The search for 22 year-old BYU student Tyler Mayle, who has been missing for five days, continued Wednesday as his family prepares to say goodbye to his younger sister, who is scheduled to enter the Missionary Training Center.
Mayle, who has not been seen since leaving around 10:30 a.m. Saturday when he left for a day hike on Y Mountain, is a communications and political science major who works at BYU Radio.
Mayle’s parents, Gary and Lori Mayle, arrived in Provo on Tuesday from Windsor, Colo. to aid in the search for their son. Returning from the mountain to speak to the media at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Gary Mayle expressed confidence in the efforts of the 50 to 60 people actively involved in finding his son.
“They’re on the right track,” Gary Mayle said. “They are using my phone on the mountain to coordinate information they received from Tyler’s phone pings.”
The last ping from Tyler’s phone came on Tuesday around 6 p.m., which authorities believe came from a location south of the Y on the mountain face – a place known for steep terrain dropping off to a river.
Tyler is an Eagle Scout and an avid hiker. His father said it was not unusual for Tyler to take off for day hikes alone and to sometimes deviate from the trail to “find new areas.”
Tyler’s younger sister, Hailey, recently received a mission call and was scheduled to report to the MTC Wednesday afternoon.
“We think she will enter at her scheduled time,” said Hannah, 17, the youngest of the Mayle children. “She was given the option of waiting, but she has a lot of faith that the right things will happen . . . (and) that she should continue as planned.”
Tyler’s mother knew something wasn’t right on Tuesday morning after trying for two days to text, call and Facebook message Tyler to arrange for Hailey’s pick-up from the airport Tuesday night.
“When I didn’t hear him on the radio on Monday, I thought maybe they had switched things around — they do that sometimes,” she said.” I texted him and said, ‘Hey, I didn’t hear you on the radio today,’ but he didn’t text back. I thought maybe he had lost his phone.”
“I had a friend from Springville go by his apartment and check on Tuesday morning,” she added. “When I didn’t hear him on the radio for the second day in a row and his roommates and friends had not seen or heard from him, I got worried. That’s when I called the authorities.”
Tyler’s father explained that it was normal for the family not to be concerned about his whereabouts on a daily basis since he was 22 years old and has been living on his own for almost four years, having served a two-year mission in Germany. He said roommates couldn’t have known anything was wrong since Tyler’s daily habits and hours of coming and going were constantly changing.
Lori Mayle said her son is a fighter and that she doesn’t yet know what the outcome of the search might be.
“The authorities know their job and I am relying on my faith that God’s in charge,” she said. “It may not be that things work out the way that I want them to, but I have faith in God’s plan.”
When asked what his feelings were when looking up at Y Mountain, knowing his son was up there somewhere, Gary Mayle paused before answering, “I feel overwhelmed.”
“If anyone saw a hiker on Saturday that was off the trail and matched Tyler’s description . . .or if anyone saw Tyler on the trail, please make a phone call to the Provo authorities,” he said. “We’re going to stay with it until we bring our son home.”
