KOKADJO – A New Hampshire man reported missing by a friend after he failed to return to her Brownville home as planned on Sunday called his friend late Tuesday afternoon to say he was OK and on his way back to her house.

Kevin O’Neal, 44, of Seabrook, N.H., had told his friend on Saturday that he would be snowmobiling from Pittston Farm via Kokadjo to Millinocket to meet friends there, and that he would be back in Brownville on Sunday, according to Maine Warden Service Lt. Pat Dorian.

The Warden Service had received a missing persons report at 10:15 a.m. Monday, and was told that O’Neal was last seen at Pittston Farm between noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, according to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife spokeswoman Deb Turcotte.

O’Neal left his vehicle and trailer at a friend’s house in Brownville, and set out snowmobiling on a bright light blue older model 800 Polaris snowmobile on Saturday morning.

After receiving the emergency call, the Warden Service initiated a massive search for O’Neal on Monday morning. A warden pilot flew for more than three hours checking snowmobile trails from Pittston Farm to Kokadjo, from Kokadjo to Millinocket, and from Brownville to Pittston Farm. At least 10 wardens searched main snowmobile trails, many that had not been broken open since the Sunday-Monday snowstorm, Turcotte said. Snow in many locations still is four to five feet deep.

The friend notified the Warden Service late Tuesday that O’Neal had called from Big Lake Equipment, a snowmobile repair shop in Greenville, and that he was en route back to Brownville. She told the Warden Service that O’Neal had been snowmobiling the past few days and may have stayed with friends along the way, according to Dorian.

Wardens planned to speak with O’Neal Tuesday evening. The incident remains under investigation.

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