Police search home of parents of missing Marine

Left: Lance Hering, a 21-year old Marine lance corporal, staged his own disappearance to avoid returning to Iraq in August of last year. He had the help of a friend, who claimed Hering had fallen 30 feet during a rock climb. Videotape later showed Hering had boarded a bus in Denver 3 hours before the alleged fall. Hering is still missing. A soldier is considered a deserter if he leaves his post without permission, quits his unit or fails to report for duty with the intent of staying away permanently. AWOL soldiers are automatically classified as deserters if they remain away for more than 30 days.

BOULDER, Colo.—Police hunting for a Marine accused of faking his own disappearance have searched his parents' home but said they did not find him.

Lance Cpl. Lance Hering, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran, has been missing since August when a friend reported he wandered away after a rock-climbing accident west of Boulder.

The friend later admitted the disappearance was a hoax and said Hering feared other members of his unit accused of killing an Iraqi civilian.

Police searched Hering's parents' home on Tuesday after getting a tip from the military that he might be there, police spokeswoman Julie Brooks said.

Brooks said the house was all clear after the search and officers were not looking for Hering elsewhere in the city.

Hering, who was on leave from Camp Pendleton, Calif., is wanted on a state charge of false reporting. The Marines consider him "unauthorized absent." Authorities are not actively looking for him, saying it would require too much time.

His mother, Elynne Hering, told the Camera newspaper she did not know where he was.

Read the rest at the San Jose Mercury News

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