Hikers find missing woman on Swell

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On April 25, at approximately 3:30 p.m. the Emery County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Ahren Cattles, John Cattles and Kevin Zimmerman that they were hiking in the Baptist Draw and upper Chute Canyon area. As they were hiking a slot canyon, they came across the remains of a human body.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area to meet with the three men from Colorado and were shown where the body was located.
On Sunday morning, April 26, Sheriff’s Office personnel and Search and Rescue members responded back to the area and spent the remainder of the day hiking into the slot canyon and recovering the remains.
After the body was recovered, it was transported by the Department of Public Safety helicopter to the command area as well as transporting Sheriff’s Office personnel.
The body was sent to the Utah State Medical Examiners Office, who has identified the body as Rose Backhaus of Colorado who was reported missing in November.
Sheriff LaMar Guymon said, “The Sheriff’s posse search and rescue and the sheriff’s office worked hard on finding Rose, sometimes putting their own lives at risk to find her. This brings a welcome closure and hopefully relief to the family and loved ones. We caution people as they go into these areas to let people know where they are going and when they are expected back. We encourage them even to call our office and let us know if you don’t have anyone else to notify and let us know departure and arrival dates and times. One of the problems we have is the lack of signage at the turnaround of Bell Canyon and Little Wildhorse. We are working with the Bureau of Land Management to get this problem corrected. The medical examiner determined that Rose died of exposure. We are glad to bring closure to this unfortunate circumstance.”