Search for missing Berkeley trail runner moves into 4th day
Volunteer effort grows to find runner missing for 3 days
Volunteer and law enforcement twin efforts power the ongoing search for a Berkeley runner who has been missing for three days along a Pleasanton trail in some treacherous conditions. Fellow runners feel a kinship with the PG&E employee and father of two.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Search efforts for a missing runner from Berkeley will move into day four on Tuesday as the man's wife says he hasn't returned home from a run over the weekend and hasn't been seen since.
Philip Kreycik, 37, went missing Saturday in the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, between Pleasanton and Hayward.
Three days of searching has turned up no sign of him and authorities said they'll explore the possibility that he's not in the area.
Though emergency crews will resume the search for him on Wednesday.
"His family is optimistic, and we are too, that we are going to find Mr. Kreycik," said Pleasanton Police Lt. Erik Silacci. "But this is dangerous country."
MORE: Search for missing runner in Pleasanton expands, teams focus on ravines
The open space is huge, a mix of rolling hills and deep ravines, criss-crossed with trails that are narrow and treacherous.
"It's tough, it's slippery, lots of leaves on the ground, we were sliding down the hills and getting off the trails," said searcher Justin Siebenhaar, who came from San Jose to volunteer.
Siebenhaar doesn't know Kreycik, and feels a kindship as a trail runner himself.
"This gentleman is a father of two, and I'm a runner and I'm going to be a father, so it just hit home."
Kreycik is married with two young children, and works as an energy analyst for PG&E.
Saturday at about 11 a.m., he parked at the Moller Ranch trailhead for what was supposed to be a run of an hour or less.
Authorities are still searching for Philip Kreycik, 37, who didn't return from a run Saturday afternoon.
MORE: Search underway for missing man at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park
When he didn't return home as expected, his wife reported him missing.
His car was found undisturbed, with his wallet and cell phone in it.
Police are not sure if Kreycik carried any water with him, on what was a hot day.
"We had temperatures of 104 here in Pleasanton, up at the trailhead a little warmer than that," said Silacci. "He is an experienced runner, however with those heat conditions and exerting himself, he may have become incapacitated."
Searchers are operating on the belief Kreycik became ill or injured.
The park is not an area he's especially familiar with.
More than a dozen agencies are involved in the search effort, bringing law enforcement and search and rescue expertise.
In addition, a few hundred untrained volunteers are mobilizing on a Facebook page, "Find Philip Kreycik".
Tuesday's search is expected to delve deeper into steep drainages, where Kreycik would not be visible from the air.
Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said teams will specifically focus on going deeper into the tree lines.
"We've thrown everything we have at this problem," Kelly said.
Park guests said they know the trail can be rough.
"I've been jogging this ridge for the last 20 years," said Julie Ricci, who lives in the neighborhood. "I won't go on some trails, they're too narrow, and I'm hoping he didn't have a seizure or stroke and is just laying somewhere."
Search teams are also knocking at houses that back up to the open space.
"We're asking neighbors to search your backyard, search along your fence line, just make sure than he hasn't crawled somewhere," said David Selinger, a volunteer coordinator.
Selinger, of Pleasanton, owns an I-T security firm, but dropped everything the past three days to help organize searchers.
"Honestly there's a 95 percent chance he's within a mile of where we're standing right here and we just haven't found him yet."
He doesn't know Kreycik personally.
"Philip is a top one percent athlete so the fact that he's out here and this happened means something went wrong, we just don't know what."
KTVU's James Torrez and Emma Goss contributed to this report.