Morning Report Excerpts - 1993

Zion (Utah) - Falling Fatality

On the evening of May 14th, two hikers advised the park that they had seen what they suspected were human remains in the rugged eastern end of the South Fork of Taylor Creek in the Kolob section of the park. A search party attempted to hike into the location that night, but the effort was suspended after midnight because of darkness and icy conditions. On May 15th, a Zion SAR team composed of climbing rangers and members of the local climbing community searched for and finally located the body after seven hours of travel over extremely hazardous terrain, including ice bridges, precipitous snow-covered cliffs, and unstable ground. The rugged, narrow canyon and high cliffs made helicopter evacuation impossible. The SAR team removed the body to a lower location, where they were assisted with hand-carry transport back to the trailhead by the Washington County sheriff's SAR team. A total of ten people from three agencies were involved.

There was no identification on the victim and no climbing gear was present. It appears that the victim fell well over 1,000 feet. Because of the massive trauma sustained in the fall, immediate identification was impossible. The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Salt Lake City. Evidence taken from a lone car at the trailhead, together with dental records obtained from the family of the man to whom the car was registered, led the medical examiner to a positive identification of the victim as 21-year-old Affin William Phillips of Salt Lake City. The coroner ruled that Williams had died within 36 hours of the discovery of his body. His auto was impounded by county officials.