WI WI - Nicholas Hietpas, 22, & dog, vehicle found abandoned in Oconto Co., Appleton, 1 Apr 2019

[PayrollNerd]

Is it possible he had a mountain bike and planed to ride? The dog would be able to stay with a bike easier than an ATV.

 

[OnlyFacts]

It isn't even being made clear if this is a criminal investigation or a missing persons investigation or a recovery operation or no follow up at all.
Total crickets to say the least.

It's all very odd.

 

[Rosiebones]

Is it possible he had a mountain bike and planed to ride? The dog would be able to stay with a bike easier than an ATV.

That makes a lot more sense than an ATV, both in cost and ease of transport.

 

[Rosiebones]

Oconto County Sheriff's Office
His mother updated about 22 hours ago. There is still no information on what has occurred.
You do have to scroll down to the original posting. The bumped up entry doesn't show the latest additions.

 

[Luckyzmom]

Status quo ? Thanks for updates

 

[Tp3d]

I don't think he had a bike or ATV at all. There is no place to rent an ATV anymore around here. No news article mentioned anything about a bike. He was hiking. I looked on the mibspar website & it looks like they have done 10 days of searching so far. Starting in June. There is a lot of ground to cover he could have gone in the wood anywhere. You can get turned around pretty easy following these logging roads if you not familiar with area.

 

[Tp3d]

Most of the nights between the April 1st & 17th got down to freezing or close to it. If he got stuck out over night it would have been rough.

 

[Rosiebones]

Is there a sense of danger or to put it another way has the meth/opioid epidemic hit that area and attracted folks who are living on the margin?
I am not even suggesting he was involved but could he have been a victim of someone who came across him camping there?

 

[Cherry]

I would like to know if he owned a gun, and if so, is it missing?

 

[Luckyzmom]

Lot of things we just don't know. Wish we could at least rule out foul play. Big wilderness area, great place to vanish, if intentional not much info being shared publicly. Do we do what we can with what there is !

 

[Tp3d]

Cherry. That's a good question. I have a couple myself.
1. Cell phone pings? Last location he pinged at? Cell service can be very spotty in that area.
2. Nature of last contact?
3. Did he have a job?
4. What day do they specifically think he went on hike?
5. What else was found in car? Keys, phone, food, ect....
6. How familiar was he with area? He easily

 

[Luckyzmom]

Darn good questions ! Thanks for joining us

 

[Rosiebones]

@Tp3d I googled his name and it came up on Linkedin with his picture and description of his job etc. I checked with TOS here and I am not clear on whether I can provide the direct link. It isn't social media but I am not sure if it is allowed.

 

[siliconrod]

Not much background info about Nicholas. Who reported him missing and when. Any cell phone info. Does he live alone or with others. Any friends or family in Doty.
Was car operational when found.
Any bodies of water near where his car was found.
Any SAR personal and dogs used in the area where car was found.
Would Samantha's scent be easier to track than Nicholas.
Nicholas has been missing since April 1st but wasn't reported until recently.
Hoping for good result for Nicholas and Samantha.

I am quoting my own post from April 24 but nothing much has changed since then.

 

[Rosiebones]

Sometimes what isn't happening tells a story. LE has not indicated in any way that there is a concern that he has been the victim of a crime. Other than the abandonment of the campsite and car and the total disappearance of man and his dog which can be due to other reasons there is no indication of foul play.

• There is a lake up the road a bit. Google Maps

There were bloodhounds used by MibSar in their 5 day search. No mention if they found anything other than Samantha's unbuckled collar about a half mile away.

 

[Tp3d]

That lake is not very popular. Its shallow & could have still been frozen when he went missing. Plus it's in the opposite direction of were the dog collar was found.

 

[Tp3d]

This is a screen shot off my onX app. Were I think his car was found was in the upper left hand corner. If he would have headed south is all national forest. To north is private land. As far as water goes to the south there is some small bogs low land. But that is off any trail a ways.

 

[Tp3d]

Rosiebones. I read somewhere the sherrif said he could be in the woods or he could have rode off with someone .

 

[OnlyFacts]

I shared the police facebook posting with other Wisconsinites and told them to share it.

 

[Rosiebones]

I shared the police facebook posting with other Wisconsinites and told them to share it.

It appears from the shares on the Oconto County sheriff dept. website that there have been over 5000 shares, so anyone with FB should have seen it. Also, I noticed that several folks are keeping track of animal rescue sites and reporting white GSDs that have turned up and messaging his mom.