Missing Hiker Found Dead in Heart Mountain Canal
Written by Andrew-Rossi on May 6, 2020
A tragic end to a 3-day search.
Yesterday morning, the body of 50-year-old Michael Alan Shotts was found in the Heart Mountain Canal, off Lane 17. An irrigation worker discovered the body around 9:46 am. Shotts was reported missing on the morning of May 3rd. He went to the Hayden Arch Bridge at 7:30 pm the night of May 2nd to walk his dogs. After his wife reported him missing, she found the truck and the dogs at the Bridge with Shotts nowhere in sight. Park County Search and Rescue commenced on a multi-day ground search.
Park County Search and Rescue, assisted by members of the Bighorn County Search and Rescue team, spent the next few days working from 7 am to 8:30 or 9 pm searching for Shott, mainly using ground searchers and dog teams. The search concluded once Shotts’s body was discovered. The case is now in the hands of the Park County coroner.
The investigation into the death of Michael Alan Shotts is ongoing. While is no definitive cause of death attributed to the case, no foul play is suspected.
