Does anybody know if there is a map showing the areas that have been searched in lieu of areas that haven't ? I'm sure the people running the search have one, sometimes they make that information available to the media, and sometimes they don't.
I'm asking because of chatter I've read, left over the night hours, about them searching in the area directly behind the house, which is where he disappeared. Obviously that area would be top priority, but I would think just about everything in a two mile radius would be top priority as well, whether it's on other people's property or not. Once he was lost and turned around, Noah could have headed off in any direction, and may have switched directions repeatedly before it got dark. There's also the chance that he traveled in a virtual straight line, following a trail.
If he was pretty mobile and agile, and it sounds as if he was, then he could easily travel at least a mile and maybe a couple in a 2-3 hour timespan. What sticks in my mind is that there was no response what-so-ever to the original LE people that showed up. That means Noah was either out of sight and sound range, or he was incapacitated. This would have been within the first hour after the 911 call came in. Due to the intense search efforts in the immediate area he was last seen, and with them finding no trace of him, I'm left with the conclusion that he was moving at a pretty high rate of speed and was already out of the area when the first LE searchers arrived.
This is very reminiscent of the 5 year old boy that disappeared here in Arizona near the Grand Canyon earlier this year. When he was finally found, it was discovered that he had walked over 8 1/2 miles before he collapsed and died. They surmised that he traveled the majority of that distance on the first day, just as the search for him was getting organized and going into full swing. Much like this case, they concentrated the first 24 hours of searching in about a one mile radius, and then slowly fanned out after nothing was found. The "expert" search crews were shocked that he had traveled that far, and he was eventually discovered by local volunteer searchers. Of course, the high priced tracking dogs never picked up a scent, but that's another waste of taxpayer resources that can be discussed elsewhere.
I think Noah traveled a pretty good distance that first afternoon. The weather was pretty decent, the sun was shining, and there were a few hours of daylight prior to it getting dark. There's really no reason why he couldn't have covered a lot of ground during those initial 3 to 4 hours. A map showing the areas that have been heavily searched versus lightly searched or not searched at all would come in handy. If such a map exists, some of the volunteer searchers may have snapped a pic of it and posted it elsewhere on social media. I haven't seen anything at all like that in the MSM.