Search continues for Utah man at Yellowstone lake as autopsy determines brother was killed by hypothermia
Sep 29, 2021, 5:28 PM
A well-known Utah conservationist remains missing as an autopsy determined his brother died from hypothermia while the two were on a four-day excursion at Yellowstone’s Shoshone Lake.
Kim Crumbo, 74, from Ogden, Utah was traveling with his brother, Mark O’Neill, 67, found dead on Sept. 22, two days after family members reported the pair was overdue from a four-day trip to the Lake in Yellowstone National Park’s second-largest lake. Crews continue to search for Crumbo, who is a well-known conservationist, a former Navy Seal and worked for the National Parks Service.
Results of an autopsy found that O’Neill died from exposure (hypothermia) while search and recovery efforts continue at the lake. KSLTV reported on Sept. 22 that O’Neill’s body was found along the eastern shore of the lake that has an average year-round temperature is about 48F or 9C, giving a person in the high-elevation lake approximately 20 to 30 minutes of survival time, according to Yellowstone National Park.
The National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center is using sonar equipment to help find Crumbo as crews also continue to search by foot and boat, aided by a search helicopter and dog teams. Two days before finding O’Neill’s body, crews found an empty campsite, gear and a canoe on the south side of the lake.
A colleague of Crumbo’s in the environmental-protection realm, said he was one of the last people that could be expected to be missing, because of his extensive backcountry experience.
“Kim was the steady hand. Had it under control. Had a martini packed. Had it all. It was all good,” Katie Davis, executive director of Wildlands Network told KSL. “He was just the person you wanted to have on your trip. He was very adept at navigating water in the wild.”
Officials said recovery efforts will continue for the next several days as conditions warrant.
This incident remains under investigation and search officials requested anyone who was in the Shoshone Lake area between Sept. 12-19 and who has information that could help investigators piece together a timeline of events while the two men were in the area, to call 807.344.2428 with possible tips or email yell_tip@nps.gov.
Yellowstone National Park originally told meida the two men were half brothers instead of brothers and corrected the error and apologized for it.