Call to help find missing man draws robust response from communities that know him well

Bill Schackner | Sunday, November 5, 2023 6:50 p.m.

Bill Schackner | Tribune-Review

A group of searchers including Jim Bosman, 57, of Springdale (center) walk uphill toward the command post after completing a search Sunday for missing man, Sean Dugan.

The turnout Sunday on short- notice caught even the organizers by surprise.

More than 200 volunteers, some clinging as tightly to their optimism as their walking sticks, chose to forgo a cloudless autumn day ripe for relaxation to join what arguably was a long shot search and rescue effort for Springdale resident Sean Dugan.

One volunteer, Tom Klingensmith, 64, summed things up succinctly after he and his fiancée, Paula Bogin, 58, both of Cheswick, returned from a shift searching the rugged, uneven terrain in Harmar where a friend of theirs may be in need of help.

“We’re hoping to bring him home,” Klingensmith said.

Dugan, 58, a Springdale resident, has been missing since Oct. 30.

Aerial drones, search dogs, firefighters in boats and days of shoe leather by police and other first-responders had failed to turn up any trace of the man. So on Sunday, volunteers joined forces with officers, firefighters and mountain rescue teams who have worked the case for nearly seven days.

They answered a call on Facebook to scour the terrain where Dugan’s car was spotted — a pull off along Gulf Lab Road at the Bessemer Railroad entrance.

Volunteer teams of 10 to 15 people, each directed by an Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group member, scoured their part of a 1½-square-mile search area near the Allegheny River.

Despite their efforts that stretched through mid-afternoon, there was no sighting Sunday, officials said.

Many said they knew the affable Dugan, who mowed lawns, did handyman jobs and worked in manufacturing in Harmar. He is a community figure, a regular at local boat docks.

“To be honest, I’ve never seen a turnout this big,” said Bruno Moretti, a retired coal miner who is emergency management coordinator for the Allegheny Valley Regional Emergency Management Agency. “These are people from all the surrounding communities — Springdale, Cheswick, Harmar, Springdale Township.”

Family members were at the command post but asked that their privacy be respected. They issued a statement expressing gratitude for Sunday’s volunteer turnout, in addition to first responders who took part in the search.

“On behalf of the family, many thanks,” it read in part. “Their help is truly appreciated. ”

Searchers set off about 10 a.m. from Pittsburgh Syria Shrine Center, which already was hosting an event at its facility Sunday but made room for personnel to set up a command post and search base.

A search and rescue team as far away as the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group out of Morgantown, W.Va., answered a call to help local first responders.

Dugan is described as having short hair and a goatee. He owns a hunting camp near Tionesta, Springdale police Chief Derek Dayoub said.

A Harmar police office on routine patrol Monday evening spotted Dugan’s empty Acura sedan parked at the pulloff.

Jim Bosman, 57, of Springdale grew up five houses from Dugan in Springdale and was among those who fanned out hoping to find him.

“He left an impact on a lot of people,” Bosman said. “Good family person. His family are great people.”

Bogin had a similar take.

”He was a buddy,” she said. “We love him.”

Police asked that anyone with information about where Dugan is call Springdale police at 724-274-9022 or the Allegheny County call center’s nonemergency line at 412-473-3056.