Walter Scheib, a 61-year-old chef who used to work at the White House, was found dead by search teams on Sunday. Scheib was reported missing by his girlfriend after he went hiking in New Mexico earlier this month, reported The Huffington Post.
Search parties discovered the dead body in a river near a hiking trail in the mountains near Taos, a town located approximately 70 miles from Santa Fe. The discovery was made on the fifth day of the search operation that involved several volunteers, state police, search dogs and teams from the National Guard.
Authorities said the dangerous terrain made the search operation particularly challenging.
"I know the trail itself has a pretty steep incline," New Mexico State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Liz Armijo said, according to The Washington Post. "It took a long time to get the body down. It was a very rugged, very steep and very slow-going process."
Police authorities found his vehicle parked on Tuesday at the Yerba Canyon trailhead and two days later traced the chef's cell phone to a remote peak in the New Mexico range, according to the New York Daily News.
Scheib served as White House executive chef between 1994 and 2005 under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He left the White House to work as a food consultant and speaker, even making an appearance on popular TV show "Iron Chef America," according to USA Today.
