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UPDATE: The Routt family confirmed on Facebook Wednesday that the body found on Tuesday evening is Jake Routt.
PROVO — Searchers recovered a body Tuesday evening believed to be that of a hiker missing since mid-September. Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon said searchers on board a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter first spotted the remains believed to belong to Jake Routt, 36, Tuesday afternoon, and the body was eventually lifted down just before 7 p.m.
“This is about as technical as it gets from a difficulty standpoint,” Cannon said. “They’re flying in areas within 20 or 30 feet of sheer cliff walls from the end of the rotors, so there’s a lot of risks there.”
Cannon said the body was located in thick brush at an elevation of roughly 9,000 feet, which is higher than where searchers had previously looked.
Routt was believed to have been missing since Sept. 16, when his phone last pinged to an area near the Aspen Grove trail on Mt. Timpanogos.
A Facebook post Tuesday evening from Routt’s family members expressed confidence that the body belonged to their loved one, but they declined an interview through a sheriff’s spokesperson.
The remains still had to be positively identified by the medical examiner, Cannon said.
Investigators said the cause of death remained uncertain.
