About Us

WHY DO WE EXIST?

Search and Rescue organizations and law enforcement agencies often lack the funding and personnel required to continue searching for lost or missing individuals after the initial life-saving efforts end. These organizations must prioritize their resources for immediate life-saving missions, leaving them unable to extend searches beyond their initial efforts.

This is where PNWMPP steps in. Our team currently takes on 3 cases each year, sometimes more. Providing the support and resources necessary to continue these critical searches in an attempt to bring closure to friends and family who are left to grieve while not knowing where their loved-one is.

IMPORTANT: PNWMPP is NOT a Search and Rescue organization.

How PNWMPP is Funded:

PNWMPP is a nonprofit, volunteer organization funded by donations, grants, and fundraisers. Our dedicated and self-less volunteers spend countless hours of their free time searching for signs of missing persons whose cases have gone cold, often in remote and treacherous terrain of the Pacific Northwest.

PNWMPP is funded through donations and grants, which cover the essential costs of search operations, including equipment, fuel, and logistical support. To minimize expenses, the PNWMPP team forgoes staying in hotels while on missions, instead opting for more cost-effective accommodations like camping or using their vehicles. This approach allows the organization to allocate more resources directly to search efforts, ensuring that every dollar contributes to our mission.

Founder Spotlight: Tanner Hoskins

Founder & Executive Director - PNWMPP

I founded the Pacific Northwest Missing Persons Project because too many families are left without answers once a case goes cold—and I couldn’t accept that.

I was raised in Oregon and shaped by a life that required resilience early on. I was born with severe birth defects that led to the amputation of my right leg at a young age. Growing up with a disability taught me two things that still guide me today: how to adapt when things don’t go as planned, and how to keep moving forward when others assume you can’t.

At 19, I began my public service career as a Police Cadet with the Portland Police Bureau and later volunteered, as a civilian, with the Beaverton Police Department. I went on to work in private security, firearms instruction, and eventually served as the Interim Director of Security at Shriners Children’s Hospital. Across every role, my focus stayed the same—protecting people, doing the job professionally, and treating every situation with respect and integrity.

After medically retiring in 2022, I found myself asking a hard question: Where can my experience make the most difference now? The answer became clear as I saw how many missing persons cases linger without resources, attention, or follow-through. PNWMPP was created to fill that gap.

We are not a search-and-rescue or life-saving organization. Our work focuses on missing persons investigations, research, field searches, and recovery support—often long after traditional efforts have ended. We work methodically, ethically, and in collaboration with families and law enforcement when appropriate. Our goal is simple: to bring clarity, professionalism, and dignity to every case we take on.

I also co-founded Pacific Northwest Bigfoot Search, in August of 2020, which has taken me deep into some of the most remote terrain in the region. That experience has sharpened my understanding of wilderness behavior, terrain analysis, and environmental factors—skills that directly support our missing persons work.

At the core of everything I do is family. I’m a husband and a father, and I understand what it means to wait for answers you may never get. Every case we work represents a person, and behind that person is a family that deserves honesty, effort, and respect.

PNWMPP exists because I believe forgotten cases deserve renewed attention, unanswered questions deserve persistence, and volunteer work should meet professional standards. This work isn’t easy, and the outcomes aren’t always what anyone hopes for—but showing up, doing the work, and honoring those who are missing will always matter.

Plan smart. Stay safe. Come home.