CEDAR CITY — Authorities have found the body of a 68-year-old man who went missing while four-wheeling in the Cottonwood Canyon area northeast of Paragonah.
As originally reported by Cedar City News, Iron County Sheriff Ken Carpenter said authorities spent the day Tuesday searching for Barry Blake, who was last seen by a friend on Monday. When search efforts were suspended at dusk Tuesday, Carpenter said they were planning to resume the search Wednesday, and he contacted Cedar City News midmorning Wednesday to say Blake’s body had been located.
“The SWAT team members who located him said there did not appear to be anything suspicious about the death at this time,” Carpenter said.
On Tuesday, Carpenter said the friend had dropped off Blake and his four-wheeler in the area Monday afternoon, planning to pick up Blake at a designated spot later.
“When he came back to get him, he wasn’t there, but he didn’t really worry too much about it. That was yesterday afternoon sometime,” Carpenter said. “But then he never showed back up and so about around 2:30 this morning, they reported it and paged out search and rescue.”
Later Tuesday morning, searchers were able to locate the missing man’s off-road vehicle with the help of a helicopter crew.
“His four-wheeler was stuck, but it was still running, which we thought was odd,” Carpenter said. “But he wasn’t in the area of it.”
Personnel from multiple agencies, including the Metro SWAT team, had been assisting in the search, Carpenter said. The temperatures the first night were reasonably warm for this time of year, he said, but Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning was expected to be colder.
“We probably aren’t going to be as fortunate with the weather conditions tonight as we were last night, so there’s always a concern,” he said.
The search efforts were suspended at dusk Tuesday night.
The area where Blake went missing is just a few miles east of the Lunt Park rest stop on Interstate 15, Carpenter noted.
“If he came down out of the canyon, he could reasonably get down to that Lunt Park rest area,” Carpenter said. “He’s from Parowan, so he’s certainly familiar with the area.”
Anyone who may have seen Blake at any point between when he went missing and when he was found is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 435-867-7500.
Updated Feb. 10, 11:30 a.m. with details about Blake’s body being located.
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