Police found his red Jeep Sunday morning, but several hours went on with no word on his whereabouts
FORT DAVIS — A Pecos, Texas, area man — Jonathan Miller, 27 — went missing near Fort Davis late Friday night, prompting an extensive search by authorities on Sunday morning. Miller had been heading to the Davis Mountain Preserve in his red jeep to camp with friends, according to family and friends.
The Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office reported on its Facebook Page at 8 p.m. Sunday that he had been found “safe.” “We are relieved to report that the missing individual has been found safe,” stated a post from Jeff Davis County Sheriff Victor Lopez. “He is currently being escorted back into town and will undergo a medical evaluation.” The sheriff later posted that Miller had hiked 11.5 miles through Madera Canyon before emerging. “Jonathan is in good spirits and grateful to everyone who helped find him,” he said. Lopez praised his department and a multitude of agencies — DPS, Border Patrol, Reeve’s County Sheriff’s Office and local EMTs and firefighters — for their search efforts.
On Sunday morning, Facebook posts from Miller’s family had quickly spread alerting the public to be on the lookout for Miller, as well as an official post from authorities around 10 a.m. noting: “Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office has launched air support from local residents as well as a DPS helicopter to aid in the search.”
Miller’s nephew, Tristan Miller, told The Big Bend Sentinel at 12:40 p.m. Sunday that authorities had found Miller’s jeep, although he hadn’t heard exactly where.
Greg Unruh — of Saragosa, near Balmorhea — who employs Miller, said Miller was heading to the preserve to camp with a group that included his son. A text came in to his son from Miller Friday night saying he was about 40 miles out from arriving. “I’m suspecting he got lost,” Unruh said. “He relies quite heavily on GPS. Once you leave Fort Davis heading to the preserve, you get a little service at [McDonald] Observatory, then that’s it.”
Unruh said Sunday a Department of Public Safety officer told him the jeep was stuck in the mud in Madera Creek. “It sounds like John abandoned it there and started walking,” he said. Unruh said a DPS helicopter had been scouring the area all day.
Miller’s niece, Leah Miller, gave a fuller account of the incident in a Monday Facebook post. After the jeep got stuck in Madera Creek, “Jon,” as she calls him, camped with the vehicle Friday night. On Saturday, he struck out on foot to get his bearings. Before leaving his Jeep, he stuffed his backpack with supplies: water jug, towel, clothes, iPad and 2.5 lbs of raw bacon. He schlepped the heavy pack up to higher elevation, seeking cell service and any sign that search crews were looking for him. When he ran out of water, he hiked back down toward the creek. “He got so hungry that he ate some of the raw bacon,” Leah Miller recounted.
Jonathan attempted to start a fire, but couldn’t find all the supplies he needed. He used the creek bed to navigate –– and hydrate. That night he spent by the creek, with rocks for a bed and a towel for a pillow. “He said it was really beautiful and he saw and heard quite a bit of wildlife, including elk,” Leah said. “At one point on the hike, he had seen a bull elk and hoped it wouldn’t charge him, but fortunately, it wandered away.”
When morning came, Jonathan filled his water jug and scrambled through dense brush and rocky terrain to try to find the highway again. At one point, he thought he heard a plane, but couldn’t be sure. He decided to chance powering up his iPad –– before leaving home, he’d downloaded some maps for offline use, and wanted to save battery life on his phone in case he was able to catch a flicker of service.
The iPad had some discouraging news: he was hours away from the highway. “If it wasn’t for his iPad telling him the remaining miles when he would look at it, he said he may have given up,” Leah wrote.
As the miles slowly dwindled, he heard a voice: his mother, who passed away in October 2023, cheering him on. Finally, the countdown reached 0.1 miles –– and then the highway appeared.
From that point a passing motorist called the authorities for help, and they took Jonathan to the Big Bend Regional Medical Center for evaluation and intravenous fluids, Leah wrote, before he was released around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
The Davis Mountain Preserve is about 33,000 mountainous acres owned by The Nature Conservancy, with mountain peaks topping 8,000 feet. The preserve is about 24 miles northwest of Fort Davis off of Highway 118, and it opens on select weekends to the public — including this weekend.