HEBER, AZ -- The body of the 51-year-old man who went missing in January while on an ATV ride was found at Chevelon Canyon Lake near Heber Saturday, according to the Coconino County Sheriff's Office.
Four Phoenix residents were fishing and walking along the shore of the lake when they found the body at approximately 2 p.m.
CCSO responded to the report and confirmed that the remains were human, Lt. Rex Gilliland said.
The remains were recovered Sunday morning by sheriff’s deputies, a detective, a crime scene investigator, an investigator with the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office and a United States Forest Service officer, according to a CCSO press release.
After an autopsy was performed on Monday, the body was identified as Mark Russell Irby, who was the subject of an extensive search earlier in the year.
Dr. Les Seaman, a Flagstaff dentist, made the identification of the body through analysis of Irby’s dental records.
Irby was reported missing on January 2, 2009, after he never returned home from an ATV ride near the Forest Lakes subdivision of Coconino County.
The ATV was found March 14, about 10 miles from the subdivision.
Irby’s body was recovered approximately 12 miles northwest of the subdivision, which was around 2.2 miles away from his abandoned ATV.
The cause of his death remains under investigation.
