Charles Hosch has not been seen since last Tuesday. Julia Hosch-Singh, his daughter, said Union County, Ga. authorities spoke with someone who had timestamped the 67-year-old on a trail in northern Georgia on Veterans’ Day.
“There was someone on the trail with Dad who had an extended conversation with Dad and provided that information to the sheriff’s office, and provided enough information that the sheriff’s office credibly believes that it was Dad. And that gives us a timestamp of a place that Dad was on the trail at 1:30 on Tuesday.”
According to an update on the webpage from the law firm her father cofounded, Hosch & Morris, Hosch hiked the Byron Herbert Reece Trail, where he reached the top of Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail. His loved ones said it’s a route he knew well.
“We have confirmed that he was descending from the top of Blood Mountain when he was last seen,” the site said. “Charles is a creature of habit. We believe that he intended to hike down Blood Mountain but lost his way. This information is helping search teams focus their efforts along the most likely path Charles would have taken on his return journey.”
Those are two of the biggest leads they have come across in six days of searching for him, including canine indicators that he was on the trail.
“I wish I could say we found Dad’s pen or something. We really haven’t,” she said.
By design, hikers come to Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail to get away from everything. Her father is a native of Gainesville, Ga., not far from the area in question. He was visiting his brother, they said. Hosch took a hike as he had done before.
His daughter said it’s not like their father, off the grid or not, not to call his family. She said his phone, per the authorities, is off.
“And we’ve also connected with Apple, Gmail, and Google Maps, and all of those. And it doesn’t really narrow us any closer to the location than the mountain because the phone was off, which is very unlike my dad,” she said. “It’s very uncharacteristic. He was always reachable by his family. So it may have died on the drive. We don’t know.”
They spent Sunday trying to figure out where he might go in the rugged, unforgiving terrain, even with his skills as an Eagle Scout and experienced hiker.
In the meantime, Hosch-Singh said they have been overwhelmed with kindness. Offers to use homes and office space, and an abundance of food. She said they’ve felt an undeniable sense of community in Georgia and nearly 900 miles away in Dallas.
She said what they need most are people to release videos they have seen or speak about encounters they may have had with the accomplished Hosch, whose success runs deep in both states. They believe it will increase the chances of him coming home.
His law students at SMU will get what her father called “the benediction” this week. It’s her father’s words of impartation and mentorship to those who have been in his class. For those who are in his life, they want to find him now.
“Well, daughter number one, and daughter number two, and wife, and daughter number one’s husband, and everybody involved in this, the thing that we all want most is to find a full stop immediately, as soon as possible, swift and safe return,” she said.
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