Identity of Black Canyon victim confirmed

Robert Allen

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — The 17-year-old girl whose body was found Saturday at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park has been identified through dental records as Holly Jordan St. John, Montrose County Coroner Tom Canfield said.

The autopsy revealed the victim died of multiple traumatic injuries, and was killed immediately upon impact. The manner of death remains undetermined; however, it is confirmed to have occurred the night of Feb. 9, Canfield said.

The toxicology report, as well as microscopics of tissue sections, should be complete in about a week, he said.

The body was discovered Saturday morning about 1,200 feet below Gunnison Point, after park ranger Alison Carlyle arrived at the visitor center for opening duties. When she noticed a white Ford Taurus in the parking lot, it seemed out of place, so she called the police.

The extrication, which took about 24 hours, involved a helicopter from Durango that dropped a crew of three at the canyon floor. They hiked about 600 feet, through slick ice and soft rock, to recover the body and belay it to the bottom. As darkness set in, park rangers Ryan Thrush and Brent Mims, as well as climbing volunteer Nick Wasser, were forced to leave the body about 200 feet from the canyon floor.

They spent the night camping at the bottom and completed the operation Sunday morning.

St. John was a student at Montrose High School.