Search teams in New Mexico recovered the body late Sunday of a missing former White House chef who was last seen setting off for a solo hike in the mountains near Taos last weekend, New Mexico State Police said.
Walter Scheib, 61, went hiking in the area on June 13 and never returned home. He was reported missing the next day.
His body was found late Sunday off of a trail about 1.7 miles from the base of the Yerba Canyon Trail, police said. Rescue workers were still gathering information and no other details were immediately available, police said in a statement.
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Scheib set off on the trail, which reaches altitudes above 12,000 feet, Taos Search and Rescue said. Scheib’s vehicle was found at the Yerba Canyon Trailhead on Tuesday, the department of public safety said.
The search has included ground teams, aircraft, teams from the National Guard and search dogs, Armijo said. The air search was expanded Friday, but the mountainous terrain and dense vegetation made the air effort difficult, the department said.
Scheib served as White House executive chef under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from 1994 until 2005. He was initially hired by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, who was said to have been impressed by Scheib’s highlighting of American cuisine. He is listed as co-author of “White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen,” published in 2007.
Reuters
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