Search For Missing Professor On GA Mountain Enters 2nd Week

UNION COUNTY, GA — The search for a missing hiker and law professor continues after he disappeared a week ago while on a trail near Blood Mountain in Union County, his law firm stated Tuesday.

Charles Hosch, a 67-year-old Georgia native and Texas law professor, disappeared on Nov. 11 at Byron Herbert Reece Trailhead, according to the Union County Sheriff's Office.

Hosch and Morris - a Dallas, Texas-based law firm where Hosch is co-founder - said he has adored the Blood Mountain area since he was a child in Gainesville.

"Charles has deep roots in North Georgia and intimate knowledge of these mountain trails he has hiked throughout his life," the law firm stated.

On Tuesday, personnel asked people to avoid the mountain while K9 teams searched for Hosch.

"Keeping the area clear of other scents is essential to the success of these highly trained search dogs," law firm personnel said.

More than 10 law-enforcement agencies have been searching for Hosch, which authorities on Monday said was still ongoing.

Hosch stands at 6-feet-1-inch tall and weighs 200 pounds, authorities said. He was last seen wearing khaki pants, a camel-colored sweater and a dark green jacket.

He was last seen "descending" from the top of Blood Mountain and possibly meant to hike the Appalachian Trail, a path quite familiar to him, when he could have "lost his way," his law firm stated.

"Charles is a creature of habit. We believe that he intended to hike down Blood Mountain but lost his way. This information is helping search teams focus their efforts along the most likely path Charles would have taken on his return journey. We will bring him home," the law firm said Saturday.

In addition to the trailhead, authorities have scoured the Appalachian Trail near Blood Mountain and the area near the Mountain Crossing Store. They have requested game camera footage from hunters in the area.

"Your trail camera footage could provide critical information to help bring Charles home. Time is critical. Please share with any hunters you know in the area," authorities said in an update Saturday.

Family members told WXIA-TV "it's huge" that a hiker's account of conversing with Hosch on Bell Mountain the day he disappeared ensured them that Hosch had arrived to the area.

This exchange may have happened around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, CBS News reported.

WXIA reported his car was recently located at Byron Herbert Reece.

Hosch, at the time, was not wearing the correct hiking shoes, his family reportedly said.

He graduated from Harvard Law School and is a professor at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, according to his biography. Hosch is a husband, father to two daughters and a grandfather.

He is a former Eagle Scout and Sunday school teacher at University Park United Methodist Church.

“He chooses to see the world as the best version of it,” daughter Julia Hosch-Singh told WXIA-TV. “And I think if anything's going to help him be found and get out, it's those qualities of my dad.”

Sitting in north Georgia, Blood Mountain is the Appalachian Trail's highest summit. The mountain is about 85 miles north of Atlanta and is closest to Blairsville.

Authorities asked anyone with information to call the Emergency Operations Center at (706) 439-6091.