Search Underway In Yellowstone For Missing Oklahoma Man

A search is underway in Yellowstone National Park for an Oklahoma man missing since Monday. Peter Louis Kastner, 25, is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

During a routine patrol early Monday morning, rangers found a 2010 Red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma license plates parked at the Hellroaring Trailhead, 3.5 miles west of Tower Junction. The vehicle, which had obviously been parked overnight, was not associated with an overnight backcountry permit. A check showed Kastner had rented the vehicle several days earlier. Limited personal belongings were discovered in the car.

A preliminary search and questioning of hikers, backpackers, and area businesses have failed to turn up any information on Kastner’s whereabouts. Dog teams are being added to the search effort this afternoon. Kastner is described as 6 foot 1 inch tall; 185 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Rangers believe Kastner may have been in the area for up to two weeks, and may not have been using his own name in any contact with individuals or businesses.

Anyone with information regarding Kastner is asked to call Yellowstone National Park at 307-344-7381.

Rangers and investigators are still hoping the public can help with the ongoing search for a man missing since Monday morning.



A rental car belonging to 25-year-old Peter Louis Kastner, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was discovered at the Hellroaring Trailhead in the north central section of Yellowstone National Park early Monday morning. He had not applied for a permit to camp overnight in the backcountry at one of the many campsites along the trail system in the area which leads to and parallels the Yellowstone River.

A subsequent investigation revealed the red Cadillac STS sedan with Oklahoma plates had been rented a month earlier and was two weeks overdue. Family members who were then contacted reported they had not been in touch with Kastner in recent weeks, and reported him missing.

Kastner is described as 6 foot 1 inch tall; 185 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Based upon information from his family he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving for four years. During his service, he was injured twice by Improvised Explosive Devices while serving in Iraq. He had moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota, area to attend college.

His family is concerned about his mental state, and said he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome related to his injuries.

A series of searches by ground teams and dog teams have failed to turn up any clues to his whereabouts, as has a call for the public to report any sightings of Kastner in the area prior to Monday morning.

Investigators still believe he is in the park. Search efforts are slated to ramp up again this weekend, as ground searchers and dog teams will again focus on the backcountry northwest of Tower Junction. Cloudy, rainy weather, a low ceiling, and a lack of a focused search area has led searchers to focus efforts on the ground rather than utilizing helicopters or fixed wing aircraft.

There is a chance Kastner is no longer in Yellowstone. Investigators in the area are asking anyone who may have seen or been in contact with Kastner in recent weeks to call Yellowstone National Park at 307-344-7381.

Body Of Missing Man Discovered

The body of an Oklahoma man missing in Yellowstone National Park since May has been discovered.

Last Wednesday afternoon, a group of researchers working off trail in the park’s backcountry came upon human remains. They hiked out and notified park rangers, who then hiked into the area Thursday to confirm the researcher’s discovery.

Rangers found the body of a young man near the top of Garnet Hill, a prominent summit northwest of Tower Junction. The site is well off established trails and east of the Hellroaring Trailhead, where a rental car belonging to Peter Louis Kastner was discovered abandoned in late May.

The body was removed by helicopter, and then taken to Bozeman, Montana, for a forensic autopsy, which confirmed the remains were those of the 25-year-old man. The autopsy revealed that Kastner died from a self inflicted gunshot wound.

Kastner had been the subject of an ongoing search since May 31, when a check on the red Cadillac STS sedan parked at the trailhead showed that the vehicle was two weeks overdue from an Oklahoma City car rental agency. Family members who were then contacted said they had not been in touch with Kastner in recent weeks, and reported him missing.

A series of searches by ground teams, dog teams, and from the air had failed to turn up any clues to the missing man’s whereabouts, until Wednesday’s discovery by researchers.

Kastner had been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps after serving for four years. During his service, he was injured twice by Improvised Explosive Devices while serving in Iraq.

He had recently moved to Oklahoma City from the Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota, area to attend college.