Search for missing man continues

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: October 1, 2008

The area where a 50-year-old man went missing is secluded and dangerous, according to Albemarle Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding.
“The terrain is very, very treacherous,” the sheriff said Wednesday evening just after leaving the search for Earl Funk of Staunton.

Searchers have to negotiate cliffs that fall off 75 or more feet, rattlesnakes and bears, Harding explained.
The sheriff’s office has a team of volunteers helping the National Park Service search for Funk, who went missing at about 1 p.m. Monday. He has brown hair and green eyes, stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 145 pounds. He was last seen wearing dark pants and a light-colored shirt.

Funk and a friend had gone out Monday looking for ginseng root in the Cedar Mountain area of the Shenandoah National Park, Harding said. Funk was driving an ATV, and dropped off the friend before going onward with his search.
The friend later found the ATV but not Funk. So he and a group of friends searched into Monday night and then again Tuesday morning before contacting the Albemarle County Police Department.

Harding said he is worried that Funk could have fallen off a cliff. In the heavily wooded area, a precipice can sneak up on you, Harding said. But friends of the missing man said he is familiar with the area and is knowledgeable about surviving in the woods.
If Funk was not found Wednesday, the search will continue today, Harding said. Searchers were scheduled to look for Funk until nightfall.
The sheriff’s office is working in conjunction with the National Park Service, Albemarle police and state police, which has a search-dog team.

Anyone with information is asked to call the national park at (800) 732-0911.