Body Found in the Grand Canyon is That of Missing Hiker from Texas
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The human remains discovered this week in the Grand Canyon belong to the last person still missing after the deadly flash floods in late August, according to the victim's wife on Thursday. The discovery of Timothy Allen Smith raised the death toll from the floods that devastated the Phantom Ranch area at the bottom of the canyon and damaged the water pipeline supplying the South Rim to three. Smith, 53, was a pilot and lived in Star Valley, Wyoming. His remains were located on Monday near Crystal Rapids in the Colorado River, which runs through the canyon. The bodies of his two expedition companions—42-year-old Brent Rosenkranz and 46-year-old John Giusti, both from Granbury, Texas—had been found earlier. Smith grew up in Granbury and lived with his wife in Star Valley Ranch, about 40 miles southwest of Jackson. He, Rosenkranz, and Giusti were on a multi-day trip that included hiking, fishing, and camping when the floods struck the Grand Canyon. During the two-day deluge, search teams used night vision equipment and other devices to locate people in need of rescue, relying on the Grand Canyon National Park's permit system and checking vehicle registrations to track those still missing. More than 80 people were rescued. Soon after, Smith was the only one still unaccounted for. In a video posted on Facebook at that time, his wife, Carrie, and their children thanked the community for their support and prayers. On Tuesday morning, Carrie Smith posted on Facebook that the family was aware a body had been found the day before and asked others to pray with them. On Thursday, Smith confirmed in a Facebook post that the remains had been identified as those of her husband. 'My family has spent a long time waiting over the last three weeks… waiting and wishing for Tim (dad) to come home, waiting and wondering if the remains found were Tim (dad),' she wrote. 'We no longer have to wait; Tim was found two days ago by the park rangers of the Grand Canyon National Park. Not in the way we hoped, but we know he was doing something he loved alongside John and Brent.'
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
