Search for missing SMU professor paused after latest Georgia search effort

The Brief

A large-scale search this past weekend for missing SMU professor Charles Hosch yielded no new clues four months after he vanished in Georgia.
Hosch was last seen on November 11, 2025, while descending Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail, an area his family says he knew well.
Physical search efforts are now on pause as the family shifts to analyzing data and asking local hiking groups to report any found items.

DALLAS – The family of an SMU professor missing for four months is not giving up hope.

The latest large-scale search was this past weekend for Charles Hosch, who disappeared while hiking in Georgia.

New search efforts for Charles Hosch

What we know:

Charles Hosch’s family has been desperate to find him since he was last seen on Nov. 11, 2025.

Hosch, was last seen descending the Appalachian Trail from the top of Blood Mountain in Georgia that November day. It was an area his family said he knew well, but the 67-year-old never came home.

Courtesy: Union County Sheriff’s Office

In the weeks following his disappearance, countless search and rescue efforts were organized, with no results.

This past weekend, Hosch’s daughter joined dozens of volunteers to search the wooded area again. From Thursday to Sunday, search experts from across the southeast executed a carefully planned, multi-agency search weekend. She shared these photos with FOX 4 but still, no sign of Hosch.

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Courtesy: Union County Sheriff’s Office

Family pauses search for missing SMU professor

What they’re saying:

“There needs to be some sort of story or idea that would reasonably lead us to go to a certain area, and right now we have tried most of the stories we can think of. So, it’s going to take us a second,” said the daughter, Julia Hosch Singh.

“Not just to look at all of our data and think through what we have and the statistical likelihood of different places now that we’ve searched them this weekend, and in the fall, but also we need to come up with some more scenarios.”

Additionally, Julia Hosch Singh tells FOX 4 that Spring and Summer can be difficult months to conduct a search, due to an increase of wildlife in the area. So, for now, the physical search for Charles Hosch is on pause.

The entire family is grateful to the people who have spent countless hours searching for Charles Hosch.

Analyzing search data, community outreach

What’s next:

Julia also says that they plan to talk to “hiking groups” who frequent that area about her father’s story, in case anyone comes across an article of clothing or something that may be his. In hopes that they don’t simply discard it but actually report it.

That could possibly help lead the search in a different direction.