Mike Bauer

By the end of the day Sunday, the Sheriff's Department kicks things into high gear.

They call in the U.S.

Army and Air Force, along with the LASD heavy hitters.

It's a specialized squad called Emergency Services Detail, or ESD.

They do search and rescue, underwater search and recovery, and they support the special weapons team with medical skills.

Dave Rathbun was one of the ESD members sent out to search for Ajay.

And the adrenaline that you get from ESD is different from any other adrenaline.

ESD deputies are equipped to handle all types of emergency scenarios.

But it wasn't just the rocky ledges and wild animals they had to worry about here.

The area was full of all kinds of criminal activity.

One of the things they told our search teams on day one was, John may have stumbled into a meth lab by accident.

So that was told to us when we were out searching.

And the reason they told us is they recommended we take weapons.

Rathman and his team of searchers come to the punch bowl, armed and ready for action.

Because maybe Ajay isn't lost or injured or running for the hills.

Maybe he's the victim of foul play.

The command post doesn't expand on why they thought Ajay may have been taken out by meth-related violence.

But to Rathbun, this theory doesn't sound too far-fetched.

Because the Antelope Valley is isolated, outlawish, and on account of its size, difficult to police.

There are a lot of people who just don't want to be around other human beings out there, which makes them sometimes dangerous.