SLO Sheriff Continues Search for 72-year-old Missing Arroyo Grande Man Near Pirates Cove

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is searching for Gary Michael Kiehl, 72, of Arroyo Grande, who was reported missing near Pirates Cove on May 12, 2026, at about 6:15 p.m.

Deputies responded after friends became concerned when Kiehl failed to pick someone up at the Grover Beach train station as planned on May 12. His vehicle was later found unoccupied in the Cave Landing parking lot above Pirates Cove.

The last known contact with Kiehl was around 2:00 p.m. on May 11.

Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams, along with the Coast Guard (helicopter and cutter), Harbor Patrol, Cal Fire water rescue, CAL OES, and the County Office of Emergency Services’ FALCON cellular forensics team, conducted an extensive search that continued into the overnight hours of May 13 and spanned two days.

Kiehl was not located, and investigators are now following up on leads and interviewing witnesses who may have seen him before his disappearance. In the initial release, the Sheriff’s Office said the case was not considered suspicious at that time.

Kiehl is described as a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 180 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He is known to enjoy walking along the cliffs in the Pirates Cove area and has no history of prior missing-person reports.

Anyone with information on Kiehl’s whereabouts—or who had contact with him in the Pirates Cove area or surrounding beaches on May 11 or May 12—is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office Detective Division at 805-781-4500. Tips can also be directed to the Sheriff’s Office at 805-781-4550.