‘Glory to God,’ says sister of North Texas man found after 4 days missing in S.C.
Amy Nitzel got the message she had been waiting multiple anxious and sleepless days for on Thursday afternoon.
A close friend to her younger brother, Richard Gonzalez, told her over Facebook the 27-year-old had been found safe in the South Carolina wilderness, roughly 96 hours after he became separated from their group during their camping trip. But Nitzel, 30, needed to know more.
“I needed the reassurance. I needed the confirmation to know he was unharmed and safe and he wasn’t scared,” she told the Star-Telegram. “And I did get that confirmation.”
Gonzalez, a Garland, Texas resident, had been hiking with this friend and another friend in Oconee State Park in Mountain Rest, South Carolina, on Monday when he mistakenly walked ahead of them. His friends tried to backtrack and find him, Nitzel said, but he was nowhere to be found. They reported him as missing when they got back to their van on Tuesday.
Nitzel, whose father was contacted by local authorities Tuesday, at first felt gravely worried due to her brother’s inexperience hiking, with “every horrible scenario” running through her mind. She reached out several times to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office for updates on the aerial and ground search efforts, she said. She couldn’t sleep or eat.
She felt some reassurance, however, as his friends told her the trail wasn’t too complicated and he had plenty of food and supplies, including a water filter.
When officials involved in the search came up to Gonzalez on Thursday and said his name, Nitzel said, he was confused. He didn’t know he had been at the center of a massive search effort.
“He said, ‘Oh, well I guess I’m not finishing the trail now,’” Nitzel said.
After Gonzalez had walked ahead of his friends on Monday, separating from the group, he didn’t really consider himself to be lost, according to Nitzel, who lives in Prosper.
But for his mother, father and only sister, his days missing were filled with stress and worry, as they were left to guess where he was and how he was. And the reunion has been bliss.
His parents had driven from their home in Dallas to South Carolina as soon as they found out Gonzalez was missing on Tuesday night, as Nitzel had to stay home with her 4-month-old daughter. After Gonzalez was found Thursday, Nitzel said, he and his parents spent the night in South Carolina, turning the trip into a mini vacation. They planned to check out a waterfall on Friday before starting their drive home later in the day.
Gonzalez wasn’t having great cell phone service and wasn’t available on Friday for an interview, Nitzel said.
She’s overjoyed to see him when he gets back, she said. She wrote on Facebook on Friday, above a photo of her and her brother, “Y’all hurry up and come home!!”
“I told him,” she said, “‘I won’t be completely at peace until I see you for myself and I give you a hug.’”
Oconee County Emergency Services shared the good news that Gonzalez had been found safe on its Facebook page on Thursday, a day after disseminating a flier about his disappearance. The agency thanked those who reached out to provide information about his location.
Crews finally encountered Gonzalez near the Bad Creek Trail Head in the park, according to WYFF-TV in South Carolina. The director of emergency management in Oconee County told the news station crews had thoroughly searched the trail and investigated public hiker sightings in order to find him.
Nitzel at some point plans to remind her brother, a “very private person,” that this incident illustrates why it’s important for him to communicate with his family. When Gonzalez left for the trip, she said, he didn’t tell her he was leaving, or where he was going. He had only mentioned he was debating whether or not to go on a hiking trip, considering the coronavirus.
In the future, she would like for him to be forthright with any information about any trips he’s taking, she said.
For now, though, she’s content to enjoy him being back.
“Glory to God,” Nitzel said.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 4:27 PM.
