2 Bodies Found On Mt. Evans Are Those Of Missing Father, Son
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- The remains of two people found by hikers in the area of Mount Evans on Thursday afternoon are those of a father and son from Minnesota who have been missing since April.
The bodies are being recovered by Alpine and Rocky Mountain Rescue. A family spokesperson confirmed the remains are those of Damian McManus, 51 and Evan McManus, 18, on Thursday.
On Friday, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office confirmed their identification through the Clear Creek County Coroner's Office.
The father and son, both of St. Louis Park, Minn., were last heard from April 2 when one of them told a friend they were going to scale a peak. They were reported missing on April 6, when the search began.
Their car was found at the Echo Lake Campground near the base of the mountain but it's not known which trail they took, said Bill Barwick, a spokesman for the Alpine Rescue Team. Heavy snow fell after they disappeared, erasing any footprints left before the storm, he said.
More than 50 members of over a dozen Colorado search and rescue teams searched extensively for the men — on foot, on snowmobiles and from the air — after they were reported missing.
Four Minneapolis-area firefighters traveled to Colorado to begin searching for the father-son hikers on Tuesday. They were slated to wrap up their search on Thursday when the remains were located. The remains were found by civilian searchers who had volunteered to look for the father and son, and by a member of the Front Range Rescue Dogs search team.
The team, which calls itself Team McManus, found one body at 11:32 a.m. in the area of Vance Creek.
Team McManus is made up of local searchers and one longtime friend of Damian McManus. The team volunteered several days a week since the father and son went missing.
Mount Evans is 14,250 feet high and has one of the highest paved roads in North America. The road closes at the end of summer, when weather conditions can quickly become treacherous.
