The body of a rafter missing for nearly a year was found in the Colorado River last month, Grand County officials announced Wednesday.
Thomas Russell, a 61-year-old Littleton man, was reported missing last June after a rafting accident that also killed Brent Boulter, a 56-year-old from Aurora, according to a news release from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office. A third person on the raft survived.
Sheriff’s officials said the accident happened just before 4 p.m. June 2, 2024, in the Yarmony Rapids area of the Colorado River.
River Rangers from the Bureau of Land Management, search and rescue crews, drones and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers searched the river for days after the accident, but couldn’t find Russell.
Two weeks ago, on May 21, Eagle County sheriff’s deputies found a body in the Colorado River near Rancho Del Rio, according to the news release.
The water levels recently sank in that area, revealing the body, sheriff’s officials said.
Russell was identified by the Grand County Coroner’s Office using his dental records, according to sheriff’s officials.
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