Seattle actor missing in Glacier Peak Wilderness

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office has initiated a ground and air search in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area of the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest near Lake Wenatchee for T.J. Langley, a Seattle theater actor and apartment-building manager, who hasn't been heard from since Sunday.

Langley checked in at a forest trailhead that day for what was supposed to be a two-day solo hike.

Family and friends say they expected 42-year-old Langley back by late Tuesday. They have not heard from him.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum is taking seriously the overdue-hiker report filed Thursday morning.

Since Thursday, the Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the sheriff's offices in Snohomish and King counties and several volunteers, have been conducting a search, concentrating on the Clark and Buck mountain areas.

Besides a ground search, helicopters searched from the air on Thursday afternoon, and a fixed-wing Cessna conducted an aerial search midday Friday.

"The country we're looking at is steep, rugged, true wilderness area," said Chelan County Deputy Sheriff Gene Ellis. "Much of it is off-trail, meaning we're going through areas where there is no built-in trail."

Ellis said Langley signed in at the trailhead on Sunday, indicating he'd be back Tuesday. His car, a 1970s Volkswagen Beetle, was found parked at the trailhead.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com