Search teams fail to find missing man

Monday, March 29, 2004 | 9:02 a.m.

A 38-year-old Las Vegas man is still missing although rescuers and dog teams have spent days searching for him at Lake Mead.

Friends saw Robert Heissenberger walking away from the water off Northshore Drive on March 21, National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said Sunday. That was the last time the man was seen.

Heissenberger was not carrying water at the time and temperatures at the lake were above normal seasonal highs, she said.

When some friends returned to the same area on Wednesday, they found Heissenberger's pickup truck parked in the same place and notified the Park Service.

About 20 people, three search dog teams and a Park Service helicopter joined in the hunt for Heissenberger Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dey said.

Metro Police's Search and Rescue Unit and search dogs assisted the Park Service on Friday. "Let's hope he's with friends and just left his truck," Dey said.

Heissenberger was a regular visitor to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, friends told the Park Service.

Although there have been 22 drownings in the area in the past four years, missing persons are rare, Dey said.

A San Francisco couple went missing from Lake Mead campground in November 2002.

Anyone who has seen the missing man is asked to contact the National Park Service 24-hour dispatch center at (702) 293-8998.