Missing Seattle hiker's family, friends remain hopeful despite suspension of search operations

Samantha Sayers, 28, has been missing from a solo hike on Vesper Peak, Wash., since Aug. 1, 2018. (GoFundMe)

Search operations for a Seattle hiker missing since Aug. 1 have been suspended, officials said Thursday, but family and friends say they're not giving up.

Samantha Sayers, 28, went missing during a solo hike at Vesper Peak in the North Cascades in Washington state.

"We have exhausted all leads and tips," Sgt. John Adams of the Snohomish County sheriff's Search and Rescue unit told Seattle's Q13 FOX. “We’ve interviewed all witnesses who have come forward. We have checked and double-checked the possible routes we believe Sam could have taken."

Sayers' boyfriend, Kevin Dares, told Fox News that Vesper Peak was her favorite mountain. He wrote in a post in the "#findsamsayers" Facebook group that "Sam isn't gone and we haven't forgotten her."

Dares previously told Fox News that Sayers had lunch with an unidentifed male prior to her disappearance. Dares said the man reached out to authorities after he learned of Sayer's disappearance.

The sheriff's office also told Q13 FOX that another hiker reported seeing Sayers at lunchtime the day of her hike at the 6,220-foot summit, and that "she had walked to the south, rather than east back to her car."

“If there was a place we thought she could get to, we put people there to look for Sam, often putting our volunteers and personnel at great risk due to the rugged, remote and dangerous terrain,” Adams said.

Sam's mother, Lisa Yax Sayers, told Q13 FOX that not knowing the whereabouts of her daughter was the "most painful thing I've ever been through."

"I've been through cancer. I would do cancer again over this," Lisa said.

The search that began Aug. 2 included 357 hours for air operations, 329 hours for sheriff's office Search and Rescue personnel and 105 hours for drone operations, the sheriff's office said, citing preliminary numbers.

Thousands of volunteer hours from search and rescue agencies across Washington also aided in the search, officials said.

Spot checks of the area will continue in the area as snow continues to melt, the sheriff's office said.

Earlier this month, residents and businesses in Sayers' hometown of Girard, Pa., tied yellow ribbons around poles in the town's downtown area to draw attention to the search, Erie, Pa.'s WJET-TV reported. Aug. 13 was Sayers' 28th birthday.

A GoFundMe page set up for the search has raised more than $39,000 so far, surpassing a $35,000 goal. Nearly 1,000 people have donated.