AMERICAN FORK CANYON, Utah County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A hiker reported missing Saturday night after texting a friend, asking for a ride from the mouth of American Fork Canyon, was found deceased in a ravine on Sunday.
The victim has been identified as Thomas James Rawe, of Alpine.
The report came in a little after 9 p.m. Saturday, Sgt. Spencer Cannon, Utah County Sheriff’s Office, told Gephardt Daily.
“He texted, ‘Can you pick me up by the toll booth in about 45 minutes,’ and said he had 1% phone battery left,” Cannon told Gephardt Daily. “So his friend waits and waits, and the man never showed up.”
Officials did some searching, Cannon said, but the area “was very, very difficult terrain where the friend had been hiking or climbing, so we couldn’t risk it after dark. If we knew specifically where he was there, then we may have continued to search, but we didn’t know specifically where he was. And so we called it off for the night.”
Crews returned early Sunday morning, and with the help from helicopters from the Utah Department of Public Safety, “after just a short time searching, they found the victim who appeared to have fallen in a very steep ravine and did not appear to be alive,” Cannon said.
A Utah County search and rescue team member reached the site, and confirmed the victim was deceased, Cannon said.
“There were some backpack items that were a couple of hundred feet above where he was found.”
A few team members stabilized the site so the victim could be hoisted out by helicopter, Cannon said. That operation took several hours.
“He was … everybody’s favorite uncle and just liked to go out hiking, climbing like this, and it just didn’t work out. It’s a very sad ending for him and his family.”
Cannon said there was a well-known flag up the canyon, which had fallen, and he told people his plan was to put it back up.
“He apparently had finished whatever he was trying to do, because he texted a friend to ask for a ride.”
Gephardt Daily will have more information as details are released.
