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PANGUITCH — A body found earlier this week is the remains of a Utah County man who has been missing since January, according to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies received a report from shed hunters that human remains had been found near Mount Dutton around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, the sheriff's office said in a news release. The remains were taken to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner in Taylorsville, where they were identified as belonging to Austin Madsen, 32, of Mapleton.
Madsen was last heard from on Jan. 27 when he sent a friend a video from a snow-covered mountain in southern Utah, which police later pinpointed to the Mount Dutton area.
Deputies began a search and rescue operation on Jan. 29 based out of the Dry Hollow area, around 5 miles southeast of where Madsen's remains were discovered. The search continued through Feb. 3 when "all leads had become exhausted," the news release reads.
Another search was conducted with the help of rescue dogs on May 20, but no new leads were uncovered.
A medical examiner was among the first to respond when the body was found and determined the death was the result of natural causes.
Madsen's father, Aron Madsen, said his son had bipolar disorder and suffered mental health crises every few years.
"He just wanted to leave Mapleton to get away and clear his head, and was heading to Arizona, south of Kanab, but something distracted him and took him to Mount Dutton until he got his truck stuck in the snow," he told KSL-TV in February.
Madsen is survived by his wife, Emily Madsen, and two young sons.
