Finding Bob Norton ... and so we press ahead
The Team (U.S. and Venezuelan)
U.S. ACTIVE TEAM MEMBERS
Bob Edwards - U.S. Team Leader
Bob Edwards (McMinnville, TN) has known Bob Norton for more than 15 years. He was Bob Norton's best man in his wedding to Neiba. Edwards has a very strong commitment to the family and friends of Norton to find him and does not plan on stopping until the team finds out what happened.
JD Brown - Lead Analyst
JD (Xenia, OH) is close friends with Bob Edwards and had only just met Norton a few weeks before he went missing. JD has worked closely with Edwards since the beginning of the search and is a very active team member in all aspects of the effort.
Tim Evinger - Cold Case Aviation Investigator
Tim joined the The Norton Search Team in June of 2011 and is also a founding member of the Missing Aircraft Search Team (M.A.S.T.). Tim is an aviator and experienced in search & rescue and containment analysis. He is helping with the search planning, investigative interviews and search missions in Venezuela.
Bryan Page - Electronics Technical Support
Bryan (Trenton, GA) has known Norton for 20+ years and has helped on the search effort from the beginning. Bryan works on electronic components for the Search UAV.
Rick & Debbie Slatten - Search Technicians (M.A.S.T.)
Rick and Debbie Slatten (Duluth, MN) joined the effort in March of 2009 and have lead the Probability of Containment Scenerio Analysis (POCSA) is helping with on going search planning.
Jackie Morales - Interpreter & Trip Planning
Jackie (Ft. Oglethorpe, GA) is a mechanical engineer who works with Edwards and has met and became friends with Bob and Neiba Norton. Jackie is from Venezuela originally and has been an ongoing interpreter for the effort.
Angela Sanchez De Najera - Interpreter
A friend of Edwards, Angela (McMinnville, TN) has helped on several occasions to interpret when calls were made to the Venezuelan search teams via Skype phone.
John Dill - Search & Rescue Technician
John (Yosemite, California) serves as a Search and Rescue Technician for the National Park Service in Yosemite. John is providing assistance with the development of a thorough search plan. He is Edwards' mentor and a fantastic asset to the team.
Edan Cain - GIS & Search UAV Developer
Edan Cain (Redlands, CA) a New Zealander living in Redlands California. GIS Software Developer working with navigation, mapping, coordinate systems, GPS, radios interfacing with computer and aeronautical math. Edan is developing the flight control software, video, and comms for the search drone.
Steve Zeatlow - Search UAV Team
Steve (Sparta, TN) works for Jackson Kayak and builds high performance whitewater kayaks. He has experience as a CNC machinist and prototype maker and prior to that an F15 avionics tech in the airforce. Steve builds the Search UAVs.
Sarah Clark - Coordinator / 501-C3 Application
Sarah (Chattanooga, TN) is an Industrial Engineer and has joined the team to help with data management, conferencing and scheduling, resource and asset management. As the search effort has grown, the need for careful organization of tasks and efforts has become increasingly more critical.
Carolina Ramos - Brazilian Liaison
Carolina, originally from Brazil, joined the search effort in late 2011. She is the team's liaison with the Brazilian Space Agency for weather data related to the seach and she translates interviews with eyewitnesses that speak Portuguese.
Kasey Norton - Public Relations
Kasey is the daughter-in-law of Bob Norton. Married to one of his twin boys, Robbie, the family has a strong desire to uncover answers. The couple are the parents of 7 children, including the toddler twin grandsons Bob never met. Kasey will be working on keeping the media updates flowing to keep the public informed.
Claudia Castillo - Communications
Claudia joined the search effort in early 2013 with a background that makes her a tremendous asset to the team. Experienced as an EMT, Park Ranger and in search and rescue, she'll assist with the investigative work on trip IV and will help prepare by communicating with contacts in Venezuela where she is originally from.
VENEZUELAN ACTIVE TEAM MEMBERS
Dr. Jose Garcia - Director of Civil Protection for the state of Bolivar in Venezuela
Dr. Garcia has worked with Civil Protection in the State of Bolivar for more than 30 years. He was a friend to Bob Norton and is dedicated to continue assisting with the search efforts.
Andrehina Diaz - Planning Manager for Civil Protection in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
Andrehina is the Planning Manager for Civil Protection and helps coordinate the organization's efforts. She has been instrumental in the coordination of all activities involving The Norton Search Team while in Venezuela.
Cesar del Castillo - Tactical Ops Manager for Civil Protection in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
Cesar leads the technical aspects of the search efforts with Civil Protection. His skills include search strategy, radio communications and coordination between teams and helicopter operations.
Roberto Espinoza - Manager of Aero Servicio located in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
Roberto provides aerial support for the Civil Protection and has been involved with the Norton Search Effort from the very beginning of the search.
Carlos Guzman (Zamuro, the Buzzard) - Helo Pilot for Civil Protection in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
Zamuro is a highly skilled pilot who was very active during the search for Norton and has supported with air support for investigation of the satellite image analysis POIs.
Celso Benavides - Bob Norton's Assistant & Leader of the ground search effort (Maurak, Venezuela)
Celso was Norton's right hand man with his operations with AMA. Celso also helped lead the ground search and continues to assist with all Venezuelan operations of The Norton Search Team.
Pierre Clauteaux - Dr Pedro (St. Elena, Venezuela)
Dr. Pedro was a good friend of Norton and works in the jungle areas helping with malaria issues. Norton often flew Dr. Pedro to the jungle villages needing his help. Dr. Pedro helped with the ground search efforts.
Marion Sifontes - Interpreter in Maurak, Venezuela
Marion, a good friend to Bob & Neiba Norton has helped on several occasions with The Norton Search Team as a translator.
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks to the following individuals for their involvment with the Norton search effort along the way. Many have helped with special projects and events or were involved heavily at first and are now no longer required. Most of these team members are available in the future if need arises:
Shannon Fore - Analyst
Shannon (Anchorage, AK) is close friends with Edwards and was involved in the early days of the search effort. He analyzed satellite image data and helped with planning.
Jennifer Blair - Editor
Jennifer (St. Elmo, TN) is an English / Journalism graduate from University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. She is assists, as needed, by providing editing for certain correspondence.
Josh McKinley - Search Trip Readiness
Josh (Trenton, GA), as a prior Park Ranger for Georgia's Cloudland Canyon Park has worked with Edwards preparing him for his trips to Venezuela. Josh provides conditioning, climbing, solo camping and basic wilderness survival skills training.
Celine Van Breukelen - Special Projects
Celine (Anchorage, AK) works as a Hyrdrologist for the National Weather Service in Anchorage Alaska. Celine helps with sensor technologies, satellite image analyis and the tethered balloon repeater project.
Rhonda Blalock & Tracy Payton - Fundraising
Sisters Rhonda and Tracy (Menlo, GA) helped with our fundraising benefit dinner in 2012. The funds raised help provide for our 2012 trip III to Venezuela.
Beth Wellman - Mailings
Beth (McMinnville, TN) has helped with mailings for fundraising efforts.
Roy Drebelbis - Helicopter Pilot (Ret)
Roy (Washington, DC), still working part time with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, joined the effort in December 2010. His knowledge of aircraft search techniques and beacon technologies has brought value to the Norton search effort.
Keith Smithson - Special Projects
Keith (Louisville, KY), a mechanical engineer, was involved early in the search effort with the Search Summit. He has also helped with ideas for the search UAV project.
George Durkee - GIS Technician
George has served as a seasonal ranger since 1970. Almost all of that as backcountry law enforcement. For the past 35 years, he's worked in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. He's worked on some search data analysis for the Norton Search.
Tim de la Torre - Documentary Teaser
Tim (California) is an independent film producer who met Bob Norton in 2004 on a documentary filming trip to South America. They kept in touch during the following years and when Tim had that Bob had gone missing, he knew he wanted to help tell the story of who Bob was through the search effort.
Zack Folkerts - Mathematician / Software Developer
Zack (Savannah, TN) worked during the satellite image analysis phase to help determine if there were any anomolies in the images that might indicate where there crash site was.
Alex Page - Software Developer
Alex (Trenton, GA) is Bryan Page's son has helped with special softward projects for the search effort.
Mallory Johnston - Presentation / Web Support
Mallory (Huntsville, AL) first heard about the search effort while listening to a presentation by Edwards at Tenn Tech Univ during her senior year. She has asisted with web support and presentation review. Mallory also led Edwards and team to the NASA team in Goddard Space Flight Center.
Peter Hart - Analyst
Peter joined the effort to help analyze the hundreds of points of interest generated by the Satellite Image Analysis Team. Peter is also conducted flight simulations to help determine Zone Q.
Rachelle Gallimore-Scruggs - Corp. Attorney
Rachelle (Nashville, TN) provides legal council in matters of the 501-C3 non-profit application process for The Norton Search Team and assists with other matters that require her input and guidance.
Robert Norton - Translator
Robbie (son of Bob Norton) joined Bob Edwards on one of his trips to Venezuela. His ability to bridge the language barrier was a vital asset to the mission.
