Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Missing Trout Creek man found under ORV

ONTONAGON — An overnight search for an Ontonagon County man ended successfully Friday afternoon when Carl Thomas Kettunen, of Trout Creek, was found alive with his off-road-vehicle on top of him.

Search teams from several entities were called to Ontonagon County in the afternoon, after efforts began Thursday night to locate the 66-year-old man.

The last report of Kettunen’s whereabouts had been around 6 p.m. EDT Thursday when, after finishing his dinner, caregivers heard him leave his home at 9183 M-28 on his orange Honda Rancher off-road vehicle.

Kettunen reportedly suffers from serious health conditions, according to Department of Natural Resources officials.

Caregivers reported him missing Thursday and a search got under way at about 10:30 p.m. with Michigan DNR conservation officers, local firefighters and volunteers.

Search efforts continued throughout the night. Significant rainfall occurred after Kettunen left obscured tracks from his ORV.

On Friday afternoon, more than a dozen search teams had been looking for Kettunen, with DNR officers leading the effort.

Additional agencies involved in the search included Superior Search and Rescue, the Ontonagon County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police, MI-TRALE and local volunteers from Trout Creek and Kenton.