Search Suspended For Hiker -- Issaquah Woman Still Missing After Four Days On Squak Mountain

ISSAQUAH - King County police have suspended the search for Donna Barensten, a 59-year-old Issaquah woman missing since Saturday while on a day hike on Squak Mountain.

The decision to halt the search came late yesterday after about 20 rescue workers used a heat-seeking infrared device experts say would have detected the woman's body heat.

About 20 rescue workers took part in the search yesterday. They shouldered the heat detector themselves, said King County police spokesman Tony Burtt, because it was too cloudy to search with a helicopter. It was hoped the device could detect Barensten's body heat in the dark and dense second-growth forest, where vision was limited.

After four days of searching with mountain-rescue teams, bloodhounds, German shepherds and almost 100 volunteers, police still haven't found any clue that would shed light on Barensten's disappearance, Burtt said.

Barensten was hiking down a Squak Mountain trail with her husband, Ronald, on Saturday afternoon when he got slightly ahead of her. When he doubled back to find his wife, police were told, she was no longer on the trail. Police say there is no evidence of foul

play.