CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – A law enforcement ground search for a former Virginia Tech professor who’s been missing for almost three weeks will take place Wednesday.
Investigators are still following the case of 86-year-old Siegfried Holzer who left his Christiansburg home Feb. 22 and never returned.
Security cameras captured when Siegfried Holzer visited a Christiansburg Power Zone hardware store hours before his car was located in Baker, West Virginia without him.
“He was taking his chainsaw to a store in Christiansburg to be worked on,” said his son, Matthew Holzer.
Siegfried Holzer brings the item to the desk and eventually drives away. Matthew Holzer said when his dad didn’t return that day, they got worried.
They contacted law enforcement and began tracking an air tag his mother left in the car. Later that evening they found the vehicle but not Holzer.
“It’s been stressful,” Matthew said. “We’re working with detectives, and we hope the public can help.”
Mountaineer Area Rescue Group has helped authorities with the search using tracking dogs.
“All three dogs tried independently,” said Lee Fuell, Mountaineer Area Rescue Group’s secretary. “They were not able to identify a sign of his passage leaving the car.”
Hardy County, W. Va. Sheriff Steven Dawson said investigators are still trying to determine if Holzer was picked up or walked off and are searching for more leads.
Meanwhile, the family said they need the public’s help to find their dad.
“Grateful for anyone willing to volunteer their time to help,” Matthew Holzer said. “Even if you’re not volunteering your time, just anyone keeping an eye out, keeping in the back of your mind that he may be still around somewhere.”
Holzer was last seen wearing a Virginia Tech windbreaker-style jacket.