Grand County Search and Rescue members recovered the body last week of a California man who presumably drowned while he was swimming in the Colorado River.
Richard Lheureux, 21, of Hayward, California, was last seen swimming without a life jacket in the Big Bend area about 7 miles upstream of Moab on Monday, Aug. 22.
He had been swimming through a stretch of whitewater and was in calmer water when he went underwater approximately 20 feet from the riverbank.
Lheureux was found on the morning of Friday, Aug. 26, about half a mile downstream from where he was last seen. His body was subsequently transported to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner, which will officially determine the cause of his death.
Water temperature at the time of Lheureux’s disappearance was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grand County Sheriff’s Office; Grand County Search and Rescue; and Classic Lifeguard Helicopter crews responded to the scene, after dispatchers received a report of a possible drowning in the area.
The sheriff’s office flew a drone over the area, and lights and spotters were set up on the river to monitor it at nighttime. Grand County Search and Rescue and National Park Service teams also searched the river in boats.
