Car sounds help man escape forest in NC — but 20-year-old relative is still missing
Crews are searching the Croatan National Forest for a North Carolina man who hasn’t returned from a walk.
Joshua Clauson and family member went into the coastal forest off Lake Road around 10 a.m. Saturday, relatives told the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office.
During the walk, the two got lost and separated, the sheriff’s office says.
The relative told deputies he found his way out of the forest by following the sounds of passing cars. He eventually escaped on Rams Horn Road — more than 4 miles from where he entered the forest.
But 20-year-old Clauson is still missing.
He’s described as a white male with red hair and was last seen wearing a khaki tank top and blue jeans.
Crews with the Coastal Carolina Search and Rescue, Brunswick Search & Rescue, and Chocowinity Search & Rescue have been helping deputies search the forest since Sunday morning, the sheriff’s office says.
The roughly 30 rescuers and three K-9s are split into two groups with two “staging areas” — one near Lake Road and the other near Rams Horn Road, the sheriff’s office says.
Crews suspended the search late Sunday and resumed it around 7 a.m. Monday, the sheriff’s office says. Additional information has not been released.
Croatan National Forest is in Eastern North Carolina, near New Bern. Its 160,000 acres of land include pine forests, salt water estuaries, bogs and “raised swamps,” the U.S. Forest Service says.
This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Car sounds help man escape forest in NC — but 20-year-old relative is still missing."
