Texas EquuSearch ( ; TES) is a

search-and-rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

organization dedicated to searching for

missing persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

. It has increasingly become involved in high-profile abduction cases, including that of

Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie, though uncommon according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Notable people with the name include: *Natalee Caple (born 1970), Canadian author of novels and poetry *Natalee Holloway (born ...

, working through local law enforcement agencies. TES is headquartered in

Dickinson, Texas Dickinson is a city in Galveston County, Texas, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The population was 20,847 at the 2020 census. History Dickinson is located on a tract of land granted to John Dickinson in 1824, a ...

, a suburb of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

History

Originally named ''Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team'', TES was founded in August 2000 by Director Tim Miller after the abduction and murder of his daughter, Laura. It is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit, all-volunteer organization originally conceived as a volunteer mounted search-and-rescue group to assist local law enforcement personnel in searching the vast areas outside the city of Houston for missing individuals. Although TES has relatively few permanent members, many thousands of volunteers have since assisted in searches throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and in other countries. Volunteers are typically trained on the spot when a search is necessary. The expectation is that volunteers know how to use the equipment they bring with them, whether that is a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

, a

FLIR Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

-equipped

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, or something in between. TES has gained a reputation as a well-equipped organization which can at short notice deploy resources such as

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

or SAR dog teams, and vehicles ranging from

all-terrain vehicle An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...

s to

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

remotely operated vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ai ...

TES role in notable searches

on initial search, with a follow-up after Joran van der Sloot's arrest in the murder of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez. * Disappearance and murder of Jessie Davis: TES organized a large search involving many regional SAR teams and spontaneous volunteers. *

Acres Homes, Houston, Texas Acres Homes is a neighborhood located in northwest Houston, Texas. The mile area is loosely bounded by the city limits and West Gulf Bank Road to the north; Pinemont Drive to the south; North Shepherd Drive to the east; and Alabonson Drive to th ...

: TES searched for possible bodies in a wooded area that had been the scene of recent body-dumping. *Randy and Denim Sylvester: TES organized a PR campaign. The charred remains of the children were found in a suitcase and chest, located near a railroad track on Highway 3 in Houston, TX on June 21, 2008. *

Caylee Anthony Caylee Marie Anthony (August 9, 2005 – June-December 2008) was an American girl who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony (born March 19, 1986), and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 1 ...

, who was later found dead. Tim Miller wants Equusearch to be reimbursed for costs related to the search (over $110,000 for two-day search), since, according to Casey Anthony's trial testimony, the child was never missing. *

Disappearance of Vanessa Guillen Disappearance may refer to: * Forced disappearance, when an organization forces a person to vanish from public view Books * ''Disappearance'' (Trifonov novel), published posthumously 1987 *''Disappearance'', novel by Guyanese writer David Dab ...

: TES assisted in the large-scale search for Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old woman, who went missing from one of the biggest military bases in the U.S., the

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...

Army post in Texas.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.texasequusearch.org Rescue agencies Non-profit organizations based in Houston Charities based in Texas Missing people organizations