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Nishi Gupta Reporting"We felt like the clothing, some of the equipment that was there, we felt somewhat comfortable that was him."
A seven-month search has come to an end: today; the body of a missing snowshoer in Utah County has been identified.
Dozens of people have spent hundreds of hours combing the Aspen Grove area for 31-year old Marshall Higgins, missing since December 31st. Today, medical examiners confirmed it: a body recovered yesterday was indeed Marshall.
This has been a long wait for Marshall's family. With the assumption they lost him back then, they held a memorial service in late January. His mother says now they know one-hundred percent he died doing what he loved.
Marshall Higgins and a close friend had been eager to explore Mount Timpanogos. Somewhere along their snowshoe trek, an avalanche came rumbling down and swept them up in its fury. The friend was able to break free, call for help and move to a safer area, where he was later rescued, but Marshall's location was not immediately known.
The combination of heavy snow fall, poor visibility and other dangers made the search for him impossible.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "As we were sitting conference on this, an avalanche came down, naturally right through the path where our rescuers would have been."
So they decided to hold off until the next day, but the dangerous conditions persisted, forcing them to suspend the search again. Since then, the sheriff's office says it has flown its helicopter every three days for a sign of Marshall. Yesterday afternoon, it found one.
Sgt. Dennis Harris, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "Pilot observed some red, what might be clothing in ice and snow."
Rescuers came in quickly and found a partially buried body.
Sgt. Dennis Harris: "We dug an area 12 feet in circumference, seven feet down, three layers of ice, making it very difficult to get the body out. A feeling of relief, not only because we were able to end this effort, but for relief of the family, too. We know it's time for the family to put closure in their life."
And it seems the family will be able to do that. KSL received this statement: "The loss of Marshall has profoundly affected our lives and he is deeply missed. We welcome the news of the recovery of his body with both a sense of sadness and relief."
They also expressed their gratitude for friends, who organized searches for Marshall on their own, and the Utah County Search and Rescue team.
Marshall Higgins would have been 32-years old this month. He leaves behind a wife and two children. A funeral is expected later this week.
A similar scenario occurred in December of 2003 when an avalanche in the Aspen Grove area killed three snowboarders. Because of the dangerous weather conditions, rescue personnel were also forced to delay their search. The last of the three bodies was not recovered until four months later, when the weather warmed up and searching was safer.
