Ronald Nowak disappeared after returning to a wooded area to look for a missing piece of a remote-controlled aircraft.
KATY, Texas — A 74-year-old Katy man was found dead Wednesday after a search that began when he disappeared in a wooded area near the Northwest Houston R/C Club, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Texas EquuSearch.
Texas EquuSearch identified the missing man as Ronald Nowak. The nonprofit search organization said he was last seen about 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, near the club on Katy Hockley Road. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said two men had been operating a remote-controlled aircraft when it went down in the woods. After the aircraft was recovered, the 74-year-old went back into the area to search for a missing part and did not return.
Authorities searched Tuesday but did not locate the man. Search efforts continued into the night, with Texas EquuSearch volunteers working until about 3 a.m. Wednesday before crews resumed the operation later that morning. Shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, Gonzalez announced that a person believed to be the missing man had been found dead in the search area.
The sheriff’s public updates did not initially name the person who was found. Texas EquuSearch, which had listed Nowak as missing, later changed his case status to “Found Deceased.” The organization had said during the search that Nowak had diabetes, a medical condition that added urgency after he failed to return from the wooded area.
Accounts from the sheriff’s office and Texas EquuSearch used different terms for the aircraft involved. Gonzalez described it as a drone, while Texas EquuSearch described Nowak as having gone into the tree line to retrieve a lost model airplane. Both accounts placed the disappearance near the Northwest Houston R/C Club and said he failed to come back from the woods.
The search drew law enforcement officers, volunteer search teams and members of the model aircraft club. Texas EquuSearch case manager Mark Edwards said crews had a strong last-known location for where Nowak entered the woods, but thick terrain complicated the operation. Other search-and-rescue groups also assisted as crews worked the area near Cypress Creek.
Nowak was described during the search as wearing dark-colored shorts, a light gray T-shirt, a light cream-colored cap with dark blue along the rim and light-colored tennis shoes. Texas EquuSearch listed the Harris County Sheriff’s Office as the law enforcement agency handling the case.
Gonzalez said detectives responded to the scene after the body was found and expressed condolences to the man’s family and loved ones. Authorities had not publicly announced a cause or manner of death as of Thursday, and no additional findings about what happened after the man re-entered the woods had been released.
The discovery ended the active search but left the circumstances of the death unresolved. Any formal determination about the cause of death would depend on the continuing investigation and medical examination.
Author note: Last updated September 17, 2026.