Moab human remains identified as Texas woman missing since June

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MOAB — Human remains that were discovered early this week were identified Saturday as Maranda Ankofski, a 50-year-old woman from Texas who disappeared along with her husband Ray over a month ago.

The couple was last seen heading out to the Steel Bender Trail southeast of Moab in the early afternoon of June 21. Dispatch received a report about a man and woman in the area when a flash flood began, said Grand County chief sheriff's deputy Mike Palmer.

Their abandoned vehicle and an all-terrain vehicle belonging to the couple were found on June 24, sparking a search of the area. Family members and authorities said they had found other items too, including a cooler that could have come from the ATV and a pair of pants with Ray Ankofski's wallet and ID in a tree.

The flooding likely swept the all-terrain vehicle away, Palmer told KSL-TV. "They got into (the flooding) and it probably tumbled that UTV down the wash, I'm going to say three-quarters of a mile before it stopped."

Grand County sheriff's officials said that using "advanced search techniques and resources" didn't produce any signs of the couple, and June 28 the office made the decision to transition from a search and rescue mission to a "recovery effort."

Search and rescue crews found human remains in Grand County's Millcreek Canyon on Monday in the same area the Ankofskis went missing, and the remains were sent to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner.