Missing man served in Marine corps

Status area

Where is Peter Louis Kastner? New photos of missing Oklahoma man released.

Yellowstone Park — Rangers and investigators are still hoping the public can help with the ongoing search for a man missing since Monday morning.

A rental car belonging to 25 year old Peter Louis Kastner, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was discovered at the Hellroaring Trailhead in the north central section of Yellowstone National Park early Monday morning, May 31. He had not applied for a permit to camp out overnight in the backcountry at one of the many campsites along the trail system in the area which leads to and parallels the Yellowstone River.

A subsequent investigation revealed the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue.

The Yellowstone National Park news release on this situation says, "Family members...reported they had not been in touch with Kastner in recent weeks, and reported him missing." However, on Friday, June 4, officials at both the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma office of the FBI, Missings Persons Unit, said they had not received a missing person's report pertaining to Kastner.

Kastner is described as 6 foot 1 inch tall; 185 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Based upon information from his family he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving for four years. During his service, he was injured twice by Improvised Explosive Devices while serving in Iraq. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota, area to attend college. His family is concerned about his mental state, and said he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome related to his injuries.

A series of searches by ground teams and dog teams have failed to turn up any clues to his whereabouts, as has a call for the public to report any sightings of Kastner in the area prior to Monday morning.

Investigators still believe he is in the park. Search efforts are slated to ramp up again this weekend, as ground searchers and dog teams will again focus on the backcountry northwest of Tower Junction. Cloudy, rainy weather, a low ceiling, and a lack of a focused search area have led searchers to focus efforts on the ground rather than utilizing helicopters or fixed wing aircraft.

The Park Service issues two new photos of Kastner on Friday, June 4. Click the arrows to view.

There is a chance Kastner is no longer in Yellowstone. Investigators in the area are asking anyone who may have seen or been in contact with Kastner in recent weeks to call Yellowstone National Park at 307-344-7381.

This is part of the online edition of Henry's Fork Country.

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