The location of the grave seemed to match Nez’s story, which recounted the vicious murder of a young white man in the 1930s. Following up on a story originally told by a Navajo man named Aneth Nez, construction worker Denny Bellson came across a skeleton on Comb Ridge in southeastern Utah. His disappearance has turned into one of the most enduring puzzles in the Southwest, one that that countless enthusiasts have tried-and failed-to solve.Īn apparent breakthrough came in 2008. Since he vanished near the Escalante River in 1934, Ruess, a 20-year-old poet and artist, has become a cult hero across the Southwest, famed for his solo journeys across the region which he detailed in rhapsodic prose. Well, DNA results are only as good as the process that produces them, and in this case, a peculiar set of blunders managed to complicate, rather than solve, a 75-year-old mystery. A team of forensic scientists laid out an impressive case, backed by a DNA test that linked bones found in the Utah desert to the long-lost explorer, an icon of the American Southwest. The discovery of explorer Everett Ruess’s skeletal remains, as detailed in the April/May 2009 issue of Adventure (" Finding Everett Ruess"), appeared to be a slam dunk. Text by David Roberts Photograph of Utah's Comb Ridge by Dawn Kish
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