Sunriver man, focus of large search, had gone to RV, slept

A Sunriver man who failed to return home from a bike ride Monday morning, triggering an extensive two-day search, had ridden to his travel trailer in the resort community, “feeling physically and mentally exhausted” and needing “to get away” for a bit, the family said Wednesday in a statement released to police.

“We commented, wouldn’t it be great if he just walked through those doors,” Marc Mills, Sunriver police chief, said.

Unlikely enough, that’s exactly what happened. Steve Williams, 71, returned home shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday and relieved family members immediately notified police.

Police Chief Marc Mills said officers had gone to Williams’ trailer, parked on the north side of Sunriver, where residents park RVs, as they began looking for him.

They knocked and walked around, but did not have a key — and he apparently was asleep inside, having locked the door, and had his mountain bike inside as well.

“I wanted to see it myself — and you can’t see a thing,” Mills said about visiting the travel trailer.

Williams’ phone was off at the time, so there was no way to contact him.

“He lost track of time,” Mills told NewsChannel 21. “When he went back home, he thought it was Monday.”

The family said Williams was “extremely embarrassed over what happened, but his family was “incredibly relieved and overjoyed” to have him back home safe. While there are mixed feelings about what transpired, they were “just happy he was home.”

Mills said in such circumstances, people can be fined up to $500 for the cost of a search, but considering the specifics they won’t do so. He acknowledged despite heavy use of volunteers, the search probably cost “thousands.”

Here’s the family’s full statement:

We are incredibly relieved and overjoyed to report Steve Williams–husband, father, grandfather and friend–came home safely to us last night.

It had been nearly two days since Steve went missing, and there were many times we feared the worst. To have him home safe with us is without question the happiest possible resolution to an extremely difficult two days.

As it turns out, our Steve was feeling incredibly overwhelmed–physically and mentally exhausted–from his recent work and efforts to maintain the appearance of the model husband, father, grandfather, and friend he has truly been to all of us.

A very proud man of remarkable talents, he couldn’t find it within himself to ask for help when he needed it most.

As we now know, early Monday morning he biked to the family travel trailer, which was parked in storage, locked himself inside and slept. Our hopes and prayers were answered when he awoke and realized the sensible thing was to come home to his loving family. He is both remorseful for, and embarrassed by, his behavior.

The outpouring of support, time, energy and cost this community put into looking for Steve has been incredible. We will work to harness this energy in pursuit of greater understanding, compassion and healing for our family. We hope others can learn from our lesson, too.

We would like to thank our wonderful community of friends who offered words of encouragement, hope and prayer over the past few days. Many of them put their own lives on hold, traveling great distances, to join our efforts to find Steve. We are deeply humbled by their love, support and friendship.

Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude and thanks toward the law enforcement officials at the Sunriver Police Department, Deschutes County Search and Rescue, Sunriver Owner’s Association and the many other agencies which worked tirelessly to help us find Steve.

It is unlikely we will ever be able to thank them enough.

—

Williams had left his home at No. 9 Bachelor on a bike ride in the resort community between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday morning. He’s usually home in one or two hours – when he wasn’t home by late morning, his wife call authorities to report him overdue.

“She woke up at 8 o’clock in the morning, normal morning, and she hopped in the shower. Then her husband wasn’t there, who was right next to her when she woke up,” Logan Williams, Steve Williams’ son, said earlier Tuesday.

Mills had issued an updated news release earlier Tuesday night on the two days of searching and plans for more Wednesday.

On Monday, he said, Sunriver police “searched the over 33 miles of paved bike paths, the five-mile Forest Service bike path to Lave Butte and some adjacent mountain bike trails along the Deschutes River.

“Early in the afternoon we contacted Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue to collaborate on search and to request additional assistance. The Sunriver Police have been actively investigating all leads relating to the missing as well as working closely with the Williams family in efforts to locate Mr. Williams.”

As Tuesday’s search efforts ended, Mills said, “We have no information at this time to lead us to believe he is missing due to a criminal act. This said, we are certainly concerned for his well-being and working all investigative leads.”

Deschutes County had about 25 SAR volunteers in Tuesday’s search, along with several U.S. Forest Service law enforcement driving forest roads adjacent to Sunriver.

“Deschutes County also had an Air Link helicopter do a search and joined later by Civil Air Patrol in an attempt to locate the red Pantera bicycle.”

“Family and friends have also made an effort to search in areas where they believe Mr. Williams may have gone,” he said.

There had been plans for Wednesday, when Deschutes County SAR planned to search areas near Sunriver and on the Deschutes National Forest, as well as the Sunriver Citizen Patrol searching some specific areas.

Logan Williams told NewsChannel 21 his father has lived in Sunriver for 40-plus years. He is an avid tennis player and an experienced local cyclist.

“Forty years of biking, yeah — nobody knows (the trails) better than us,” Logan Williams said.

Mills had said, “The real problem is we just don’t know what direction he went,” adding this family said this was “totally out of the norm.” He likened it to looking for “a needle in a haystack.”

“Some people south of Sunriver thought they’d seen a man kind of fitting his description,” Mills said. They didn’t know of the missing man at the time and didn’t pay much attention, “but he was alone.”

There also was limited information about the clothing he was wearing, as the couple’s home was undergoing remodeling. But there is one noteworthy element: “He has some lime green tennis shoes.”

“He has five or six pairs of shoes” of that description, the police chief said. “He’s an avid tennis player, and wears them to play tennis. Once he wears them down to a certain point, he uses them to ride his bike.”

Mills said Williams had been entered in a national missing-persons database, and his photo was sent out statewide to agencies Tuesday.

“There’s just no indications that he’s gone beyond our area,” Mills said Tuesday morning. “We’re just not finding anything like he’s taken a bus or a jet.”

Sunriver police spend much of their busy periods helping find missing or lost people, as the resort and its traffic circles and layout can confuse many a visitor. But Williams is a resident who knows the community.

“This is way different,” Mills said. “We usually find them, generally, within 20 minutes.”

“Williams frequents our bike paths in Sunriver and is an avid tennis player,” Mills said in an e-mail, adding that “Williams is in great physical condition, according to his family, (and) frequently rides his bike for an hour or two.”

Mills said it was unusual for Williams to not tell his family when he goes out for a ride.