Kit Roberts
Two experienced hunters were found dead after going missing in the Colorado wilderness.
Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko, both 25, were last seen on September 11 when they went on a hunting trip together.
They had gone into Colorado’s Game Management Unit 81, a patch of wilderness which reaches down to the New Mexico Border, and a search operation was launched.
The pair were described as being very skilled in the outdoors, and were 'people who’ve been building shelters in the woods since they were 12 for fun'.
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Tragically, one week after the last sighting of the pair they were found dead, with a cause of death yet to be determined.
Porter’s aunt, Lynne Runkle, started a GoFundMe page to help finance a search operation.
In an update on Thursday (September 18), she wrote: "It is with a broken heart and through tears that I give you this update. Andrew and Ian have both been found deceased. Their bodies were discovered earlier today by Colorado Search and Rescue. I will provide another update tomorrow."
Runkle added: "Please keep Andrew’s and Ian‘s families in your thoughts and prayers."
She had previously written about severe weather which had affected the area the two men were located.
Runkle posted: "Severe storms moved through the area Thursday evening, and we suspect the two young men were caught off-guard by the weather."
CBS News reported that the bodies did not have any signs of trauma, but an official cause of death has not yet been given by the coroner's office.
An investigation is now underway to determine a cause of death for the two men, with an autopsy scheduled to be carried out in El Paso County.
Up until their disappearance the pair had been sending regular updates, and officials said the last one was sent to Porter's fiancée, Bridget Murphy, from a satellite communication device at around 3pm on September 11.
The final ping had come from a location close to where Stasko’s car was parked by the trailhead, and investigating officers found wet clothes inside the vehicle, The Colorado Sun reports.
Murphy believes the wet clothes in the car could suggest that the pair had returned to the vehicle to change before heading out again.
This appeared to be supported by the fact that the equipment that they would need to hunt and pack an elk was not present in the car, suggesting that they had gone out to hunt.
Murphy said there was a confirmed sighting of Porter and Stasko with their vehicle at the Spruce Hole trailhead Friday morning, according to the outlet.
The pair had allegedly told the person who saw them they’d come across a bull moose and were going back out to find it.
Their car was reportedly moved back to the Rio de los Pinos trailhead.
"That gives us one more night and morning we know they were safe before the storms," Murphy wrote on Facebook.