A Utah hiker has gone missing after sending a friend an eerie final video of a snowy mountain as cops find his empty truck and a trail of footprints. Austin Madsen (pictured left), 32, of Mapleton, was hiking at Mount Dutton in Kanab, Utah, when he disappeared on Thursday after telling his family he was going to Arizona.
Before his disappearance, he sent a video of the snowy mountain to an unidentified friend, where he can be heard saying: 'The ocean's coming back, brother.' His wife, Emily Eliza Madsen, posted the video in a local Facebook group, saying the video showed that 'last place we heard from him' and asked the public if they could identify the area.
'It’s not common for him to go this long without any sort of communication,' Emily (pictured left) told 2 KTVU. 'I talked to him via FaceTime and he was snowshoeing and looked like he was having fun, but then he was looking for the truck... I haven’t heard from him since.' She last heard from him on Friday morning and said he had been facing some mental health problems lately.
The father-of-two was last seen wearing a brown fuzzy hat, black sunglasses, and a camouflage green puffer jacket (pictured). Emily does not believe her husband has been to Mount Dutton before. 'He’s a mountain guy, adventure guy, he loves the outdoors,' she told the outlet, but said his 'go-to spot' was running trails. Police were notified of his disappearance on January 29 and the Mapleton Police Department pinged Madsen's phone and located it in Garfield County, south of Monroe Mountain.
On Tuesday, authorities managed to track down his black 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche (pictured) in the Dry Hollow area on Mount Dutton and a trail of footprints leading into the wilderness, believed to have been left by the hiker.
However, the search was called off at 2.30am following torrential weather, but was later resumed via helicopter, despite weather conditions making it 'incredibly difficult.' 'The rough terrain and deep snow complicated travel throughout the area,' Garfield County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Police are still searching for the hiker as rescue crews from Piute, Iron, and Sevier counties assist the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
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