No New Clues In Search For Missing Scout

The father of a 12-year-old Boy Scout missing for three nights said Tuesday he had confidence in the rescue teams searching for his son in the damp, cool mountains of western North Carolina.

"What we got here is our son, who's lost, lost somewhere out there, and we don't know where he is," Kent Auberry said. "We've got great professionals looking for him. We're just waiting for the news."

Dog teams and a plane with heat-sensing equipment searched the rugged area around the camp site where Michael Auberry was last seen but had no new clues or leads overnight, said Tina White, spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

"This is definitely still a search and rescue," White said. "I can tell you that you don't give up. Every day that you walk out there, you want to be the person that makes that family happy, you want to be the person that finds that child."

At this point, there's absolutely no sign, no indication, whatsoever, of foul play, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

A chance of rain was forecast Tuesday, and could hamper the air search, authorities said. Overnight temperatures were in the upper 30s to low 40s, milder than on Sunday night, when temperatures dropped into the 20s.

Michael vanished after lunch with his fellow Scouts and troop leaders on Saturday. His father said the adults and the other boys on the trip told him Michael had slept late but nothing appeared to have been wrong.

"Nothing was going on. He was in good spirits," Auberry said. "He ate lunch, chatting with the boys. He was walking around with I think some Pringles and a mess kit. The next moment, sounds like a blink of the eye, he was gone."

"There's no one to blame," Auberry said.

"They do a great job in the Scouts of educating the kids of what to beware of and tips. I'm hopeful that Michael has taken those to heart," he said. "I hope he's hunkered down. I hope he's found a warm place."

Searchers found Michael's mess kit late Saturday within a mile of the camp site, and White said they had also found a candy wrapper and a potato chip bag.

The boy takes Ritalin to control attention-deficit disorder, and rangers say he left his medication in camp, reports Strassmann.

"So that may cause him to not behave as rationally as you would like," said Blue Ridge Parkway ranger Dave Bauer.

White disagrees.

"this is not a situation where Michael is a totally different child when he's not on his medication. It's not a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde type thing where, Ritalin really makes a big difference in the personality," she told reporters Tuesday morning.

"Michael has gone on camping trips without his medication," his father Kent said. "It's something he takes to help him primarily during the school hours."

Kids with ADHD tend to be impulsive and restless, and move around a lot. Park rangers always want people lost in the woods to stay put, and let searchers come to them.

While the weather has been chilly, White said Michael was wearing two jackets, one of them fleece. "We've had people who have been out a week or longer and survived," she said.

About 70 people aided by dogs and a helicopter have searched the area's logging roads and trails and scoured the off-road regions.

The FBI was among the agencies on the scene, and a missing persons alert notifying area law enforcement had been issued as a precaution in case the boy had left the search area, White said. "We still do not have any indication of foul play or that this young man has been abducted," White said.

Michael had stayed behind with an adult leader Saturday morning while the rest of the troop went for a hike "because apparently he wanted to sleep in," said David Bauer, a ranger with the Blue Ridge Parkway. Michael was there when the troop returned for lunch, but the group of about 10 Scouts and their three adult leaders soon noticed he was missing, Bauer said.

Authorities said the boy probably wandered into the woods to explore.

"We're hopeful he was able to find shelter. There are a number of rock crevasses, and he could have covered himself up with leaves," said Mike Lambert, a ranger with North Carolina State Parks.

One of Michael's favorite books a few years ago was about a boy whose plane crashes in the wilderness, and how that boy survives on his own, his father said.

"I think he's got some of that book in his mind," Auberry said. "In my fantasy, when they find him, he'll be making beef jerky somewhere or something like that. He's got a lot of resources to draw from."