GUNFLINT TRAIL – The search continues. And there’s someone new to the scene to help out.

Search and recovery expert Michael Neiger arrived in Grand Marais Thursday, Oct. 23, announcing his plans to begin searching areas of Superior National Forest for signs of Wayne Storch, a 74-year-old man from rural Wisconsin who has been missing since Sept. 18.

A 26-year veteran detective with the Michigan State Police, Neiger is currently the lead investigator with Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue, a grassroots organization that assists families and law enforcement agencies with long-term missing-person cases and cold-case homicide investigations in the remote landscape between the Great Lakes region and the Arctic Ocean in Canada.

Storch is believed to be somewhere in the vicinity of Pine Mountain Lake, a small trout lake used most commonly in winter by ice anglers. Storch was reported missing Sept. 18. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office located his vehicle Sept. 24 on the side of the Gunflint Trail at a small parking pullout that leads to a rugged forest road.

Cook County Search and Rescue, the St. Louis County Rescue Squad, the U.S. Forest Service, and other assisting agencies spent time in late September looking for him. They looked near Pine Mountain Lake and nearby Pickerel Lake, which is close to Elbow Lake. They combed ridgelines and bogs and remote timber. Nothing turned up despite the extensive searches. The search continued in a more grassroots fashion, with Wayne’s daughter, Ashley, and her partner, Joey Biener, remaining involved. More than 20 local businesses put up a flyer this month notifying the public of Wayne being missing.

And still, nothing.

Neiger first heard of Storch’s disappearance at the Winter Camping Symposium, which took place last weekend on the shores of Sturgeon Lake, about an hour south of Duluth. Neiger met the team from Paddle & Portage at the event and we shared details about the recent disappearance of Storch. Less than a week later, he arrived to Grand Marais to look for Storch.

“I wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t met,” Neiger told Paddle & Portage Thursday morning in Grand Marais.

We first heard of Neiger from Canadian journalist Conor Mihell and his associate Marcus Quintiliano. They know Neiger from the case involving Daniel Trask, a young Canadian who vanished in a remote wilderness. Years later, Neiger found most of his remains near the shores of a lake.

Michael Neiger talks with P&P Oct. 23 at the Grand Marais Public Library. Photo by Joe Friedrichs

Neiger sat down with Paddle and Portage for a conversation before he headed up the Gunflint Trail to start his search for Storch. He’s been in contact with Ashely multiple times over the past week, he said, gathering information about her father and any clues that could help his search. Neiger also stopped at the Cook County Law Enforcement Center Thursday morning. He said he is working “in collaboration” with the local sheriff’s department in terms of the search and recovery mission.

Neiger said he plans to spend about a week in Cook County searching for Storch. If necessary, he will return when there’s snow on the ground. Snow can assist any search that involves nature’s canines, he said, referring to wolves, coyotes, and similar species. He’ll use a metal detector as he looks for Storch, Neiger explained, and will make detailed maps of the areas he searches.

Remote landscape like Superior National Forest is nothing new to Neiger. He’s a wilderness guide who has organized hundreds of backpacking, canoeing, and winter-camping trips. He’s led search and rescue operations in the Great Lakes region and Canada since 1984. On his personal expeditions, he’s paddled solo from the Lake Superior area to the Arctic Ocean, and skied solo from the northernmost plowed road in Ontario to lower Hudson Bay on the Arctic Ocean.

Paddle & Portage will share any updates regarding the ongoing search for Wayne Storch if they become available.

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