wfn.org | Missing Presbyterian Minister Found Dead in Wyoming

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9-September-1998 
98298 
 
    Missing Presbyterian Minister Found Dead in Wyoming 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-The body of a missing Presbyterian minister has been found 
in the Wyoming wilderness where he disappeared just over one month ago 
while he was on a solo hike. 
 
    Rescuers found the body of 48-year-old Mike Turner of Caldwell, Idaho, 
Sept. 4, after another hiker spotted it in the Wind River Mountains in 
north-central Wyoming.  Turner was found with his leg pinned between an 
800-pound boulder and some other rocks. 
 
    The Fremont County coroner has custody of the body in Riverton, 
Wyoming. The cause of death is currently unknown. 
 
    "I am deeply saddened by the confirmation of Mike's death, but at the 
same time am very thankful for the resolution it brings," Turner's wife, 
Diane, said in a written statement shortly after the body was discovered. 
"I thank all of you for your concerns and prayers over the past few weeks. 
I ask for your continued prayers for the children and me, our extended 
family, our church family and everyone who has been affected by this 
tragedy." 
 
    Turner left behind a journal that chronicled his approximately 
seven-day struggle to stay alive until rescuers found him and offered 
private messages for his family.  "... And it is a testimony of his faith," 
according to a statement on an Internet site [http://purrfect.net/Mike/] 
that was created shortly after Turner disappeared. 
 
    Members of the Fremont County Search and Rescue retrieved the body by 
helicopter in the Alpine Lakes area - an area Turner planned to cross on 
the third day of his itinerary. 
 
    "The area was so remote and rugged that the helicopter could not land 
close to the body," Sergeant David Good of the Fremont County Sheriff's 
Office told reporters Sept. 4, describing the boulder field where Turner's 
body was found. 
 
    Two separate rescue efforts had attempted to find Turner after he 
disappeared - one in early July, when he failed to arrive at the trailhead 
where his family was waiting, and another in late August, when his dog, 
Andy, a black Labrador, emerged along one of the trails.  Fixed-wing planes 
and helicopters scoured the area, and family and church members, as well as 
childhood friends, helped search teams comb the mountains and interview 
hikers coming out of the trails. 
 
    The only confirmed sighting of Turner, however, was on July 30, just 
two miles into his trek. 
 
    Good said that another lone hiker found the body Aug. 31 and reported 
it when he came out of the mountains Sept. 3.   "The hiker," he told 
reporters in a statement, "picked up a wallet and some personal effects 
from around the body that indicated it was the missing man, Mike Turner ... 
and several Fremont County Search and Rescue members met with the hiker and 
plotted out the location of the body." 
 
    A memorial service is not yet scheduled. 
 
    "Even with the knowledge that [it was unlikely Turner would survive], 
you still hang on to that last shred of hope," said Sherry Hartman, 
secretary of the Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church in Caldwell, where 
Turner had served as pastor for the last 10 years. She said congregants 
have gotten through the last six weeks by recognizing how dire Turner's 
plight was, yet hoping he could - with his extensive experience in 
wilderness survival - beat the odds. 
 
      "It will be a hard transition," Hartman said of the church's going on 
without the longtime pastor, who was active in every  aspect of the 
congregation's life. 
 
    She said the number of members volunteering to assume leadership roles 
in the church has increased significantly since Turner's disappearance. 
"People are really taking a look at their own personal role in the church 
 ... a look at their part in worship, in being an active Christian or not 
being an active Christian," said Hartman, stressing that Turner's own 
commitment to the Boone Memorial congregation was a witness to the deep 
importance of the church in his life. 

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