The remains were discovered by a 12-year-old boy near a popular trail at the national park.
ESTES PARK, Colo. — A family visiting Colorado from Illinois made an unsettling discovery during what was supposed to be their first big vacation: human remains lying in plain sight near a heavily trafficked trail in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Kristina Chavez, who was traveling with her husband, 12-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, said they had driven 15 hours from Aurora, Illinois, to visit the park in mid-June.
They had planned to hike to the Alpine Visitor Center, which sits along Trail Ridge Road at nearly 11,800 feet. Chavez said her son wandered a little off the trail toward a large pile of rocks about 200 yards from the main path.
“My son states, ‘I think I found a dead body,’” Chavez said. “We kind of laughed it off… there’s no way.”
At first, the family thought it was a Halloween decoration or a prop. But when Chavez got closer, she said she could tell immediately it was real.
“I look at it, I instantly knew it was real,” she said. “Once I started looking at it, there were articles of clothing with it.”
She described the remains as a human skeleton lying face down with one detached leg. She said the socks and pants were still there, and both shoes were tied securely to the feet.
Chavez said rangers told her snow in that area had only melted two weeks before the discovery. Still, she has wondered why something so visible hadn’t been found sooner.
“The confusion is, like, why was it out in the open? And do they do any foot patrol?” Chavez said. “It’s difficult as a parent to know that your child has seen something that they can never unsee.”
She said park rangers responded quickly when she reported the discovery. Rangers shut down the mountain and cleared visitors from the area soon after.
Officials with Rocky Mountain National Park confirmed the remains were found on June 18 near the Alpine Ridge Trail, close to the Alpine Visitor Center. Park law enforcement rangers and the Larimer County Coroner’s Office are leading the investigation.
On Thursday, a park spokesperson said no overdue or missing person reports were filed over the winter for individuals who were not located. There have only been two known disappearances in the park since 2019, officials said, and none of those cases align with these remains.
The coroner’s office said the process of confirming the person’s identity and locating relatives could take weeks or even months.
The experience has left a lasting impact on the Chavez family. Her daughter woke up with nightmares the night after they returned to their lodging. Chavez said they have tried to focus on the idea that they may have helped bring answers to someone’s family.
“Hopefully, you know, we can give their family some answers and hopefully some closure,” she said. “It would be nice to connect with the family because we do feel connected with this individual.”
So far, authorities have said there are no known missing person cases that match the remains. The Larimer County Coroner’s Office will release more information on its website when the next-of-kin has been notified.
Rocky Mountain National Park rangers have not said whether they consider the death suspicious.
Chavez said her family never expected their vacation to end this way.
“What are the chances four people from Illinois find something like that?” she said. “We feel that there’s a reason for it.”
More information will be posted by the Larimer County Coroner’s Office on their website when it becomes available.