Wife of missing Joshua Tree hiker speaks out

51-year-old Paul Miller is believed to have gone missing in Joshua Tree National Park on July 13. While search and rescue teams have spent more than 6,000 hours searching for him, his wife has returned home to their native country. In an exclusive interview, Stephanie Miller shared details about the couple’s final moments and her hopes for the future.

“We had breakfast and I decided I wasn’t feeling up for a hike. So he said, ‘see ya,'” Stephanie said. “I figured I would see him in an hour and a half to two hours and that was it.”

Stephanie said she and her husband were outdoor enthusiasts and had been hiking in the extreme heat throughout the duration of their vacation. She said she was not worried until several hours without communication passed, so she contacted police. The car Paul was driving was found at the 49 Palms Oasis trailhead. Rescuers said they believe he intended to hike that trail.

Since that day, more than 600 searchers and 20 K-9 units have braved triple digit heat to find Paul. At times, the summer heat has been too intense for crews to work during the day.

“The park has been fairly insistent that because of the weather and the conditions in the park, it wouldn’t be helpful for us to be there. That we would likely we unable to enter the park because of the heat,” Stephanie said. “We obviously don’t want to be creating a secondary search and rescue for the park.”

Stephanie returned home to Ontario, Canada, to the couple’s two children who are 19 and 21, but said they remain hopeful he will be found.

“It’s the day to day every day normal stuff. I miss talking to him. Things keep happening here and it’s like, ‘I can’t wait to tell Paul. Oh, wait, I can’t.'”