The search continues in a 4-square-mile area where the family’s red Jeep Cherokee, above, was found Wednesday on a forest spur road about 12 miles up the Rogue River from Gold Beach. The Pilot/Steve Kadel

More than 60 searchers combed the wooded terrain near Kimball Hill south of the Rogue River on Friday but failed to find three mushroom hunters missing since Monday.

Search and rescue personnel from four counties and the U.S. Forest Service along with fixed-wing aircraft, a helicopter and K9 teams have combed a 4-square-mile area for five days and come up empty.

“It’s just odd,” said Curry County Sheriff John Bishop. “Every day that goes by (survival) gets slimmer, but we are holding out hope.”

 He said additional search and rescue personnel have been requested from Multnomah and Clackamas counties. The intense search will continue for two more days, Bishop said, before officials reassess the effort late Sunday.

Missing are Oklahoma husband and wife Daniel Conne, 47, and Belinda Conne, 47, and their 25-year-old son Michael Conne. They have been in Oregon about eight months, Bishop said.

Bishop said there are some heavily vegetated areas that the missing people could be in, but those areas are difficult even for searchers to penetrate.

He added the three are thought to be lost and there is no indication of foul play. A background investigation found no significant criminal activity by the parents or son, Bishop said.

 Searchers found the family’s red Jeep Cherokee on Wednesday, along with a jacket and backpack believed to belong to them. More items, such as buckets apparently used for collecting mushrooms, were found Friday.

Bishop was able Friday to get a search warrant to go inside the car and the family’s trailer at Huntley Park, lower on the Rogue River. Nothing to help solve the mystery was found either place. 

Bishop flew over the rugged hills for an hour Thursday in a Cal-Ore Life Flight helicopter without success. 

Nine ground teams representing search and rescue squads from four county sheriff’s offices scoured the same rugged terrain and also came up empty late Thursday.

Bishop appeared mystified Thursday after flying over the area where the three lost people are thought to be.

“We have them surrounded,” he told Undersheriff Bob Rector, referring to the SAR teams. “We’ve got people all over.”

The family vehicle was found less than one mile up Spur Road 120, where the Connes evidently had driven from Jerry’s Flat Road about 12 miles up the Rogue River.

“They’re said to have had one dog with them, but we have not found that dog,” Rector said, adding that two other dogs belonging to the family were located at their permanent camp at Huntley Park, lower on the Rogue River.

Bishop said the pickers might have set up a central deposit point for their mushrooms where the jacket and backpack were found, setting out from there to seek more mushrooms. It’s not known whether they stayed together or split up.

The area searched Thursday, a rectangle stretching south from the river, is the same area search teams combed for the two previous days, Bishop said.

SAR teams from the Curry, Josephine, Jackson and Del Norte county sheriff’s offices are looking for the missing people. In addition, a Civil Air Patrol fixed-wing airplane out of Medford has flown the area for two days, and U.S. Forest Service personnel also have taken part.

More than 40 searchers and four K9 units worked Thursday to find the lost family.

Despite the large number of volunteers involved, Bishop said the search is taking  its toll on his staff, which has seven members working the case.

Bishop noted that Cal-Ore Life Flight pilot Dan Brattain donated the use of the company helicopter at no charge. The craft costs several hundred dollars per hour to operate, the sheriff said.

“Dan is donating his time, which I appreciate very much,” Bishop said.

Brattain flew the plane at various altitudes, including close to tree-tops to allow the best view possible.

Anyone with information about the Connes’ whereabouts is asked to call the Curry County Sheriff’s Office at 541-247-3242 or 1-800-543-8471.