DULUTH - A man seen walking shoeless through Quetico Provincial park - a densely wooded, canoe-access lakes wilderness - has had recent contact with the Ely Police Department and had been arrested in Florida on minor charges.
Ely police say they were asked earlier this summer to check on the welfare of Aaron Nathaniel King, 26, address unknown.
Chief John Lahtonen said there was no problem at the time and that no crime occurred. King had apparently been staying in Ely for some time.
King appears to have no criminal or civil court cases in Minnesota, records show. But King appears to have been arrested in Florida in 2010 where he was charged in Pinellas County with obstructing justice and being a disguised person.
That arrest report listed Medford, Oregon as his hometown and that he had been born in North Carolina.
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Officials are calling King “a person of concern.”
King was seen by canoeists in the 1.2 million acre Quetico park on July 24 and reported to Ontario authorities as a suspicious person or person who may need help. He was last seen on Monday in the Brent Lake area of the park.
He was reportedly wearing scraggly clothing and had no visible means of transportation - namely no canoe.
A search effort by the Ontario Provincial Police failed to find King. The OPP has since ended its search effort. Rangers from Quetico Provincial Park currently are searching for King in parts of the park that have been closed to the public.
“We just want to get a bead on him so we can talk to him and see if he has the resources to support himself,” said Sgt. Matt LeBlanc of the Atikokan office of the Ontario Provincial Police. “He’s been described as an extreme survivalist, but he doesn’t appear to have any means of transportation or shelter” or food.
While they don’t believe King is dangerous, park officials on Wednesday closed parts of the park to campers until he is found - the southwestern portion adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.
The closed area includes Brent, Darkwater, William, Conmee, McIntyre, Scarlett and Cone lakes and the Darkwater River.
“Travel on these lakes and camping/occupying land on the shores of these lakes is prohibited,” park officials said.
King is described as caucasian, 5-foot-10-inches tall, weighing 160 pounds with light-brown hair and a scruffy beard. He is believed to be wearing a green long-sleeve shirt and olive-colored pants.
Anyone who sees the man is asked to note the time and contact the Ontario Provincial Police at (807) 683-4200 or, on the U.S. side of the border, 911, or contact a Quetico park staff person.
