After a month-long search for Jodean Elliott-Blakeslee was halted by the U.S. Government shut down, her body was found at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in central Idaho this past Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The 63-year-old's body was found during a helicopter search of the lava fields after she and her hiking partner, Amelia Linkert, 69, were reported missing on Sept. 24, according to Reuters.
The two women were last seen near the Arco campground on Sept. 19; their vehicle was found in the Tree Molds Trail parking lot, which is a popular hiking area in Craters of the Moon. It's unknown how they were separated or what happened, KTVB.com reported.
Linkert's body was found on Sept. 26, the day she would have turned 70-years-old, as authorities with Butte County Sheriff's office and the National Park Service were working with volunteers to find the two women, according to KTVB. Linkert died from exposure, dehydration and hypothermia. The coroner will examine Blakeslee's body for cause of death.
Blakeslee worked as a physician for the Oregon Department of Corrections in Ontario, and Linkert was retired from the Meridian School District, KTVB reported. The search for Blakeslee drew helicopters, dog teams and about 100 people who worked in other U.S. parks, but efforts were scaled back on Oct. 1 due to the government shutdown, Reuters reported.
Ted Stout was among the several Craters of the Moon workers who volunteered to help continue the search during the shutdown, but the 750,000 acres of volcanic rifts, cinder cones and underground tunnels made their efforts futile, according to Reuters.
"We can't let her down now. This needs to continue," Stout, the park's chief of interpretation and education, said the day after the shutdown, Reuters reported.
Park Superintendent for the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Dan Buckley said they did not anticipate finding Blakeslee's body because of the extreme terrain.
"A lot of the searchers that have been here will tell you that it's probably the most difficult country there is to navigate, as far as just the sheer undulation of the landscape, lots of cracks and crevasses, sharp rock, loose rock," Buckley told KTVB.
