UPDATE: A Newport grandfather and his adult grandson who have been missing since Monday when they set off for a Labor Day motorcycle ride are believed to have been killed in an accident off Route 4 in Boscawen, according to police. Read more here.
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NEWPORT — Family members, friends and concerned community members spread out around the hills and roads around Danbury, N.H., on Thursday, looking for a Newport man and his grandson who went missing Monday afternoon while on a motorcycle ride.
“We’re all thinking they’ve been out there for three nights in the elements. It needs to happen, we need to find them now,” Laura Glynn said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon as she aided in the search for her father, Jerry Proper, 69, and son, Cody Pillsbury, 22.
The two men were reported missing after they left Proper’s Newport home on a Honda GL18R1 Trike motorcycle around 2 p.m. Monday, according to a news release from Newport police, who said Proper was an avid rider.
Cellphone data shows Pillsbury’s phone connecting to a cell tower somewhere in the area near Danbury and Andover, but it’s possible that the men traveled beyond that spot, Newport Police Chief Brent Wilmot said.
Route 4 runs through Danbury, which is home to the Ragged Mountain Ski Area.
In the days after the men went missing, Wilmot said police have been viewing surveillance camera footage at businesses in the area, and looking at additional cellphone data for leads about where the two men might be.
They’ve also sought help from other agencies including New Hampshire Fish and Game and the New Hampshire State Police. For three hours on Wednesday, Newport Police and State Police used a helicopter around the area where they thought the two men might have traveled, but nothing was found, Wilmot said.
Family members and friends organized a search for the two men Thursday, with members of the community starting near Hippie Hill at the Route 104 intersection in Danbury, and spilling out over the surrounding highways and back roads.
“It’s a needle in a haystack kind of thing,” family friend Kristy Kibbey said, adding that she’s urging people to look over embankments and off the road for the two men. “They could be anywhere.”
For Glynn and other family members, the desperation is severe. She and her fiance spent Thursday traveling through various roads in the area including routes 4, 104, 11 and 3A, looking for her son and father.
“The problem is the search area is so huge, we honestly don’t know if they’re in that area,” Glynn said.
She said that her son’s phone was off after it responded to the cell tower, meaning he and Proper could have traveled for miles beyond that region.
A Labor Day ride is not unusual for the two men, who have a close bond and frequently head out on the road together, exploring rural New Hampshire on Proper’s bike.
“They’re little adventure buddies,” said Mandy Pillsbury, Cody’s older sister, adding that the pair have always been close. “My grandpa (lights) up when he talks about Cody and he’s always so proud of him.”
Glynn echoed her daughter’s words, saying Cody Pillsbury has gone on rides with his grandfather since he was 3 years old.
Her father has a long history riding motorcyles as well, she said, and often took several routes back home after exploring his home state.
Proper switched to the trike bike in February due to leg pain, she said, adding that he was a little unsure on it at first but has since taken to the new type of vehicle.
Friends and family members say that not hearing from the two men in days is unusual, since they are both responsible and always call if they take a day off of work, according to Glynn. Pillsbury works at LaValley Building Supply in Newport and Proper works at Micro Precision, Inc., which has a location in Newport.
“That’s one of the reasons we believe they never would have run off,” she said, adding that Pillsbury is “very diligent” about letting his parents know where he’s going. Pillsbury has also been taking classes at Southern New Hampshire University and attended Newport Middle High School, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Glynn has been heartened by the outpouring of support from the community, including from people who are strangers to the family.
“It means so much to us that all these people who don’t know them are out there trying to help us,” she said. For people who want to keep searching, she encourages looking beyond the Danbury area, saying that Proper was known to travel all around New Hampshire, although he didn’t often leave the state.
“Be looking for signs they went off the road, trees that are down and branches, look over embankments,” she said, adding, “Never in a million years did I think this would happen.”
Police urge anyone with information on the missing men to call the Newport station at 603-863-3232.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.