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Texas team joins search

By Richelle Bailey | The McDowell News

Published: December 4, 2008

The Texas-based group that has searched for Natalee Holloway in Aruba and Caylee Anthony in Florida will be in McDowell this weekend to assist in the hunt for a missing Glenwood man.
Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team, led by Tim Miller, will scour the woods behind the Cherokee Way residence of Michael Leon Pendley Saturday.
Pendley, 21, was last seen around 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23. Family members have said that he and his wife argued outside their home that afternoon. Pendley sprinted to the woods at the back of their mobile home and disappeared. He hasn't been seen or heard from since.
McDowell County sheriff's deputies have conducted dozens of interviews, as well as searches and checkpoints, and they've come up with little concrete information concerning Pendley's whereabouts.
Mark Conner, Pendley's father, read about EquuSearch on the Internet and called them.
"(Tim Miller) said he would be glad to help," Conner stated.
EquuSearch is a nonprofit organization with more than 350 members. The agency was started in August 2000 with the purpose of providing volunteer horse mounted search and recovery for lost and missing individuals. The team's existence is dedicated to the memory of Laura Miller, Tim Miller's daughter, who was abducted and murdered in North Galveston County, Texas in 1984.
According to the EquuSearch Web site, many of its members are trained in various rescue and lifesaving skills such as CPR, and they come from all walks of life. There are business owners, medics, firefighters, housewives, electricians and students. Their resources range from horse and rider teams to foot searchers, water (divers and boats), air (planes and helicopters), dog teams (air scent, cadaver and tracking) and four-wheelers. They have also utilized infrared cameras in some of their hunts.
Pendley's family is offering a $2,500 reward for information concerning his whereabouts and the person or people responsible for his disappearance. McDowell County Crimestoppers will add cash to that pot.
A special account has been set up for Pendley at Wachovia bank in Marion. Any money collected will be used to aid in the investigation and search, according to the family.
Pendley is a white male who stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs approximately 155 pounds. He has brown shoulder-length hair, green eyes and numerous tattoos.
Anyone with information is asked to call the McDowell County Sheriff's Office at 652-4000 or McDowell County Crimestoppers at 65-CRIME. With Crimestoppers, your identity remains anonymous, and you could receive a cash reward.