A father and daughter who went hiking together in Maine over the weekend were found dead near the summit of Mount Katahdin, the state’s tallest mountain.
Tim Keiderling, 58, and his daughter Esther Keiderling, 28, both from Ulster Park, New York, went missing Sunday after leaving the Abol Campground. When they did not return, Baxter State Park rangers launched a search for the pair near the mountain’s summit.
On Tuesday, authorities reported that a K-9 search team discovered Tim’s body along the Tableland Trail close to the summit. Search efforts continued for Esther, and on Wednesday rescuers located her body off the Tableland Trail in a wooded area.
The extensive search operation involved game wardens, K-9 teams, park rangers, the Maine Forest Service, and the Maine Army National Guard, who also conducted aerial searches.
Esther had reportedly mentioned she was on a sales trip with her father, and the two had planned the hike up Katahdin as part of their trip.
Tim’s brother-in-law, Heinrich Arnold, expressed gratitude for the community support during this tragic time. “The Keiderling family and our community are grateful for the outpouring of prayers and support we have received, including the many heartfelt responses on yesterday’s post sharing memories of Tim,” Arnold wrote online. “This afternoon, we heard the anticipated, but nonetheless deeply painful news that the search team on Katahdin Mountain in Maine found Esther, who also succumbed to exposure near where Tim was discovered.”
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