Yellowstone scales back search for missing canoeist

Yellowstone National Park

Helicopter search — A helicopter hovers over Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park during the search for a missing Utah man.
Brian Wick, NPS

Yellowstone National Park's staff has begun scaling back its search and recovery efforts for a missing Utah canoeist, the Park Service announced on Friday.

The search for 74-year-old Kim Crumbo has continued for nearly three weeks using helicopters, boats, sonar technology and ground crews. Weather forecasts call for deteriorating conditions over the upcoming week, including snow and freezing temperatures, prompting the park's staff to limit search efforts for as long as conditions allow, the agency said in a statement.

Crumbo and his brother Mark O'Neill, from Chimacum, Washington, were reported overdue by a family member on Sept. 19 after they failed to return on schedule from their four-night backcountry trip to Shoshone Lake. Park search crews found O'Neill's body on the east shore of Shoshone Lake on Sept. 20. An autopsy later revealed he had died of hypothermia.

O'Neill and Crumbo are National Park Service retirees, and Crumbo is a former Navy Seal.

"All of us at Yellowstone extend our deepest sympathies to the families, friends and colleagues of both Mark and Kim," said Superintendent Cam Sholly. "I want to personally thank the teams from Yellowstone, other parks and agencies, and partner organizations who worked to help us locate Mark, and who continue search efforts to bring Kim home."

The incident is still under investigation.