UPDATE
Sep 23, 2025 12:30 AM CDT
Preliminary information indicates that the two 25-year-old men killed while hunting elk in Colorado's backcountry last week may have been struck by lightning, the county coroner told People Monday. The injuries to the bodies of Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko were consistent with "a pretty intense electrical jolt," the coroner says. "They had a little bit of burnt marks like if you would take a match and strike it and then wait 'til it's about out and then touch it to your arm, there was just a couple of little marks like that," as well as "a little bit of singed hair, but not very much." Though formal autopsy results will take around eight weeks, he says he's fairly certain lightning is to blame. The area was experiencing heavy rain when the men went missing. "It is OFFICIAL, that a lightning strike to the ground took them in an instant," Porter's fiancee said on social media, per the Colorado Sun.
Sep 19, 2025 1:30 PM CDT
Two young elk hunters who vanished in Colorado's rugged backcountry last Friday were found dead Thursday morning, according to their families and local authorities. Andrew Porter of Asheville, North Carolina, and Ian Stasko of Salt Lake City, both 25, had been missing for nearly a week in the remote Game Management Unit 81, a swath of wild terrain stretching from the Continental Divide to the Rio Grande and New Mexico border, per the Colorado Sun. Porter's aunt, Lynne Runkle, shared the news on a GoFundMe page, saying she was writing "with a broken heart and through tears" that "Andrew and Ian have both been found deceased."
The Saguache County Search and Rescue team confirmed the men's deaths. According to the Conejos County Sheriff's Office, the men were found about 2 miles from the Rio de los Pinos trailhead. The pair last communicated with others on Sept. 11, when Porter used a satellite device to send his location to his fiancee. After that, updates stopped. Officials later found their vehicle, containing only wet clothes, suggesting the men had returned to dry off but then headed back out with their hunting gear.
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A confirmed sighting at another trailhead the next morning indicated they were still safe before storms rolled in; they told the person who spotted them they were going after a bull moose they'd seen. Over the next few days, a coordinated search involving local officials, specialized teams, and volunteers scoured the difficult region using dogs, horses, and drones. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing and are withholding further details until the families have been notified.
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