National Park Service Grand Canyon discovery efforts on Monday led rangers to human remains near Crystal Rapid on the Colorado River. National Park Service employees recovered the remains and took them to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office for examination.
The recovery happened in a remote stretch of the Grand Canyon, about 10 miles downstream from Phantom Ranch. Authorities have not identified the remains.
Crystal Rapid on Monday
Rangers were called after a report of human remains being found near Crystal Rapid. National Park Service employees then collected the remains and transferred them to the county medical examiner for review.
The location sits on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, where access is limited and any recovery depends on a rapid response from park staff. That response put the remains into the hands of the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office the same day they were found.
Timothy Allen Smith Missing
The discovery comes as Timothy Allen Smith, a 52-year-old pilot who grew up in Granbury, Texas, lives in Star Valley, Wyoming, and is still reported missing due to the flooding. Phantom Ranch recently experienced deadly flooding, and the source places Crystal Rapid about 10 miles downstream from that area.
That proximity leaves one question at the center of the case: whether the remains are connected to the flooding that left Smith missing. The county medical examiner’s review is the next step in determining identity, and until that process is complete, the discovery remains a separate set of human remains found in a specific place, not a named person.
