Getting lost can happen to anyone, whether it’s as simple as taking a wrong turn on the road and ending up in an unfamiliar part of town, or as serious as wandering off the trail in an extremely remote and unforgiving wilderness area. The former is a temporary inconvenience, but the consequences of the latter can be fatal, especially if you’re caught alone and unprepared. Michael Neiger has dedicated his life to finding lost individuals, often in situations where local authorities have exhausted all of their resources and families have begun to lose hope. Over the span of his career in law enforcement and search and rescue, he has developed a unique skill set, and a powerful understanding of human nature.
Michael, now retired after 26 years with the Michigan State Police, is the founder of Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue. He spends his time searching for long-term lost and missing loved ones. This painstakingly difficult task often takes place in some of the most remote corners of the world, under the most extreme conditions the human body can endure. However, his passion helps bring closure to those suffering the agony of not knowing what happened to their lost family or friends.
Many cases that he has worked on have been featured in several books such as Where Monsters Hide: Sex, Murder, and Madness in the Midwest by New York Times-bestselling author M. William Phelps and The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands by John Billman, just to name a few. A regular speaker at outdoor symposiums throughout the Midwest, his expertise and unique casework has found its way on the air through media outlets like ABC’s 20/20, HBO’s Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen, and many more.
After attending a class on how Long-Term Missing (LTM) searches were conducted in the backcountry, we dug in a little further to learn more about his methods, the training he endures to perform optimally in the field, and what aspiring backcountry searchers can do to follow in his footsteps.
RECOIL OFFGRID: The wilderness has always been a part of your life because of your family’s passion for the outdoors. What key moments in your childhood helped kindle your own inner passion for outdoor adventure?
Michael Neiger: My parents took my older brother and I to the outdoors often. We were in the Boy Scouts, and my dad was a troop leader. He taught us how to hunt, fish, pick mushrooms, collect maple sap, build a fire, melt snow in the winter, camp,
