New Hampshire woods search for Brick Township lawyer ramps down

After days of intensive activity, the search in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for missing Brick Township attorney Greg Auriemma is being scaled back, according to a state Fish and Game officer.

Auriemma, 63, an experienced outdoorsman and director of Sierra Club of Ocean County, left New Jersey June 24, for what was to have been a rugged, 10-day solo expedition in the White Mountains.

His brother, Kenneth, told Townsquare Media that he took no cell phone with him, and planned to squeeze in some fishing in the Dry River.

Another hiker discovered his camp site and unattended gear July 14. The weather that day included torrential rain, according to Townsquare Meteorologist Dan Zarrow, with more than four inches of accumulation, stiff winds that snapped trees, and "golf-ball" sized hail.

New Hampshire Fish and Game officials enlisted New Hampshire state police and National Guard personnel and local and regional K9 teams in a search that continued from then until now. He said that the large-scale search effort is being downscaled.

He added that missing hikers are common in the remote areas of the White Mountains where Auriemma planned his trek, estimating that as many as 10 disappear each year.