Post
by Trekker » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:24 am
Ric DeVan's body has been found. It is trapped under boulders according to the local late night news report, and will hopefully be recovered tomorrow. More info in this article. Sad news.
Missing San Diego Hiker Ric DeVan Found Dead
Reported by: San Diego 6 News Team
Missing San Diego Hiker Ric DeVan was found dead Wednesday, two weeks after he was last seen. A volunteer searcher, a hiking guide from Los Angeles, found DeVan's body today several hundred feed below where his backpack was found late Tuesday in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
DeVan's father, Ric DeVan, Sr., tells San Diego 6 News it appears the ground gave way under him as he walked along a rugged unnamed peak know as Peak 12,689. It's near Bishop Pass and east of Mt. Goode where DeVan had signed a registry.
Efforts to recover DeVan's body are being delayed by bad weather. He was found at about 12,000 feet elevation. His widow, Viki DeVan, is near the recovery site and hopes to have his body taken to Bishop tomorrow and then back to San Diego.
DeVan's body has not been officially identified, according to Inyo County sheriff's spokeswoman Carma Roper.
But DeVan's father and friends have confirmed his death to San Diego 6 News.
The 44-year old DeVan was a vice president with the San Diego Futures Foundation.
A statement issued by Megan Graulich of the San Diego Futures Foundation Wednesday afternoon says, in part, "On behalf of Ric’s family and friends, it is with a very heavy heart that I relay the sad news. Unfortunately, Viki DeVan shared with me this morning that the search for her husband, Ric DeVan, is over. Search crews found Ric’s backpack along a ridge in the Sierra’s last night, and evidence of a rock slide below. Today, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department recovered his body several hundred feet up the mountain from the backpack, and it will be returned to Bishop as soon as the weather permits."
DeVan's last confirmed location was on top of 13,000-foot Mount Goode, where he signed the summit register July 4, Inyo County sheriff's officials said. He indicated he was going to traverse a narrow, unstable ridge to Mount Johnson.
A National Park Service spokeswoman described this exposed ridge as particularly hazardous. Some High Sierra guidebooks describe the ridge as "airy'' and challenging.
Volunteers who searched for DeVan in the Bishop Pass area included teams from Sierra Madre, San Dimas, and San Bernardino County.
Acquaintances of DeVan have made impassioned pleas on the Internet for the search to continue. Some entries indicated they believe the search was called off too soon.
"I am disappointed that the state has halted the search for Ric DeVan," wrote Sharon Cheffins on a blog last Sunday. "Maybe he should have gone missing in Nevada...the state of Nevada spent $1.6 million dollars searching for the Canadian missing millionaire pilot lost last year." Cheffins is an in-law of DeVans.
"We as Ric's family are not ungrateful for the extreme hard work and effort of the Inyo SAR team," said Cheffins. "We feel it is still too early to give up the search. Ric's family, friends, co-workers and the hiking/climbing community are still up the mountain looking for signs of Ric."
See full coverage on this story on San Diego 6 News at 10 p.m. and on San Diego 6 News in the Morning.
PLEASE HELP SEARCH FOR RIC!!!! 