Found

Now that this is in the news, I can tell you that the remains of a man our team and others searched for for ten days in January and again in March of this year, have been located.

I'm referring to the case of Mark Russell Irby, who disappeared from his home in rural Forest Lakes, Arizona, during what was supposed to be a short ATV ride on "The Loop" around the subdivision--something he often did--before he and his wife would return to their home in the city later that morning.

Mr. Irby, last seen wearing a denim shirt, jeans and plastic "Croc" shoes, was not dressed for an extended ride in those winter conditions, and there was no less than 3 feet of snow in the area at the time.

The initial search involved 1,800 hours of manpower on foot and 20 hours by air. No tracks or clues were found.

I wrote about the ongoing, extensive search in January:

1/4/09: 48 Hours And Counting

1/11/09: Where Is Mark?

And again in March, when his ATV was located about 10 miles from his home:

3/17/09: Three Ongoing Searches

And these are some of the latest news reports from the past few days:

From the Arizona Daily Sun: Body Of Missing ATV Rider From Valley Found

From ABC15.com: Body of man missing for months found in Northern Arizona

Here are a series of news releases about this search, from the day after Mr. Irby went missing through the day his remains were located along the shore of Chevelon Canyon Lake: From Project Jason, Assistance for Families of the Missing

I'm waiting to see if more information is released to the public about this case. If I see anything new, I'll post it here. In the meantime, I'm thinking back on the whole thing--what I know of it, anyway--and saying to myself, "I just don't get it." How did he get so far from home?

I feel really sad for Mr. Irby and for his family and friends. I met some of them during the search and really wanted this to, somehow, have a positive outcome. But I'm glad that at least no one has to wonder "Where is Mark?" anymore.