EPHRAIM, WI (WTAQ) – They’re not giving up the search yet in Door County for a missing Fox Valley doctor.
That’s the word from Door County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Pat McCarty, who denied media reports suggesting the sheriff’s office suspended the search for 63-year-old Jeffrey Whiteside.
“Absolutely not,” McCarty said when reached by phone Tuesday. “There are no searches planned, but they do materialize as time goes on.”
McCarty says that can happen when acting upon a tip they receive, or something else comes up.
“I look at last week, for example, when we met Monday we had no planned searches,” said McCarty. “We ended up conducting another aerial search of Eagle Harbor, another canvass and 3 more K-9 searches.”
McCarty added he’s unsure where the idea they were suspending the search came from, but something he spent much of Tuesday dealing with.
Whiteside was last seen June 29 walking away from the Ephraim Yacht Harbor Marina following a fight with his wife, Kathi Whiteside.
“It was a verbal argument, I’m not going to go into the details of it,” McCarty said when pressed about what it was about.
Following the argument, authorities say Kathi Whiteside drove back to their residence in Grand Chute. Jeffrey Whiteside wasn’t reported missing until July 1.
Now, there’s a new snag in the investigation. Kathi Whiteside has hired an attorney.
“We asked for consent to search the residence in Grand Chute, and we were contacted by counsel representing Mrs. Whiteside,” said McCarty. “Mrs. Whiteside is invoking her right to counsel and all further communication with her will go through her attorney.”
Kathi Whiteside has retained Bradley Priebe of Priebe law office, an Appleton-based attorney. Calls to his office were not returned as of Tuesday evening.
When asked about Kathi Whiteside’s motive for hiring a lawyer at this point, when she’s been in direct contact with investigators, McCarty was guarded in his response.
“I can’t really comment on why she would other than this is a very stressful situation for her, having her husband missing, and now having us ask to search the residence,” McCarty said.
McCarty also reiterated that they currently have no persons of interest and they all possible scenarios remain in play. So what’s the agency’s next move?
“Moving forward, we’re looking at the possibility of trying to have more dogs come up and continue with the K-9 searches,” says McCarty. “The problem with that is the ability to find dogs that are available.”
Whiteside is a physician at the Fox Valley Pulmonary Medicine facility. His co-workers and other medical colleagues have been helping in the search.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Door County Sheriff’s Department at (920) 746-2416.
