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Search ends for missing Breckenridge attorney

Lindsey Krusen
Summit Daily/Mark Fox
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BRECKENRIDGE – More than 140 volunteers formed into 18 teams on Sunday to search a 2-mile radius for Royal “Scoop” Daniel. Search-and-rescue groups came to Breckenridge from as far away as Gunnison. Still, no trace of the Breckenridge attorney was found more than 48 hours after he was reported missing. “The results of the debrief are completely inconclusive,” Brian Binge, Summit County Rescue Group field operation manager, said after talking to a number of teams. “We’ve found nothing.” Members of Summit Rescue Group, Alpine Rescue Group and Western State Rescue Group led groups of four to six community members around assigned sections of the 2-mile radius from the point Daniel was last seen, his office in the Professional Building on 130 Ski Hill Road. On Friday, a security camera captured Daniel entering his office at 5:35 a.m. A co-worker came in at 8:30 a.m. to find a pot of coffee brewing and Daniel’s dog in the office. This scenario was not out of character for Daniel. It wasn’t until Daniel didn’t show up for an 11 a.m. appointment that the co-worker became concerned. Daniel then missed a 2 p.m. appointment, and a call to police about his absence followed at 3 p.m.

A bloodhound from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was unable to pick up a scent on Friday. Police and Summit Rescue Group members didn’t find a sign of Daniel when they searched a half-mile radius around Daniel’s office. Summit County Emergency Manager Joel Cochran said Sunday’s search was designed to rule out the possibility of Daniel being in the 2-mile radius. “You almost can’t ever say with certainty, but the probability is within 80 to 90 percent” that Daniel wasn’t in the searched area, Binge said. At the beginning of the day, Breckenridge Police Department spokeswoman Crystal Dean said the case was being looked at from four angles, as is standard for missing-person cases: the possibility of a medical condition, a psychological condition, foul play or willful leaving.Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman said he felt Sunday’s search had accomplished some important objectives, namely excluding the possibilty of a medical condition, because Daniel probably would have been found in an immediate place.

“At this point we feel we’ve established a reasonable search area,” Holman said. “We’re not going to do any additional searching unless we get other information that would cause us to go out and expand that area of search.” After Sunday’s lack of clues, Holman said the Police Department will be following some investigative leads, but he declined to comment on the nature of the information.The Colorado Bureau of Investigation searched Daniel’s personal spaces Saturday and didn’t find any clues. At this point, there is no evidence of foul play, Dean said. She also added that nothing had been ruled out of the investigation. A national broadcast on a missing person has been put out for Daniel, and his name is on the FBI’s Web site.



Daniel is described as a 61-year-old white male with blue eyes and white hair. He is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 210 pounds. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt and bluejeans. ===============Information lineAnyone who has information about the disappearanche of Royal “Scoop” Daniel should call the Breckenridge Police Department at 668-8600 or 453-2941.===============


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