Former Navy SEAL Is Missing in Yellowstone

Conservationist Kim Crumbo's half brother was found dead Monday
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 22, 2021 6:17 PM CDT
Former Navy SEAL Is Missing in Yellowstone
The NPS warns that wins can make "paddling difficult if not impossible and dangerous" on Shoshone Lake.   (National Park Service)

Kim Crumbo is not short on survival skills—the 74-year-old Utah resident is a former Navy SEAL who spent two decades working as a National Park Service ranger after leaving the military—but he has been missing in Yellowstone National Park for days, and family members are very worried. The body of Crumbo's half brother, 67-year-old Mark O'Neill, was found on the east shore of Shoshone Lake on Monday, the day after relatives reported the men missing after they failed to return from a four-day trip, NBC reports. O'Neill also spent decades working for the service.

The National Park Service says that on Sunday, crews "located a vacant campsite with gear on the south side of Shoshone Lake," the park's second-biggest lake. A canoe, paddle, and personal belongings were found on the east side. The park warns that dangerous winds and waves can develop on the lake at any time, though. Crumbo is an extremely experienced boater: He worked as a river ranger at Grand Canyon National Park and also as a professional river guide for 10 years.

Associates describe Crumbo—a renowned conservationist and a member of the Potawatomi Tribe —as a "larger than life" character and one of the country's strongest wilderness advocates, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. He retired as the Western conservation director of Wildlands Network in 2019. "If there was anybody who was going to figure out a way to survive in the wild, it would be Crumbo," says Katie Davis, the group's executive director. She notes that Crumbo had survival training in the Navy and had two combat tours of duty in Vietnam. (More Yellowstone National Park stories.)

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