified his car, no family member could be found to confirm that Decker was missing.

All investigators had to go on was what they could find in their search of Decker’s apartment, said Simons. If the remains are found to be Decker’s, then investigators will again try to find a family member, said Simons on Monday.

This is why Warren Decker contacted The Enterprise on Wednesday, he said, because he kept reading reports that said Bruce Decker had no living relatives.

“We hate to keep seeing the same thing in print, that there are no relatives. Well, there is – and there is a concerned relative. One who has been calling every week,” Grace Decker said of her husband.

During the first investigation, said Simons, investigators were able to find only an acquaintance of Decker, who hadn’t spoken to him “in a pretty substantial” amount of time. The acquaintance was not aware of any family or friends, Simons added. Warren Decker wants people to know that there is family.

Mrs. Decker said that Bruce never married or had children. “It’s too bad, because we’ve got a big family; we would have been glad to take in one more,” she said.

Warren Decker said that Bruce grew up in Schenectady and moved with his parents to Burnt Hills. He was an only child. The Enterprise has been able to determine that Decker is a 1964 graduate of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central Schools. He then went onto graduate from the Albany College of Pharmacy in 1969 and from Vanderbilt Medical School in 1973.

Bruce’s mother was a physicist, Warren Decker said, he thought that she worked at General Electric, in its research and development department. Bruce’s father worked at G.E. as well.

Bruce Decker’s mother died young, Warren said; Bruce’s father remarried.

Warren said that he and his wife would receive Christmas cards from Bruce’s father and second wife. But Bruce Decker was such a loner that, although he lived in Guilderland and practiced medicine there, and Warren and Grace Decker lived just miles away in Schenectady, they hadn’t known he was nearby. They learned of it from news reports in February as rescuers searched for him at Thacher Park.