STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

CASE#: 23B4004503

STATION: VSP Rutland

CONTACT#: 802-773-9101

DATE/TIME: Last reported sighting July 9, 2023

INCIDENT LOCATION: 709 U.S. Route 4, Killington

INCIDENT: Missing person / death investigation

VICTIM: Robert Kerker

AGE: 67

CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Rhinebeck, New York

 

SUMMARY OF INCIDENT:

The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner's Office has informed the Vermont State Police of its preliminary determinations of the cause and manner of death of Robert Kerker, 67, of Rhinebeck, New York. The office found the cause of death was a probable drowning, and the manner of death an accident that occurred when Mr. Kerker was caught in the current of a brook while hiking the Appalachian Trail during a storm-related flooding event.

 

 

***Update No. 1, 10:20 p.m. Friday, July 28, 2023***

The Vermont State Police has located the body of a man believed to be missing Appalachian Trail hiker Robert Kerker, 67, of Rhinebeck, New York. At about 2:30 p.m. Friday, July 28, 2023, search crews located Mr. Kerker's body along the Stony Brook in Stockbridge about 1.5 miles downstream from where the trail crossed the brook.

 

Crews had focused their efforts Friday on the brook after a witness reported seeing Mr. Kerker at the Stony Brook Shelter on the Appalachian Trail the night of July 9. The witness said severe rain and flooding that struck Vermont starting July 10 had elevated water levels on the Stony Brook and made the trail's crossing of the stream dangerous. Mr. Kerker is not known to have been seen again following that encounter.

 

The Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team, Killington Search and Rescue, the Killington Police Department, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles and New England K9 Search and Rescue participated in the effort Friday afternoon to recover Mr. Kerker's remains. The body was brought to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.

 

Initial investigation by the state police indicates the death is not suspicious and was related to the severe flooding. Mr. Kerker was an experienced hiker who began his trek on the Appalachian Trail on June 1 in Bear Mountain, New York.

 

No further details are available at this time. The Vermont State Police will provide updates as the investigation continues.

 

 

***Initial news release, 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, 2023***

The Vermont State Police is looking for a missing 67-year-old man who was last seen on July 9, 2023, at the Inn at Long Trail in Killington. Robert Kerker was reported overdue by his family to the National Park Service on July 24, 2023. The Vermont State Police was contacted on the evening of July 24th to assist with locating Kerker. Kerker is hiking the northern half of the Appalachian Trail, and his intended direction of travel was north on the Appalachian Trail. He was checking in with family weekly, which he has not done since July 9th.

Robert Kerker is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds, and has short white hair and a beard. He goes by the trail name of "Steady Eddie." A photograph of him hiking as he crossed into Vermont on the Appalachian Trail is attached.

 

Anyone with information is asked to call the Vermont State Police barracks in Rutland at 802-773-9101.

 

- 30 -