Fremont County Sheriff Ryan Lee told the county commissioners Tuesday morning that a search in the Steamboat Lake area of the Wind River Reservation for a missing man has been suspended and that the missing man is presumed deceased.
On Saturday, Sept. 2, Steven Allen Keller, 76, was separated from his companions just a short distance from the group’s camp near Steamboat Lake. He was last seen wearing a green jacket and a black, blue and green Patagonia fleece.
“Fremont County Search and Rescue has been working in coordination with Wind River Tribal Fish and Game in the search effort at around 10,000 feet in elevation, and bad weather there has impacted the search effort,” Lee said. The sheriff said “zero clues” have been found, including by search volunteers and Tribal F&G on horseback. There was both a Blackhawk helicopter out of Cheyenne and a helicopter from Sublette County’s Tip Top Search and Rescue plus ground teams involved in the effort. “I understand the family may be working with a private contractor to continue the search,” Lee said.
The sheriff noted that the SAR teams “have been extremely busy” so far this year with three fatalities, one at Ocean Lake, one at the Cirque of the Towers and one on Gannett Pea this summer and fall. Lee also said a rescue of a SAR team member occurred in the Grasshopper Creek area below Gannett who suffered a compound fractured leg when struck by a rock. “She was long-lined to a landing zone where she was then transported to a hospital,” he told commissioners. He credited the Grand Teton National Park Jenny Lake Rangers for their assistance in the latest body recovery and rescue effort.