UPDATE: Searchers Find Body of Missing New York Hiker Esther Keiderling on Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Maine
Photo courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
UPDATE: June 4, 2025, 1:00 P.M:
Sadly, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has announced that at 1:00 p.m. today, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, searchers located the body of missing New York hiker Esther Keiderling on Katahdin off the Tablelands in a wooded area between two known trails. More details regarding the search will be released later today.
On Wednesday, June 4, 2025, Baxter State Park Rangers and the Maine Warden Service held a briefing for searchers about half an hour ago before they deployed to search areas of Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park for missing New York hiker Esther Keiderling.
Searchers are searching the top of Mt. Katahdin to look for clues to her location after she went missing while hiking near the summit with her father, Tim Keiderling, on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
The search efforts are on the Tablelands and the trails and streams that are located on the east side of Katahdin.
The search currently involves 25 Maine state game wardens, four K-9 Maine state warden teams, and 21 Baxter State Park Rangers. The Maine Forest Service and Maine Army National Guard helicopters are assisting in the search and helping to transport search crews to the summit of Mt. Katahdin. This will allow the search teams to make the most of their time by not having to climb the mountain.
On Tuesday night, the Maine Army National Guard used a Lakota helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging device to search for Esther, with no traces of her detected.
Esther’s father, Tim, was found deceased on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in the Tablelands area of Katahdin by Maine Game Warden Chad Robertson and K-9 Strom.