Cian McLaughlin was last seen in Grand Teton National Park on June 8. Photo: Courtesy

Editors Note: This article was originally published on Oct. 26, on RTE News. Read the full article here.

JACKSON, Wyo. — The family of Cian McLaughlin, the missing hiker last seen in Grand Teton National Park, continues to search for McLaughlin ahead of winter.

Cian’s mother Gráinne McLaughlin, her partner, and her brother, Colm O’Higgins, have been hiking every day in the park in the hopes of finding any indications of where Cian might be.

RTE News recently reported on the ongoing search from Grand Teton National Park. “This is not a rescue, it is a recovery but I’d like to bring him home. I know he is up there somewhere,” Gráinne McLaughlin told RTE correspondent Brian O’Donovan.

Originally from Ireland, McLaughlin held dual citizenship. He had been living and working in Jackson prior to his disappearance.

McLaughlin was last seen on Tuesday, June 8, in the late afternoon/early evening on the trail on the south side of the Bradley/Taggart moraine. An individual reported that McLaughlin was headed south towards Taggart Lake and had a conversation with McLaughlin. He described where he worked, that he’s from Ireland and currently living in Jackson. The reporting party continued hiking towards Bradley Lake and did not see McLaughlin again that evening.

“I went through a huge amount of grief at that time. We arrived on 17 June and pretty much two days later we were told this was a recovery operation. That was really hard,” Gráinne told RTE News.

Cian’s uncle, Colm O’Higgins appealed to people who were in the park on June 8 to check their photos and videos to see if Cian might have been captured in the background. “Knowing Cian as being very sociable and chatty, he definitely would have talked to people and so someone may remember having seen him on the trail,” O’Higgins said.

Grand Teton National Park Chief Ranger Erika Jostad told RTE News, “The search for Cian won’t end from our perspective until we find him. Tactics shift over time. We are coming towards winter and we expect the snow to fall. That will make some of the clues we are looking for a little more difficult to find,” she said.

“I am thinking of Cian at every moment and trying to connect with him and my hope is to bring him home, to have some resolution and bring him home,” his mother said.

Anyone with information regarding McLaughlin’s whereabouts is urged to contact the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch:
Call or text the tip line: 888-653-0009
Online: www.nps.gov/ISB and click “Submit a Tip”
Email: nps_isb@nps.gov

Information can also be emailed to: bringcianhome@gmail.com

A new Twitter account was recently opened sharing more information, @FindMissingCian and the tag, #FindCian

Buckrail’s coverage of the case can be found here.

Lindsay is a contributing reporter covering a little bit of everything; with an interest in local policies and politics, the environment and amplifying community voices. She's curious about uncovering the "whys" of our region and aims to inform the community about the issues that matter. In her free time, you can find her snowboarding, cooking or planning the next surf trip.