Two hunters who went missing during an elk hunting trip in southern Colorado were found dead in the rugged wilderness a week later, authorities and reports confirmed.
Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko, both 25, were located Thursday by Colorado search and rescue teams, a week after their last known contact on September 11, according to a GoFundMe update from Porter’s aunt, Lynne Runkle, which was created to support the search efforts.
“With a broken heart and through tears, I share this update: Andrew and Ian have both been found deceased. Their bodies were discovered earlier today by Colorado Search and Rescue. I will provide another update tomorrow,” Runkle wrote last Thursday.
Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko were found dead in the Colorado wilderness after going missing during an elk hunting trip.
“Please keep Andrew’s and Ian’s families in your thoughts and prayers,” Porter’s aunt said.
Their remains were discovered around 11 a.m., roughly two miles from the Rio de los Pinos trailhead, a remote area of the National Forest characterized by steep ridgelines and dense timber, according to a press release from the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office obtained by the Colorado Sun.
The bodies showed no obvious signs of trauma, CBS News reported, and an official cause of death has not yet been determined.
Porter, from Asheville, North Carolina, and Stasko, from Salt Lake City, Utah, had been hunting in Colorado’s Game Management Unit 81, a rugged stretch of wilderness extending to the New Mexico border, the Colorado Sun reported.
“Severe storms moved through the area Thursday evening, and we suspect the two young men were caught off-guard by the weather,” Runkle wrote on the fundraiser page before their remains were discovered.
Porter and Stasko, both 25, were found by Colorado search and rescue teams roughly two miles from the Rio de los Pinos trailhead.
Authorities said Porter last shared his location via a satellite device with his fiancée, Bridget Murphy, after 3 p.m. on September 11. The device’s last ping came from his car near the trailhead, according to reports.
In a phone interview with the outlet the day before the bodies were discovered, Murphy said she believed the two men had briefly returned to Stasko’s vehicle to change out of wet clothes, based on gear deputies had found. Hunting equipment was missing from the car, leading her to believe they had gone back out into the wilderness, the outlet reported.
Authorities reported that Porter last shared his location via a satellite device with his fiancée, Bridget Murphy, after 3 p.m. on September 11, before going missing in the remote wilderness.
Murphy described both men as highly resourceful outdoorsmen, saying they were “people who’ve been building shelters in the woods since they were 12 for fun.”
She also noted that on Wednesday, there was a confirmed sighting of the pair with their car at the Spruce Hole trailhead the previous Friday morning. According to the outlet, Stasko and Porter told the witness they had seen a bull moose and were heading out to track it.
The car was later moved back to the Rio de los Pinos trailhead, a detail that gave Murphy hope. “That gives us one more night and morning; we know they were safe before the storms,” she wrote on Facebook.
Porter, from Asheville, North Carolina, and Stasko, from Salt Lake City, Utah, showed no obvious signs of trauma, authorities reported.
In the days following their disappearance, an intensive search was launched, involving multiple ground and air rescue teams.
“Thank you all. Say a prayer, God wrap your arms around them and keep them safe, help us find them,” Murphy wrote in an earlier update.
