JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A concerned Jacksonville family is hopeful that a missing 25-year-old man who was last seen thousands of miles from home in April will be located safely.
It’s been over two months since Trammell Evans was last seen hiking at Joshua Tree National Park in California.
Evans’ family said a friend dropped him off at the park and when they went to pick him up, he wasn’t there. Witnesses said they saw Evans enter the park but did not see him come out.
“They made an agreement that he would be picked up at 11 a.m. Pacific time at the Black Rock campground, which is exactly the same point that he entered the park,” Charlie Evans, Trammell’s brother, said.
His brother said the friend notified park rangers and a “comprehensive and exhaustive search of the park” ensued, especially focusing on his planned route.
“They even brought out cadaver dogs to search for his body just in case some emergency happened that maybe incapacitated him,” his brother said.
His mother, Amy Evans, said just over a week ago, they received a call about someone possibly seeing her son, so that information gave the family some encouragement that he might still be alive.
The family also hired a private investigator in May and has been receiving tips about possible sightings.
“They have been out to the border towns around Joshua Tree National Park. And then from a tip, it was suggested that they go down to Slab City, which is this kind of off-the-grid town down south of Joshua Tree Park,” Amy said.
Amy even said that four people believe they saw Trammell at a convenience store. She said hearing that was “extremely encouraging.”
The Evans family will continue to work with the private investigator and the Fowler O’Sullivan Foundation to search for Trammell.