Everett Ruess Discovered

A combination of detective work, Google, DNA and archaeology recently solved the mystery of what happened to a young explorer, artist and writer who disappeared in the early 1930s.

CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Dennis Van Gerven, center, and Navajo Nation archaeologist Ron Maldano, right, at the Utah site where the remains of Everett Ruess were discovered in 2008. Photo Photo courtesy Paul Sandberg, University of Colorado

Everett Ruess was a 20-year-old artist and writer who spent four years of his young life wandering the American southwest, but disappeared abruptly in 1934 after leaving the town of Escalante, New Mexico Utah.

For his young age, Ruess was quite well-known for his artwork and writing, was photographed by Dorothea Lange, and a friend of Ansel Adams. His life inspired two documentary films, and a chapter in Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild.

Writer David Roberts combined oral history and Google to discover skeletal remains of the right date and age. University of Colorado researchers Dennis Van Gerven and Doug Sandberg reconstructed the face and finally ran DNA tests.

Makes for pretty compelling reading.

• The Mystery of Everett Ruess: SOLVED, National Geographic
• Mysterious 1934 Disappearance of Explorer Everett Ruess in Utah Solved, video and press release from CU Boulder
• Everett Reuss, the collection
• Wandering Soul, Tucson Weekly, 1997