The body of former top White House chef Walter Scheib has been found more than a week after he disappeared in rough terrain near Taos, NM. State officials say the body of the 61-year-old, who had recently moved to the state from Florida, was found near a hiking trail, the AP reports. Scheib went for a solo hike in the mountains last weekend and never returned, sparking a huge search effort involving aircraft, dogs, and National Guard teams, NBC News reports. Police say rescue teams are still gathering information on his death.
Scheib, author of White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen, was hired by Hillary Clinton in 1994 to give daily meals and state dinners a distinctive American twist, and was asked to resign in 2005, during the George W. Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. In an interview with Munchies earlier this year, the chef said he would be "hard-pressed to say no" if a victorious Hillary Clinton asked him to return to the White House kitchen in 2016. "If she wants me, she knows my phone number and I'll be of service. I don't care if it was a Republican or Democrat, if I knew them or didn't know them—if the president asked me to serve, I would do it." (More White House stories.)