Pleasanton Officials Resume Search For Philip Kreycik

PLEASANTON, CA — Rescue officials took to the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park once again on Saturday, resuming an official search for missing ultramarathon runner Philip Kreycik, who mysteriously vanished three weeks ago.

Two weeks after the official search was scaled back significantly, the Pleasanton Police Department and the Alameda County Sheriff's Department announced Friday that the search would continue. Pleasonton Police did not immediately respond to Patch for comment.

"Though efforts have scaled back, both the search and investigation remain underway. Alongside Alameda County Sheriff's Office, search teams are set to deploy once more," police wrote on Facebook Saturday, adding that officials intended to "comb select areas in hopes of bringing him home" Saturday.

The search was reportedly renewed after officials determined new areas to search, SF Gate reported.

"They’re searching higher in Tehan Canyon, just to explore a new area," said Sgt. Marty Billdt, a Public Information Officer with the police department, told the newspaper. "They want to double check in the lower probability areas where he could have possibly gone."

The 37-year-old Berkeley resident's bizarre disappearance has evoked head-scratching from investigators, friends and family after several massive search efforts in July turned up no trace of him. For weeks, numerous agencies and hundreds of Pleasanton and Bay Area community members — some of them strangers — have scoured 50 square miles in and around the loop he planned to take. Community volunteers continued to canvass the area extensively even after an official search was called off.

On Saturday, dozens of volunteers and nearly 100 official searchers hit trails in the park again, according to several posts on the Find Philip Kreycik Facebook page, a group with more than 12,400 members.

Searchers on Friday called for 20 to 25 "skilled mountaineering" volunteers to help survey seven different areas around the park over the weekend.

More than 1,300 donors had raised $81,872 as of Saturday afternoon through an online crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe. The money was meant to benefit search efforts and help Kreycik's family.

Kreycik reportedly left his phone in the car on July 10, the day he went missing, and is suspected to have embarked on a run through a trail he had mapped on his phone.

On the volunteer Facebook page, Kreycik's longtime running friend Chris Thoburn wrote in a Q&A that Kreycik often left for a run without his phone and preferred to pack light. His friend also said that evidence indicated that his friend never made it out of the park. He added that Kreycik texted his wife from the trailhead but that he was not captured by surveillance cameras near exit points.

The search has been difficult and unprecedented in Alameda County, where missing people are generally found within a day, said Ron Seitz, volunteer chief of Alameda County's search and rescue unit, at a news conference last week. Seitz added that the case is especially unusual as Pleasanton Ridge is usually heavily trafficked, making it likely that a passerby could have offered help.

"He's very strong," Sandy Schneider, who has helped coordinate the community-led search, previously told Patch. "And he's got a very strong reason to come home for his kids. We know he's fighting for whichever way he can to get home."

Searchers for three weeks have endured the threat of mountain lions and rattlesnakes, blazing heat and rough terrain by foot, horse, plane, e-bike and off-road vehicles, using search dogs, drones and heat-detecting technology to look for signs of him.

"A hidden part [of helping] that I think people realize, but it's often less recognized, is that it makes this incredibly lonely journey feel less alone," Kreycik's wife, Jen Yao, told Tom Wooten, a Harvard University classmate of Kreycik's who also helped organize search efforts.

Kreycik is described as white with a thin build and brown hair and eyes. Kreycik is a fit and friendly hiker and runner, a legendary outdoorsman who's well-known in the Bay Area and Harvard University community for his "huge, jaw-dropping adventures," Wooten previously told Patch. Kreycik works as a strategic analyst of clean energy transportation at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., according to his LinkedIn profile.

Anyone who wants to volunteer can check the Find Philip Kreycik Facebook page for updates and to get in touch with organizers. Those who may have information on Kreycik's whereabouts were urged to contact Pleasanton police by calling the tip line at 925-931-5107 or emailing tip@cityofpleasantonca.gov.

Patch Editor Courtney Teague contributed to this report.

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READ MORE:

• Missing Hiker: $80K Raised For Family, Friend Shares New Details
• Pleasanton Locals Drive Search For Missing Runner Philip Kreycik