A search operation involving 57 people is underway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park as crews continue looking for a missing Illinois man whose vehicle was discovered at one of the park’s busiest visitor areas.
Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak was last known to have been in the parking lot of the Sugarlands Visitor Center on August 22, 2025, the National Park Service said. His disappearance was reported two days later, and authorities subsequently located his vehicle in the same visitor center parking area.
According to the NPS, park rangers, volunteers and partner agencies have widened their search across the area, checking trails and backcountry terrain while also looking beyond established paths. Crews are also using drones to scan hard-to-reach sections of the park.
Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak was last known to be in the Sugarlands Visitor Center parking lot on Aug. 22, according to the National Park Service. (National Park Service)
Drone flights are typically banned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which spans parts of Tennessee and North Carolina, but officials have made a temporary exception to assist with the missing person search.
Relatives of Bachleda-Blaszczak said there were no obvious warning signs in the days leading up to his disappearance.
Bachleda-Blaszczak is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and about 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. (National Park Service)
“The day before, I believe, was when he had pizza with his dad, you know, chatted with him, said he might pick up a shift the next day at work,” his cousin, Corrina Auten, told CBS Chicago.
“It was very, you know, like a normal, normal conversation. There wasn’t anything strange or amiss,” she said. “The next thing we knew, he didn’t show up for work and he was missing.”
Foot bridge across the creek along the Fighting Creek Nature Trail originating at the Sugarland Visitors Center on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (Ron Buskirk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, File)
Rangers first searched the area around Sugarlands before widening their search. The team grew to 47 rangers and volunteers by Saturday and 57 by Sunday, according to the NPS.
Bachleda-Blaszczak is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and approximately 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Officials asked anyone with information or who believes they have seen Bachleda-Blaszczak to contact Great Smoky Mountains National Park dispatch at GRSM_Dispatch@nps.gov.
