HikeArizona.COM

Park Rangers searching for missing 19 year-old hiker

Date
July 17, 2006

Contact
Maureen Oltrogge, (928) 638-7779

Grand Canyon, Ariz. – Park Rangers from Grand Canyon National Park are searching for a
19 year-old woman who was last seen near Hermit Rapid along the Colorado River around
6:00pm on Sunday, July 16, 2006. The woman, identified as Iryna Shylo, a Grand Canyon
resident, was on an overnight hike in the inner canyon with a hiking partner when she
disappeared. Ms. Shylo's hiking partner indicated she went down river to go to the
bathroom and failed to return. Her hiking partner reported her missing to Backcountry
Rangers early this morning.
Ms. Shylo is a 19 year-old, white female. She is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 120
pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing blue jean denim
cut-off shorts, a blue, green and white flowered bikini style top and white tennis shoes.

Ms. Shylo had hiked into the Canyon on Sunday, July 16, on the Hermit Trail with a male in
his early 50's. They had planned on spending the night and hiking out the following day.

Today's search efforts consisted of an aerial and ground search of the area where Ms.
Syhlo was last seen. Park rangers have also interviewed her hiking partner and other trail
users that were in the area. Park rangers will be inserted into the search area late tonight
and will continue their search efforts early in the morning. A scent dog team is being
contacted for possible deployment to the Hermit Rapid area in the morning as well.

Park Rangers have distributed a missing person's flyer and are asking for assistance in
locating Ms. Shylo. If you have any information regarding this individual, please contact
the National Park Service at (928) 638-7805.

Related: anyone heard anything new about the Japanese lady who was stabbed 22 times at the bottom of the canyon?

I hope that those serial killers didn't make their way up north. What a shame. Hope they catch all of them.

Jeff

PageRob wrote:Related: anyone heard anything new about the Japanese lady who was stabbed 22 times at the bottom of the canyon?

I haven't even heard anything old about it. When? Who was she with?

PageRob wrote:Related: anyone heard anything new about the Japanese lady who was stabbed 22 times at the bottom of the canyon?

This was the one I heard about at Havasu?

PageRob wrote:Related: anyone heard anything new about the Japanese lady who was stabbed 22 times at the bottom of the canyon?

This is the most recent of which I am aware.

$5,000 reward offered in slaying of Canyon visitor
The Associated Press Published: 07.12.2006
PHOENIX — The FBI has posted a $5,000 reward for information about the May slaying of a Japanese woman at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Tomomi Hanamure, 34, from Tokyo, was visiting Havasupai alone and was last seen walking on a popular trail leading to the Havasupai Falls after checking into the lodge at Supai on May 8.

She apparently never slept in her room and a maid reported her missing the next day.

Her body was found by a group of swimmers on May 13, floating in a pool below a waterfall.

She had been stabbed more than two dozen times, a coroner's report showed.

An FBI dive team found some of her belongings, but her cell phone, credit cards and cash have not been recovered.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, FBI, Coconino County Sheriff's Office and state Department of Public Safety are investigating the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI's Flagstaff office.

In response to hikeaz's reply:

No new evidence emerges in search for woman at Grand Canyon



Monday, July 24, 2006 10:26 AM CDT


GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) -- The weeklong search for a 19-year-old woman who disappeared during a hiking trip hasn't turned up any new evidence since Friday, park officials said Sunday.

Searchers strongly believe that Iryna Shylo, a Ukrainian citizen, drowned when using the bathroom in the Colorado River, said Ken Phillips, head of search and rescue operations for the park.

Phillips believes the river's current, which looks placid in certain spots yet can be strong underneath the water's surface, swept away Shylo.

Authorities used a helicopter Sunday to continue the search for Shylo, who worked as an employee for a cafeteria in the canyon's South Rim.

Shylo and a man walked down the canyon to the Colorado River on July 16 and planned to spend the night there before hiking out the next day. She left the campsite to go to the bathroom and never returned.

"We strongly believe she is in the river," Phillips said.

Shylo's hiking partner was unable to find Shylo and reported the disappearance to park rangers, who immediately began a search.

The last sign of Shylo came Friday, when authorities found shoes that matched Shylo's at two locations on the river.

Unless new evidence is found, authorities will likely begin to scale back their helicopter searches by Wednesday evening, said Maureen Oltrogge, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

Park officials distributed fliers in parts of the South Rim and backcountry areas, and river guides were asked to report any evidence they may find.
Officials conduct about six searches each year at the canyon where missing visitors are found within eight to 12 hours. The park does one long-term search, such as Shylo's, each year, Phillips said.

Wow, sad story. That river is no joke.

On the Havasupai Topic: There was a page article about it in the AZ Repulic today. I didn't realize it happend around Beaver Falls, I thought it was closer to town or Mooney Falls.

In response to davis2001r6's reply:

Sad news...

Grand Canyon, Ariz. – At approximately 6:00 p.m. last night a private river trip located a female body in the Colorado River at River Mile 104 within Grand Canyon National Park just below Ruby Rapid. The body was located on the right side of the river in an eddy. The private trip used a satellite phone to call Grand Canyon Dispatch to report the body and their location.

National Park Service Rangers began a recovery operation early this morning. Once a reconnaissance flight was completed, a park helicopter inserted a recovery team along with a zodiac boat to recover the body.
With no helicopter landing zone on the right side of the river, park rangers transported the body across the river by boat where a National Park Service helicopter was brought in to transport the body to the South Rim Helibase. The body was then transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiners Office and taken to Flagstaff, Ariz.

Park Rangers have been searching the Colorado River below Hermit Creek (River Mile 95) for Iryna Shylo, a Grand Canyon resident and Ukrainian citizen who was last seen by her hiking partner around 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 16. The body recovered today was located approximately nine miles downriver from where Ms. Shylo was last seen and where tennis shoes
matching the type she was wearing were located over a week ago.
Positive
identification will be made by the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

Ms. Shylo and a hiking partner had hiked down the Hermit Trail to the Colorado River on Sunday, July 16 and had planned on spending the night in the canyon before hiking out the next day. Her hiking partner reported her missing after she failed to return from a hike downriver.