Search and Rescue: From tragedy, something good

May 28—ATLANTA — Steve Quintal hasn't forgotten the sense of dread and sorrow he felt in 2019, after his ex-wife went missing from her Benzie County cabin.

Organized searchers later found the body of Adrienne "Ada" Quintal, 47, of Warren, in a flooded area near the Platte River, and her family still mourns the loss of the funny and fun-loving mother.

Then something good came from the tragedy.

"Before that day, search and rescue to me was just what I'd seen on TV," Steve Quintal said.

"That day I was in a fog," he added. "But later it dawned on me, these people came and did all this for someone they don't even know, there's no money involved, and it just stuck with me how good these people are."

Quintal is a Bloomfield Hills real estate developer with no experience in law enforcement, wilderness tracking or providing emergency medical care.

"I just wanted to pay it forward," Quintal said.

So he signed up for search and rescue training, got qualified as a SAR Tech II and joined the same Alpena-based group — now called "All County Search and Rescue" — that helped find Adrienne.

Quintal also trained as a drone pilot, invested thousands in purchasing three drones and an underwater vehicle he can operate remotely, and pledged these resources to the group.

Like the other two dozen or so members of the team, Quintal said he'll drop everything at a moment's notice, load up his equipment and drive anywhere in the state to help police look for someone who's missing.

One of the group's founders, Steven Kieliszewski, said that's pretty standard.

"We're available to law enforcement seven days a week, 24 hours a day," Kieliszewski said. "We search in the night. We search in foul weather. We might have a birthday to go to or a barbeque, but we get a call and we're gone."

Kieliszewski retired last year after 17 years as Alpena County Sheriff, where he'd helped start a search and rescue team with the county.

County and even state law enforcement has limited training in how to search for missing people, Kieliszewski said, and teams like All County fill that gap.

"Thankfully, a vast majority of people who go missing are found," Kieliszewski said. "But it's those cases where it takes longer, where law enforcement really doesn't have enough training to conduct extensive searches and quite honestly don't have the resources."

The All County team in May helped look for a St. Clair County woman who went missing near Atlanta after her car got stuck on a snowmobile trail in the Huron National Forest.

A canine team found Karen Adams, 77, deceased near Mio, investigators said no criminal activity was suspected and she'd likely died from exposure.

The team in April found the body of an Interlochen man, Dean Barnes, 51, in a Grand Traverse County nature preserve. Barnes had been missing since the previous December and Michigan State Police said they believed Barnes died by suicide.

"It's hard," Quintal said, of finding someone who is deceased. "You know what the family is going through and you feel for them. But I keep doing this because I know what not knowing is like. When you don't have any answers it's the worst feeling."

The team also searched several times for Jesse Jackman, a 40-year-old Kingsley man believed to have walked into a swamp near Cedar in Leelanau County, Kieliszewski said.

The team at that time was using the name Alpena Search and Rescue, and faced some criticism on social media for canceling a planned search because of weather conditions.

Kieliszewski said he was aware of that, and expressed hope Jackman would be found and the group could search the area again.

There are also times, Quintal said, when a search results in a much happier outcome.

The team, for example, was about to deploy to the Upper Peninsula in early May to help search for an 8-year-old boy who'd gone missing after gathering firewood, when the boy was found.

And in October, the team helped find George Parkinson, an 81-year-old Hillman man with health issues who didn't return home after going for a ride on his ATV.

"That was a joyful day," Quinlan said. "He was pretty banged up but he was still alive and we found him in time."

All County Search and Rescue generally only responds when called in by law enforcement, Kieliszewski said, the group is a nonprofit which does accept donations but there's no charge for their services.

To keep their skills sharp and learn new ones, the group gathers for monthly trainings and on May 21 assembled on state land in Montmorency County just after noon for a drill.

Dawn Underwood, a friend of team member Chris Moe-Herlick, agreed to play the role of a mushroom hunter lost in the woods.

All group members knew about her was Underwood was comfortable in the woods, knew the area, had been there before and always parked her truck in the same spot.

But on this particular Sunday, a friend reported Underwood missing, her truck wasn't parked where it was supposed to be and she was nowhere to be found.

Moe-Herlick briefed the dozen or so team members present, and Quinlan with his drone found Underwood's truck in about a half-hour, parked at the edge of a remote field and backed up to some dense woods.

The rest of those training divided into teams, with one group heading down a dirt road and following behind Michelle "Mitch" Reid, an Alpena County deputy and head of animal control.

Reid had Zeke, a certified tracking dog, on a long lead and the rest of the group followed behind as he sniffed the dirt road, sniffed the tall grass and sniffed all the people to eliminate them as search targets.

Zeke trotted along with a serious, focused gait until a group of people unrelated to the team and riding in side-by-sides, zoomed past.

"That just really stirred up the scent," Reid said.

In movies and on TV, tracking dogs are depicted as sniffing the air, then making a speedy beeline for the missing person. That's Hollywood for you, Reid said, and not at all how tracking dogs work.

Instead, tracking dogs follow the scent in the same way the person walked to produce it.

Meaning, if a missing mushroom hunter walks in a big loop, unwittingly does a giant figure eight, then goes up and down a steep hill and over a stream, the dog will try to do that, too.

Except when the wind is blowing the scent downhill, or up in the pine trees, or dispersing it over a field. When that happens, the dog may try to "air scent"— lift its head off the ground, stick its nose in the air and sniff and sniff.

Zeke found the play-acting mushroom hunter just before 4 p.m.

Underwood was faking a knee injury and resting on a tarp spread out behind a fallen tree, eating snacks and reading "Where the Crawdads Sing."

Reid gave Zeke a big handful of treats and filled his travel water dish up to the brim.

"Good boy," she said.

Back at base, where All County Search and Rescue had a trailer set up with enough tech to power the GPS trackers on the dogs' collars and everyone's handheld radios, Moe-Herlick led the debriefing.

"Okay everyone, check yourself for ticks," she said, to a chorus of groans.

Quinlan packed up his drones. He's now been on about 20 searches, plus several trainings.

Will he still be at it, years from now?

"As long as I'm capable of it, sure. Definitely. Yes. Yup."