June 5, 2026 · Search & Rescue

Missing 25-Year-Old Found Safe After Chavivim K9 Trail Search in Chester

Featured vehicle: KJ-501

Units: KJ-20 KJ-67 KJ-128 KJ-40 KJ-58 KJ-97 KJ-111 KJ-47 KJ-31 KJ-39 R-42

On the evening of Thursday, June 5, a 25-year-old man in Chester, NY had not come home since around 5:00 PM. At 7:25 PM the call reached Chavivim, and within minutes members were rolling toward his last-known area for what would become an evening-long search across a wooded trail network.

A Bike at the Trailhead

Crews pushed straight to the approximate location they'd been given. Within the hour, the first hard clue turned up: his bike and helmet, parked at the entrance to the Yrizarry Trail. It told the team two things at once — he was on foot somewhere past this point, and the search had a starting line.

A blue mountain bike and white helmet leaning against the Yrizarry Trail marker post at night, the first clue in the Chester search — The bike and helmet at the Yrizarry trailhead — the search's starting line.

Command Comes Online

KJ-501 set up as the on-scene command point. With the hatch up and the laptop out on the slide-out tray, members pulled aerial imagery of the trail system and started carving it into sectors — who takes which trail, where the lines tie in, and how far a person on foot could realistically have traveled.

Chavivim members gathered around a mapping laptop at the back of KJ-501, reviewing aerial imagery of the Chester trail system — Aerial imagery on the tray — turning a trail map into assigned sectors.

Vehicles from across the response staged together at the trailhead lot — the coordination hub for everyone cycling in and out of the woods.

Emergency vehicles including the Chavivim KJ-501 command unit staged together in a parking lot at dusk during the Chester search — Staging at the trailhead — the hub for teams moving in and out.

Boots on the Ground

With sectors assigned, ground teams moved out fast, working the tree lines and pushing the trails on foot while there was still light to work with.

A Chavivim searcher in a backpack heading toward a wooded tree line across an open field during the Chester search — A searcher pushing toward the tree line as the ground teams fanned out.

The K9 Goes to Work

A K9 team joined the effort, the dog working scent down the Yrizarry Trail and out across the surrounding trails. As the daylight faded, the search became a string of flashlight beams and a working dog leading members deeper into the network.

A K9 handler and Belgian Malinois search dog working a grassy trail edge under flashlight at night in Chester — The K9 working scent along the trail edge after dark.

A search dog leading Chavivim members up a wooded trail past a trail blaze at night during the Chester search — Following the dog up the trail, past the blazes, into the dark.

One Last Bar of Battery

The break came from the missing man himself. On the last of his phone battery, he managed to reach the team and pass along an approximate location before the phone died again. It was enough — command tightened the search corridor around that information and pushed the teams toward it.

A Chavivim member on a cell phone and two-way radio coordinating over a vehicle hood during the Chester search — Working the phone and the radio together to pin down the location.

Found — Safe and Sound

At 9:10 PM, the teams reached him. Chavivim's trained EMTs checked him over on the spot and found him in perfect condition — unhurt, and on his way home.

Chavivim members and the K9 walking the recovered bike back down the trail after locating the missing man safe

The recovered bike and helmet loaded into a pickup as Chavivim members and the K9 wrap up the Chester search under emergency lights — Bike and helmet loaded up as the teams wrapped the scene.

Why It Matters

From the 7:25 PM call to the 9:10 PM find was well under two hours — but in that window members drove to a trailhead, read a clue, built a search plan, put teams and a dog into the woods, and worked a single bar of phone battery into a location. That's the whole point of training for it before you need it.

It was a cross-division turnout, too: members responding as KJ-20, KJ-67, KJ-128, KJ-40, KJ-58, KJ-97, KJ-111, KJ-47, KJ-31, and KJ-39 from Orange County, alongside R-42 from Rockland. Different unit numbers, one radio, one mission — get him home.

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