Intensive recovery efforts for a missing Colorado man ended Saturday when volunteer searchers located the body of Kaden Sites in the rugged San Isabel National Forest. The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released a cause of death, citing the need for further investigation. Foul play is not suspected.
Sites, a 27-year-old from Salida, was last heard from on April 15. He had gone out alone for a short afternoon turkey hunt and did not return in time for a doctor’s appointment. His body was discovered 1.5 miles from his “abandoned truck,” according to the Sheriff’s Office, which had been parked at the Blanks Cabin Trailhead on Shavano Mountain. Sites’ cell phone was discovered inside his truck, its battery completely drained.
Few details have been made public about the location and circumstances surrounding Sites’ recovery, except that his “lifeless body was found in the wilderness near Tabaguache Creek.” His remains were recovered by the Sheriff’s Office, Chaffee County Search and Rescue and the Chaffee County Coroner’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office called it “a bitter sweet end to the mystery” of his disappearance.
“Our hearts go out to the Sites family and friends this evening. Chaffee County has lost a wonderful member of our community which has left a void in our hearts,” Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said in a statement Saturday evening. “There was always a measure of hope that Kaden would be found alive. We are thankful the family will have some level of closure. Thank you to everyone who joined in the efforts to bring Kaden home. It is such a loving community we have.”
Hundreds of volunteers, dogs, drones, and more than a dozen agencies and volunteer organizations, including Colorado Parks and Wildlife and multiple Search and Rescue teams, covered thousands of linear miles in the search for Sites. The Sheriff’s Office had announced plans to continue searching, but tapered some efforts late April 20 to allow volunteers to recover from the physical strain of searching the steep, timbered terrain. Authorities also re-opened the area to the public last week. Searchers dedicated more than 6,000 man hours over 20 square miles, as of April 22.
The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office published a detailed account of search efforts to Facebook, even addressing questions in the comments section about everything from whether search efforts had included private land (they had) or if officials had considered foul play (they had).
“At this time [on April 22] foul play or self harm is not suspected but investigators will continue to complete interviews and consider all possibilities,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote on April 22. “There is also very little signs [sic] of predator animal behavior in the area suggesting a very low probability that Kaden was the victim of an animal attack.”
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The search for Sites follows a similarly massive search for two elk hunters who went missing in Colorado’s Rio Grande National Forest, in the fall. The bodies of the two men, Ian Stasko and Andrew Porter, were ultimately located after a massive six-day search by foot, horseback, and aircraft. Officials determined the men died from a lightning strike.
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