Kurt Ruppert Jr., of Lake City, FL, is the skydiver missing near Mt. Si, the King County Sheriff's Office confirmed this afternoon, Jan. 4.
The search continues today, despite deep snow in the 5 mile search radius and fog that earlier affected deployment of KCSO's Guardian 2 search helicopter, but it was out searching again as of about 1:45 p.m. Friday.
According to posts on Facebook, Ruppert is affiliated with Skydive Palatka and is an avid skydiver.
KCSO Sergeant Cindi West said Ruppert was skydiving from a helicopter, which appears to be privately owned, along with two friends. Each was taking turns going up in the helicopter, while the other two waited at the landing rendezvous spot.
Ruppert was wearing a brown "winged" flightsuit that allowed lateral movement, both widening the area where he could have landed and makes visual detection more difficult in the heavily forested area. Ruppert has been exposed for nearly 24 hours, apparently without emergency supplies, but searchers remain hopeful that he will be located soon, West said.
