Keith Reinhard

Keith Reinhard of Algonquin, Illinois, a Daily Herald sports writer for 22 years with a passion for covering high school sports, disappeared in Colorado on August 7, 1988. Keith had taken a 90 day leave of absence from the Herald to work, write, reflect and regenerate in the Colorado town of Silver Plume (population 140, elevation 9,118 feet), 70 miles west of Denver. During that summer, Reinhard lived in a small apartment in the back of an abandoned Catholic church and rented a tiny shop where he sold matted photographs. He also worked on a novel he was writing. Friends described Reinhard as a free spirit and said his interest in photography and in panning for gold in Colorado rivers took him west. Reinhard went to Colorado alone, leaving his wife of three years at home. Around 17:00 on August 7, Reinhard announced he was heading into the mountains for a brief hike, in the area south of Interstate 70. Reinhard said that he was going to hike to the top of Pendleton Mountain. He failed to return at 22:00 as scheduled. A day later, when Reinhard hadn't returned, a massive ground and air search began. The official search for him was called off August 14, 1988, after hundreds of searchers (one of them killed when his small plane crashed in the rocky terrain) logged more than 10,000 man-hours without finding a single clue.