{"id":31882,"date":"2023-09-08T20:53:28","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T02:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/body-of-missing-hiker-ian-obrien-found\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:47:59","slug":"body-of-missing-hiker-ian-obrien-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/body-of-missing-hiker-ian-obrien-found\/","title":{"rendered":"Body of missing hiker Ian O\u2019Brien found"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ian
Ian O\u2019Brien lived in Southwest Colorado for six years before he moved to Page, Arizona, last month. He went missing in the La Plata Mountains on June 24 while on a camping trip with his partner and two friends. (Courtesy of Kelsey O'Brien Rodriguez)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The body of Ian O\u2019Brien, the 28-year-old runner who disappeared near Hesperus Mountain on June 24, was found Sept. 2 by two people fishing in a remote area in Echo Basin northeast of Mancos.<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers identified the body, which was found in the West Mancos River, as O\u2019Brien\u2019s in an autopsy performed Thursday. The cause of death was accidental drowning.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien grew up in Roxbury, New York, and spent the last six years in Southwest Colorado. He and his partner, Beth Henshaw, had just moved to Page, Arizona, but the couple returned in late June to camp on the west side of the La Plata Mountains, an area O\u2019Brien adored.<\/p>\n

On June 24, O\u2019Brien set out alone to scout a route to the summit of Hesperus Mountain. He sent a picture of himself at the summit to Henshaw at 6 p.m. When he did not return that evening, Henshaw and friends Ashley and Mike Higgs grew worried and called authorities, starting the search.<\/p>\n

A former field guide for Open Sky Wilderness Therapy and camp counselor, O\u2019Brien was highly experienced in the outdoors and intimately familiar with the rugged wilderness surrounding Hesperus Mountain. His disappearance revealed the depth and richness of the community he had created across the country.<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin suspended the official search on June 28, but the unofficial search lasted another 11 days. Between 25 and 80 volunteers showed up in Lucy Halls Park each day to traverse the overgrown wilderness looking for O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

Some volunteers knew O\u2019Brien from Open Sky, some knew him from Prescott College, and others did not know him at all.<\/p>\n

The incident command center for the unofficial search was quickly equipped with Starlink internet, radios and satellite communication thanks to the deluge of community support from across the country.<\/p>\n

\"The
The unofficial search for Ian O\u2019Brien was continued by friends and community members who stepped away from their own lives for over two weeks to locate their missing friend. James Holderer, at the computer, and others look over a map as they discuss search areas for missing runner Ian O\u2019Brien in the La Plata Mountains northeast of Mancos. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

O\u2019Brien\u2019s body was discovered in an area that had been searched \u201cextensively,\u201d said county spokeswoman Vicki Schaffer. She said that water levels that reached between 3 and 4 feet had obscured his body from view until runoff levels declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no way anybody would have seen him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Henshaw said there\u2019s a sense of pride that remains in her and O\u2019Brien\u2019s community, now knowing that search efforts were targeted in the correct spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all still really proud of the search that we did,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were searching in the right area, we were searching the right tracks and keeping people safe by not sending searchers in the river.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In
In a previous interview with The Durango Herald, O\u2019Brien\u2019s partner, Beth Henshaw, described him as a \u201cwilder-badass with a heart of gold.\u201d (Courtesy of Kelsey O\u2019Brien Rodriguez)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Deavers said he suspected O\u2019Brien had died around 8 p.m. the evening of June 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this is not the outcome any of us wanted, we are at peace that we have found him and it gives us closure,\u201d the O\u2019Brien family said in a statement posted online.<\/p>\n

In a brief interview with The Durango Herald on <\/em>Friday, O\u2019Brien\u2019s sister Kelsey O\u2019Brien Rodriguez said the family was simultaneously \u201cdevastated and relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of O\u2019Brien\u2019s community who participated in the search spoke to the challenge of simultaneously searching, grieving and fostering hope. Now, that has changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can fully grieve,\u201d said Gabe Hughes, who befriended O\u2019Brien in college. \u201cThere\u2019s a grieving and a letting go and a release that comes with knowing that he has been found.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks since the search ended, friends of the \u201cwilder-badass,\u201d as Henshaw once called him, have begun to carry rubber chickens \u2013 a beloved toy and a symbol of O\u2019Brien\u2019s undying joy.<\/p>\n

\"O\u2019Brien
O\u2019Brien always carried a rubber chicken, and his friends have begun to do the same as the toy has become symbol of O\u2019Brien\u2019s undying joy. (Courtesy of Kelsey O\u2019Brien Rodriguez)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Henshaw said she intends to be no stranger to the land that she and dozens of others combed in search of her partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot more love and respect for it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ll always feel Ian\u2019s presence there in a joyful way. I\u2019m excited to keep going there and keep experiencing the place that he loved so much and feeling connected to him through the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details of a memorial in Durango may be forthcoming, Henshaw said.<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

fishers encountered the body in a remote area of the West Mancos River in Echo Basin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,866,83,60,237],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-hesperus","tag-mancos","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-county-government"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81598,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31882\/revisions\/81598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31882"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}