Two elk hunters found dead in southern Colorado after a massive search were the victims of a lightning strike, authorities confirmed Monday.
Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin, speaking to The Colorado Sun, confirmed Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko were killed by lightning while hunting southwest of Monte Vista.
The hunters were found below a tree and had slight burns on their bodies, Martin said.
“A slight burn is like if you take a match and stick it on your arm,” he said. “And there were only two or three of them,” he said.
He said the hunters’ deaths were likely instantaneous, but he could not confirm the hunters’ exact time of death.
“That kind of death is just instant. It’s like you’re alive and now you’re not,” Martin said. “Just that quick. Split second.”
Bridget Murphy, Porter’s fiancée, said Porter and Stasko were both experienced outdoorsmen who got caught in a storm likely on Sept. 12.
“It is OFFICIAL, that a lightning strike to the ground took them in an instant. They didn’t do anything wrong, they didn’t feel fear or pain,” Murphy wrote in a Facebook post. “He was just trying to get back to the car as storms rolled in on Friday – September 12. It was out of everyone’s hands, and I am so grateful we found them so they can be at peace. He was an experienced outdoorsman, who was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.”
National Weather Service data since 1980 shows lightning causes two fatalities and 12 injuries per year in Colorado. In 2024, a lightning strike killed a Jackson County rancher and more than 30 of his cattle. The last time someone was struck in Rio Grande County was June of 1982 when three people were killed and one injured in a single strike.
The odds of getting struck are 1 in 1.2 million in a given year and 1 in 15,300 in a lifetime, the weather service estimates.
Conejos County Sheriff Garth Crowther said Porter and Stasko were clothed and with one small daypack between them when searchers found them Sept. 18. They had not set up a camp, and were dressed in camouflage clothing Crowther described as “not the warmest.” Their bodies were located close together and six days after the men were last seen at the Rio de Los Pinos trailhead.
One of the men had a bow with him, Crowther said. Neither had a gun. They did not activate an emergency GPS beacon.
Martin performed the autopsy Monday morning.
Investigators did not find any obvious signs of foul play or injuries on their bodies.
Search and rescue teams found the hunters’ bodies two miles above the Rio de Los Pinos trail in the South San Juan Wilderness, ending a nearly weeklong search.
Last week, Martin said first responders saw no signs of a lightning strike. Inside the hunters’ car, which was parked at the trailhead at 11,700 feet, authorities found wet clothes. None of the gear Porter would need to hunt, harvest or pack out elk was in the car.
Lightning strikes in the mountains most often in the afternoon during summer months. It is best to check the weather forecast before recreating outside, but storms can be unpredictable and roll in suddenly.
If stuck in a lightning storm and there is no nearby shelter, immediately get off elevated areas like hills, mountain ridges or peaks. Never lie flat on the ground. Instead, crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears so that you are low and there is minimal contact with the ground, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises.
Never shelter under an isolated tree. If you’re in a forest, find shelter beneath lower trees, the CDC says.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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