Charles Hosch, an adjunct professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, has been missing since Tuesday, Nov. 11.

The search is in its second week, and Hosch’s family, friends and students hold onto hope for his safe return.

“As far as we know, my dad is the only person missing on this mountain,” said Julia Hosch Singh, Hosch’s daughter. “I’m not even sure what day it is anymore, but time is really important in this kind of thing. You’re racing against it.”

Hosch, 67, was last seen descending from the top of Blood Mountain on the Byron Herbert Reece Trail in Union County, Georgia, a section of the Appalachian Trail he has hiked for decades.

The Byron Herbert Reece Trail is described as moderate to difficult, 1.35-mile out-and-back trail. Throughout his life, Hosch has hiked this path many times — it’s a route he knows well.

“I’ve hiked it a lot this week, as you can imagine,” Julia Hosch Singh, Charles’ Hosch’s daughter, said in an interview with The Daily Campus. “I can see why he loves it.”

K-9 teams have continuously conducted extensive searches. Search dogs detected additional indications in two primary scent pools on Thursday, Nov. 20, before search operations were suspended Saturday and Sunday due to heavy rain. Experienced hikers and former military personnel remained on the ground, supported by drone operations.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy website issued a statement on behalf of the Union County Sheriff’s office, which is leading the search, asking the public to avoid the Blood Mountain area, specifically the Byron Reece Trailhead parking area and the Walasi-Yi Center/Mountain Crossings parking area.

Hosch’s family is using the Hosch & Morris law firm’s website, a firm he co-founded, to publish updates on the search.

After not hearing from her husband the entire night into the morning of Nov. 12, Hosch’s wife, Beth Hosch, filed a missing persons report.

Helicopters were dispatched to search immediately and hundreds of volunteers have joined the effort on the trail, along with drones and K-9 rescue teams.

Hosch is an Eagle Scout and a wilderness expert and is familiar with the rugged terrain of Blood Mountain.

“Dad did all of the Boy Scout things you’re supposed to do: find shelter, find water, find food,” Hosch Singh said. “And because he did them so well, we cannot find him.”

Hosch’s class meets on Thursdays only. He was in Gainesville to meet with his brother to further discuss the close of their family’s estate, his daughter said.

Hosch Singh confirmed that Hosch set out to go on a hike by himself after having breakfast with his brother, bought a hat at the gift shop, made it to the top and spoke with another hiker on Nov. 11th at approximately 1:30 p.m. What happened as he made his way back down remains unclear.

Ashton LeBlanc, a second-year law student at SMU, is currently enrolled in Professor Hosch’s trade secrets and business torts class for this semester.

“He is one of my favorite professors I’ve had at any level of schooling,” LeBlanc said. “He knew everybody by name before the first day of class. He regularly goes above and beyond the expectations for an adjunct professor.”

Hosch Singh says her father poured everything into his work as a teacher, such as bringing cookies to every class and taking his students out to lunch.

Her father inspired her to become an adjunct professor in SMU’s Corporate Communication and Public Affairs graduate program.

“He finds so much joy in mentoring the next generation of lawyers,” Hosch Singh said. “My dad demonstrated his whole life how important it was to live a life of service like that. And in his mind, it was through legal education and treating everybody right.”

Even in the classroom, his students saw how deeply he cares for the people in his life.

“My initial thoughts were about his family and friends,” LeBlanc said. “He brought them up regularly throughout class, and it was very evident the kind of love and respect he has for the people in his life, and vice versa. Everyone in the class loves and respects him.”

That same passion Hosch has for teaching and law is evident in the way he’s been a caring and dependable father to Julia and her sister.

“Dad loves being a girl dad,” Hosch Singh said. “There’s people that see being a dad as a calling, and I got that kind of dad.”

Hosch is a Harvard graduate with an impressive legal career, yet his students say he remains humble and teaches that principle in class

“Before his disappearance, he wrote down his closing remarks for our final class, in which he said that the kind of ‘success’ he wanted for us was not ‘the good life’ but ‘a life that is good, a life spent helping other people, as best you can, for as long as you can,’” LeBlanc said.

In spreading awareness, Hosch Singh encourages the SMU community to continue sharing her dad’s photo on social media and talking to each other to help find more points of confidence about where her father was on this mountain.

A timeline helps narrow down the four-mile round trip into a smaller area to search.

“What is really genuinely helpful is talking to, especially, people that are not on social media but might have been in Georgia and had a cousin of a cousin of a third cousin who might’ve been on that trail that day,” Hosch Singh said. “We’re still looking.”

Along with that, Hosch Singh reminds the SMU community to stay kind and strong.

“But the second thing, really and truly is, especially for my dad’s students, to continue to remember the impact that you in the legal community can make in other people’s lives through the profession that you chose of service,” Hosch Singh said.

And his students, such as LeBlanc, feel that exact influence.

“He’s made a profound and lasting impact on my life despite only having his class once a week for the past couple months,” LeBlanc said.

SMU said in an email to The Daily Campus, “We are keeping his family and all who care about him in our thoughts and are grateful for the efforts of the agencies leading the search.”

Anyone with information regarding Hosch’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Union County Emergency Operations Center at 706-439-6091 or call 911 if in Union County, Georgia.

“We are very aware of the gravity of this situation, and we’re still hopeful,” Hosch Singh said. “It’s hard to be missing somebody, and you never know, holidays are hard anyway for a lot of folks. So just continue to be hopeful with us and be kind to one another.”