Search continues for Purdue grad in Wash.

MARBLEMOUNT, Wash. – Rangers in Washington state have expanded their search for a hiker from Indiana who’s been missing for several days in North Cascades National Park.

Park spokeswoman Paula Ogden-Muse said Mark Albrecht, a 22-year-old who recently moved to Everett, Wash., from Indiana, had a permit to camp in the Cascade Pass area Monday and Tuesday nights.

The Purdue University graduate never called his parents to say he arrived home safely, and he didn’t show up for work Thursday.

Rangers found his car Friday evening at a trailhead, and began searching first thing Saturday focusing on his planned route but found no sign of him. On Sunday, the search was expanded, but the search effort is being hampered by poor weather and thick clouds.