Search and rescue crews operating in the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado on Thursday found the bodies of two missing elk hunters, according to a family member.
The hunters, 25-year-old Andrew Porter of Asheville, N.C., and 25-year-old Ian Stasko of Salt Lake City, were found dead by Colorado search and rescue crews, according to an update posted Thursday to a GoFundMe campaign seeking financial donations to find the pair.
Lynn Runkle, Porter’s aunt and the organizer of the online fundraiser, did not share any details about where the men’s bodies were found or any other information about how they died.
Conejos County Sheriff Garth Crowther wrote in a news release that two men’s bodies were discovered two miles from the Rio De Los Pinos trailhead. He said the men remained unidentified.
He wrote that the investigation continues and no further details were available pending identification.
The men were reported missing Friday after they failed to check in with their loved ones and their satellite device stopped functioning.
Bridget Murphy, Porter’s fiancée, told the Colorado Sun that Porter had been sending brief updates to her and his family every few hours until the afternoon of Sept. 11. The last ping came from near Stasko’s car, which was parked at the Rio de Los Pinos trailhead.
Other hunters spotted the hunters Friday morning on a trail neighboring the Rio de Los Pinos trail, Murphy said in a Wednesday update on Facebook.
More than 50 search teams were in the field on Wednesday, a mix of professionally trained search and rescue personnel and volunteers, according to a news release from the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office. Each team consisted of three to four people, traveling on foot or horseback.
Volunteers arrived in southern Colorado from numerous counties and even traveled in from other states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Wyoming, sheriff’s officials said in the release.
Drones and helicopters also searched the forest from above, sheriff’s officials said.
“We are praying every moment,” Murphy wrote on Facebook. “We know they’re very strong and capable guys. We just keep praying.”
As of Thursday afternoon, more than $78,000 had been raised on GoFundMe for the search.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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