Texas EquuSearch ( ; TES) is a search-and-rescue 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, o ...

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

Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other me ...

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

Dickinson, Texas Dickinson is a city in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County, Texas, United States, within Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. Its population was 20,847 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hist ...

, a suburb of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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 (business), 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 ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 mi ...

, 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 (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, 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 system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

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 navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

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 quad (if it has four wheels), as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, has a seat ...

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 or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

remotely operated vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) or remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is a free-swimming submersible craft used to perform underwater observation, inspection and physical tasks such as valve operations, hydraulic functions and other g ...

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: 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 (August9, 2005 – June2008) was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony (born March19, 1986), and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July15, 2008, Cayle ...

, 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 in 1987 *''Disappearance'', 1993 novel by Guyanese writer Davi ...

: 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 Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

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 based in the United States