The body of Paul Smith, 48, of Newcastle, Washington, was recovered this morning from the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. The body was discovered by another commercial river trip approximately 5 miles below the camp where Smith was last seen, despite an extensive search and rescue operation by Park personnel.
Just after midnight on Thursday, September 9th, 2004, Grand Canyon National Park dispatch received a report of a missing person on the Colorado River. The reporting party, a trip leader for Tour West, a commercial river company, told the dispatcher that one of his passengers was missing from the group's camp at river mile 118, and reported that another passenger had heard splashing and shouts for "help" coming from the river two hours previously. The river crew took a boat out to assist, but in the darkness were unable to locate anyone in distress.