Article Taken From The Marin Independant Journal
MCSO SAR's mission summary. Pictures of the search.

Massive Headlands search has tragic end

By Nancy Isles Nation
Sunday, January 15, 2006

A Sausalito hiker missing since Friday was found dead near a trail in the Rodeo Beach area Saturday night.

The body of Jim Phiffer, 60, was found face down in a creek near the Miwok Trail at about 9 p.m. He was last seen at 4:30 p.m. Friday as he was leaving his car and walking toward the Coastal Trail near Rodeo Beach.

Phiffer had Parkinson's disease and a pacemaker but walked often with his dog, Maxwell, a three-legged border collie.

Maxwell was found near the Miwok Trail close to the Marine Mammal Center at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, giving rescuers a focal point for their search, which they had planned to call off at dusk.

More than 130 search and rescue workers had combed the trails and wild area around the Coastal Trail during the day in hope of finding Phiffer alive.

A host of agencies, including the U.S. Park Police, the National Park Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Marin County Sheriff's Office, and the Marin County and Muir Beach fire departments, began a search Friday night after Phiffer's wife reported him missing, according to Rich Weideman, a spokesman for the National Park Service.

Weideman said Phiffer's body was about 40 meters below the spot where the dog had been found in a creek that was covered with brush and debris, making it hard to spot anything.

The county coroner's office estimated Phiffer had been dead for about 24 hours, Weideman said. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Phiffer and his wife, attorney Bonnie Hough, recently moved from Bel Marin Keys to a houseboat in Sausalito.

Margaret Hough, Bonnie's mother, said that her daughter returned home from work Friday and discovered that her husband and dog were not there. She went to Rodeo Beach, where Phiffer frequently walked Maxwell and found her husband's car but did not see any sign of him, Margaret Hough said.

"They were going to have a house party tomorrow night," Margaret Hough said before Phiffer's body was found Saturday, adding that she had been told her daughter was doing well as the search continued. "There's absolutely no clue."

Search and rescue crews from Marin, Alameda, Napa, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties also assisted in the search, Weideman said.

Search crews conducted an extensive search of the trails Friday night but waited until daybreak to begin off-trail searches.

Rescue workers scoured the area by foot, on horseback, and on all-terrain vehicles, with the help of a dozen search dogs from the California Rescue Dog Association.