HAMPDEN — Searchers found an Orrington man missing since Thursday dead inside his SUV near Ammo Industrial Park on Saturday. Michael Miller, 40, had not been heard from since about 8 a.m. Thursday. His wife believed he might have been within a 5-mile radius of Center Drive. Searchers from Down East Emergency Medical Institute found him and his vehicle on a service road near the industrial park and Route 202 shortly after they began searching at 7:53 a.m., said Richard Bowie, DEEMI’s director.

“We found his vehicle, secured it immediately, and called the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department,” Bowie said Saturday.

Miller’s death did not appear to be of suspicious origin, said Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Fitch of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.

In addition to personnel from the sheriff’s office, those searching for the missing man included family and friends, DEEMI search and rescue volunteers, who brought two Humvees to the command post at the Orrington Fire Department, and Julie Jones and her tracking dog, Quincy, of VK9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery.

The DEEMI searchers worked all night because they were using a forward looking infrared system in one of two donated humvees they were driving. The system allows the searchers to see into dark woods and other hard-to-search areas, Bowie said.

At least 20 people participated in the search, he said.


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