Search Goes On For Utah Boy Scout

Search-and-rescue teams found three socks and a sandal in a swollen river, but none were connected to an 11-year-old boy who disappeared in Utah's rugged, snowcapped mountain range.

Authorities said they had "nothing to go on" Monday as volunteers joined efforts to find Brennan Hawkins, last seen at a popular Boy Scout camp in the Uinta Mountains east of Salt Lake City.

Brennan, who had not yet graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, was visiting the camp with a friend, whose father was volunteering at a three-day session for 1,400 older scouts.

Officials said Brennan disappeared Friday somewhere along a dirt road between the camp's artificial climbing wall and the "chow hall," where he was to meet his friend.

"I can't fathom it, because I know where he started and where he was supposed to end," said John M. Knight, a Boy Scout adviser from Brennan's hometown of Bountiful, just north of Salt Lake. "There's no reason to believe he did anything other" than walk on that road.

A swollen river is within 100 yards of the road, but Brennan did not have to cross it to get to the hall. Searchers used poles to probe the swift water near the camp, and found three socks and a sandal. None were connected to the boy.

"It's still easy to get lost, particularly if you decide to go into the trees," Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said.

"The river is a nightmare," he added. The mountain stream is normally only ankle-deep, but had swollen to 10-feet deep in some spots because of the snowpack melt this spring.

"Because we knocked down so much of the ground here, the river becomes a higher probability area," Edmunds said on CBS News' The Early Show. "We have to meticulously search that. We have been and we'll continue that today. The river is big, there's a lot of ground to cover there. It is slow going."

Edmunds acknowledged that "we have nothing to go on," but said he had no reason to suspect foul play. Authorities have launched a criminal investigation and detectives were checking the background of every adult who was at the camp Friday.

"With children, especially, we like to conduct the simultaneous possible criminal investigation so in the likely event that there was a kidnapping, we want to make sure we cover all our bases," Edmunds told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.
Brennan carried no food or water, and his family said he did not have a good sense of direction. Weather has been mild, with temperatures falling into the 50s at night.

CBS News Correspondent Sarah Hughes reports that for now, the Hawkins family is still optimistic that Brennan has survived in the wilderness, though the river is just 50 yards from the campsite and swift water rescue teams spent much of yesterday diving into the swollen river.

"Brennan was born nine weeks premature. It was a very difficult pregnancy. Doctors didn't expect him to live through first day," said Brennan's mother, Jody. "He taught us before he was even born many, many things. And he's been our teacher for 11 years."

"He's probably dehydrated, sleep-deprived, definitely hungry," said Brennan's father, Toby. "With him being so young ... I don't think he's thinking about what he needs to do to survive because he's never been in that environment."

"We have strong parents. We're a very faithful family. We're sticking a lot to that," said Brennan's sister, Mariah, on The Early Show.

Mariah Hawkins told Storm that her brother has been outdoors camping and fishing with his dad since he was a little boy. She described him as a typical 11-year-old boy who's happy, loves being with his friends and playing his Xbox.

"But as far as survival skills go we feel like he's pretty well prepared," she said. "My dad has ingrained into his mind since he was a little kid, the things you need to do… We're just hoping that those things that we try to ingrain into him have stuck with him while he's out there in that extreme."

While about 4,000 volunteers searched over the weekend, the pool of volunteers dwindled to 600 on Monday. There also were 75 professional searchers.

Among the volunteers was Kevin Bardsley, whose 12-year-old son, Garrett, vanished last August while camping at a nearby lake.

"When we came off this mountain in the winter, my friends and I decided right then, if anyone came missing, we'd be there immediately," said Bardsley, whose son was never found, despite a weeklong search.

Hughes added that while the weather has remained mild so far, hot during the day and cooler at night, the search could be hampered beginning this afternoon when thunderstorms are expected to move in and they are expected to stay over the next few days.