Walter Scheib: Body of former White House chef found in New Mexico mountains

The 61-year-old had been missing for more than a week

Walter Scheib and Hillary Clinton in 1997 (Reuters)

Searchers have found the body of a former White House chef, missing for more than a week after going hiking in mountains in New Mexico.

The body of 61-year-old Walter Scheib, a man who cooked for everyone from Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, to Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin, in official dinners, was found Sunday night near a hiking trail in mountains in the Taos area.

“The body was discovered off the immediate trail,” said a statement from the New Mexico State Patrol, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities did not provide a cause of death or any other details about the discovery, saying rescuers were still gathering information and more details would be released later.

Mr Scheib was White House chef for 11 years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush and recently moved from Florida to Taos.

He reportedly went for a hike June 13 in the mountains near the Taos Ski Valley. His girlfriend reported him missing the next day.

Taos police found his vehicle Tuesday parked at the Yerba Canyon trailhead. The four-mile trail follows a canyon bottom before climbing to 3,700 feet in elevation the AP said.

Mr Scheib, who graduated from New York’s Culinary Institute of America in 1979 and later worked at grand hotels in Florida and West Virginia, became White House executive chef in April 1994 when First Lady Hillary Clinton hired him.