Private Search Team Now Looking For Missing Cadet Candidate

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (CBS4) - The family of a missing Air Force cadet candidate now has a private search team looking for their son, Micah Tice. The 20-year-old man disappeared the day after Thanksgiving.

Tice left the home of his sponsor family in Colorado Springs and set out to hike Longs Peak. His car was found at the parking lot for the trailhead on Monday.

The Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Team started looking for Tice on the next day. Crews spent days in severe weather conditions searching for him. Other hikers reported seeing and hiking with Tice on the previous Saturday.

They say he was wearing black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt.

The family said on Friday they are frustrated with the search efforts and don't believe park officials have done enough to find him. They're asking for more federal help.

"President Trump has the ability to break through the bureaucratic mess of agency and elected officials who are now posturing and refusing to work with each other, to rescue my son Micah Tice. President Trump, we plead for your help," said Micah's father Benjamin Tice.

Park officials defended the search saying the Colorado National Guard helicopters and a mountaineering club at the Air Force Academy were called in.