DENVER – A crew of 120 people searched an 18-mile stretch of Poudre Canyon Saturday for the woman missing for nearly two months after flash floods and mudslides swept through the area in July, killing three others.
Search efforts to find Diana Brown started around 8 a.m. Saturday and will continue until she is found.
At least a dozen agencies were stretched out along parts of Highway 14 in the canyon.
“We’re trying to do a full-court press today and touch the 16 miles of river and hopefully put closure for the family and recover the body,” said Operations Captain Joe Shellhammer with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
Crews searched Poudre Canyon between Black Hollow Road and Steven’s Gulch Picnic Site. The searchers included dive teams, cadaver dogs, and drones. Her body has not been located as of Saturday afternoon.
Brown and three members of her family, including her husband, were killed July 20 when flash flooding swept through the canyon. They were staying in a cabin when the water rose.
“It’s pretty rough when you lose four members of the same family in one tragic accident,” said Shellhammer.
Two of the other victims have been identified previously as Patricia Brown, 59, of Madison, Wisconsin and David Brown, 61, of San Antonio, Texas. Another man was also killed when a mudslide tore down Black Hollow Road and spilled into the Poudre River on July 20. Crews suspended search operations on July 28.
A family friend, Hilary Keahey, said the family went to the cabin every July together.
"I want people to remember them as beautiful, loving, generous people," Keahey said. 'They had such good souls and hearts. And I think that those of us who are still here feel a little empty, and heaven is a better place certainly now."
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says it will not stop until it recovers the body of Diana Brown.
