La Plata County Search & Rescue on Saturday evening recovered a body believed to be that of a young man who drowned in late June in the Animas River.
The body, believed to be that of Cody Shane Pierce of Albuquerque, was recovered a half mile north of Bakers Bridge in the river beneath overhanging cliffs, said Butch Knowlton, director of the Office of Emergency Management for the county.
“We presume it to be Cody,” Knowlton said.
The body was spotted by local property owners who called law enforcement.
The body was turned over the La Plata County coroner for an autopsy and identification, he said.
The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office investigations unit was at the scene. But investigators still consider Pierce’s drowning an accident.
Pierce, 19, was with his fellow staff members from Tall Timber Resort when he jumped in the river the evening of June 25 to cool off. That night, search-and-rescue teams began looking for him.
The search was challenging because the river was running high and the terrain is nearly impossible to search.
“There’s a lot of history with people that drown in that part of the Upper Animas, and a lot of the time, we don’t recover the bodies in a timely manner,” Knowlton said.
In the days after Pierce drowned, crews searched in helicopters because canyons along the Upper Animas River are steep and dangerous.
In some areas of the river, they were able to search in rafts and canoes. Later in the search, the Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit assisted.
Pierce’s mother, Laura Pierce, said she was relieved to find out that her son’s body, who was 19, had been found.
“It brings calmness,” she said.
Her husband, John, and a few family friends traveled to Durango two weeks ago to search along the river near Bakers Bridge and the logjam.
John was able to speak with some of the property owners who saw Pierce on Saturday.
“They were looking over the edge and they found him. ... That may not have happened if my husband hadn’t gone and talked to them,” she said.
She said when the body is returned home the family plans to spread his ashes in the mountains near Durango.
“That’s where he would want to be. ... That was his heaven,” Laura Pierce said.
Pierce was studying criminology at the University of New Mexico, and he worked at the campus police department during the school year.
Since the accident, there has been an outpouring of support for the family, she said. Hundreds of people attended a memorial service July 17, and a memorial fund set up for the search effort raised $2,000.
The money will be split between La Plata County Search & Rescue and Tall Timber Resort, which also helped to feed volunteers searching the river.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
