Bring Khayman "Khay" Welch Home

Khayman "Khay" Welch goes missing...

On August 12th, 2020 26 year old Khayman "Khay" Welch was driving home from work with a family member. Arizona monsoons create amazing skies, and sunsets so they decided to stop at the Weaver's Needle Vista, a rest area just North of Lost Dutchman State park. While there his uncle was finishing his lunch from earlier in the day, and Khay got out to read one of the signs there. When Khay's uncle exited the vehicle Khay was gone. The sun set, and Khay did not return to the parking lot so authorities were notified and a search ensued. The temperature that day was 108 with a low of 82. Khay left without his wallet, keys, or any food/drink which indicated initially that he didn't plan on being out there long.

Challenges along the way...

After about 8 days of ground, horseback, drone, and helicopter searches, the search was called off by authorities. The record breaking temps during the days following his disappearance made for a difficult search of some vast, and rugged terrain. The Superstition Fire also began on August 20th 2020 which brought a new set of challenges for some valley hikers who wished to continue with searching, after the initial search ended. There were several road, and trail closures that made any recovery efforts impossible by adding an additional 3-5 miles to their trek.

Valley Hikers vow to find Khay Welch...

While the Tonto Forest was closed due to the raging fire a few valley hikers took to social media, printed and distributed flyers, shared his story to as many hiking, camping, prospecting, and valley group pages they could find. Once the fire had been put out and roads reopened the small group continued to go out 3-5 times a week searching the entire East side of SR88. Originally there was mention that Khay had left in a SE direction which caused everyone to search only that side. While the sunset they stopped to see would have been setting in the West. After 13 months of covering this area, and not finding any signs of Khay we will be moving our search to the West side of the road, and putting forth the same effort there as we did on the East side. These searches will resume 10/2021 when the temps are safer for our team.

Next steps...

Khay's family, and friends will continue sharing to every outlet imaginable. If he's not out there, he has to be somewhere. There have been zero sightings of him, and no activity on social media. When Khay disappeared he was having a rough time with depression, and what he mentioned as "crippling social anxiety". He's an amazing tattoo artist who took some time off from his art to make an attempt to get his mind right. He even had appointments set up in the days following his disappearance. Once the search is over we have to start looking into other possibilities that we could definitely use some help with. The volunteers have purchased a drone for the searches where they are able to fly it, vests, printed flyers, fuel, and additional supplies but funds are running low.

Any and all help is so appreciated. No parent should ever have to go through this not knowing where your child is. It goes against every parental instinct one has. You spend your life worrying, watching, and keeping your children close to you and safe. This is heartbreaking. Gasping any time the phone rings wondering if today is the day. This is a roller coaster ride of emotions I wouldn't wish on anyone. Please help "Bring Khayman Home". We miss and love him dearly.