Charlotte man went missing on Blue Ridge Parkway, cops say. ‘Our deepest condolences’

UPDATE: The Ashe County Sheriff’s Office reported June 21 that “the missing individual has been located,” but offered no details. “Our deepest condolences go out to the family,” the department wrote in a Facebook post.

The original story is below.

A Charlotte man has been missing for days along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the North Carolina mountains, according to the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office.

David Kuklentz was reported missing by his family around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The search for him has been suspended “until any new leads surface,” officials said in a June 20 news release.

“Kuklentz and his immediate family were visiting extended family in Ashe County. The subject was last seen on camera driving through the Jefferson area at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday,” the sheriff’s office said.

“The family began to worrying later that day when he did not return (and) he was reported missing. ... Ashe County sheriff’s deputies located (his) vehicle at 7:55 p.m. at the Northwest Trading Post located on the Blue Ridge Parkway.”

The Northwest Trading Post is a retail rest stop along the 469-mile mountain parkway and is closed for the 2024 season, the National Park Service reports.

It sits at milepost 258.7 in the Glendale Springs area, about a 105-mile drive northwest of Charlotte.

Kuklentz is 54 and was last seen wearing gray shorts, a black and white striped Tee-shirt and flip-flops, officials said.

Representatives from multiple agencies participated in a three-day search, which included a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Drones, sonar boats and cadaver dogs were utilized “but no trace of Mr. Kuklentz was found in the area,” officials said.

This story was originally published June 18, 2024 at 7:40 AM.