DENVER (KDVR) It’s been a little over a month since officials announced that human remains had been located near Alpine Ridge Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park, and on Monday, officials announced the identity of those remains.
On June 18, the Larimer County Coroner’s Office had been called to an area near the trail, which is located near the Fall River Pass and the Alpine Visitor Center in the national park.
“After extensive efforts, the decedent was positively and scientifically identified through dental record comparison as 40-year-old male Steven Noto of Western New York,” the Larimer County Coroner’s Office announced Monday.
The remains were examined on June 20 by Dr. J. White, D.O., and Forensic Anthropologist Diane L. France, Ph.D., D-ABFA.
The coroner’s office said that because the remains had been mostly skeletonized by the time they were found, the cause and manner of Noto’s death cannot be determined.
However, investigators believe that Noto’s death occurred in late November 2024, and foul play was ruled out.
Skeletal remains being found in RMNP is not unheard of: In 2021, a skeleton that had been found on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park was identified as 27-year-old German hiker Rudi Moder, who had gone missing 38 years earlier.
