An autistic man from Colorado was found yesterday afternoon after wandering in a Utah desert for three weeks. William Martin LaFever was found severely emaciated, but managed to stay alive by eating frogs and tree roots in the Escalante Desert.
The 28-year-old said that he also drank water from the Escalante River.
He said that he was trying to walk from Boulder, Colorado to Page, Arizona, a distance of approximately 90 miles.
The Garfield County Sheriff’s Department estimated he had traveled about 40 miles before he was found.
“It is some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain you will find anywhere on Earth, jagged cliffs, stone ledges, sandstone, sagebrush, juniper,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Becki Bronson said in a telephone interview.
Where William was hiking, there just isn’t anyone out there. There are no people. There are no towns.
Deputy Ray Gardner, who completed training in search and rescue operations for people with autism, said that LaFever would not have survived another 24 hours. Gardner was one of the people in the helicopter that found LaFever.
The helicopter took LaFever to Garfield Memorial Hospital in Panguitch. The hospital has not released any information on his condition.
LaFever was reportedly trying to get to Page because his father, John LaFever, told him that he could wire money to him there, according to a release.
LaFever called his father on June 6 or June 7 saying that, while he was hiking with his dog, someone stole his hiking gear and he had run out of money. His father said to find a ride to Catch to collect the money.
LaFever hiked down to the Escalante River to get a boat. According to the sheriff’s department, he quickly ran out of food, his dog left him, and he abandoned the rest of his gear except for the clothes he was wearing.
The dog has not been found.
LaFever’s phone call to his father was the last his family heard of him. His sister reported him missing on Monday.
The helicopter team spotted LaFever yesterday afternoon, sitting in the Escalante River about five miles from Lake Powell.
“In all my career I have never seen someone so emaciated,” Gardner said in the sheriff’s department release.
I could not believe that he was alive, and feel certain that in another 24 hours he would not have been alive.
LaFever was so weak when they found him that he could not stand.
Elite.
