Search Continues for Man Who Wandered off Mt. Washington Summit

CONTACT:
Lieutenant Mark Ober
603-788-4850
July 17, 2025

Sargent’s Purchase, NH – NH Fish and Game Conservation Officers, Mt. Washington State Park personnel, and volunteer search teams from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR) have been searching for a missing Florida man in and around the summit of Mt. Washington since Wednesday evening.

Fish and Game was notified around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, about a man, identified as William Davis, 79, of Jacksonville, FL, who wandered off the summit of Mt. Washington after taking the Cog Train to the top. According to Davis’s wife, he was last seen in the area of the observation deck around 3:20 p.m. From there no one knows where he went. Phone contact was made by a State Park employee and it seemed that he was lost off trail but didn’t appear to be very far from the summit. Davis did not know where he was, but his description of the area made it seem that he would be easily located. However, after searching for over an hour he was not located and had stopped answering his phone.

A full-scale search was conducted with a Fish and Game Drone Team and over 24 rescue personnel searching off trail locations well into the early morning hours. The temperatures were mild with light winds initially, which helped the searchers, but fog came in late, and the wind picked up.

With no evidence of his whereabouts and no clues to go on, the search was suspended around 2:00 a.m. and commenced again at 6:00 a.m. Again Drone Teams started right after sunrise and search teams consisting of AVSAR volunteers, State Park employees, and Conservation Officers from around the state arrived and searched areas where it was assumed Davis would have most likely walked to. Searchers scoured off-trail locations in periods of thick clouds and increasing winds throughout the day. Again, with no evidence or clues of his whereabouts, and the deteriorating weather conditions, the search was suspended for the night, but will commence in the morning on July 18.