(Grand Canyon, AZ) - Rangers in the Grand Canyon National Park received a report Thursday, April 26, at approximately 5:00PM of what appeared to be a body spotted below the South Rim in the Mather Point area. A member of the Peregrine Fund staff spotted what appeared to be a body while observing condor activity in the park. Due to poor weather conditions and the late hour, rangers had to wait until Friday to confirm the report.

National Park rangers were able to visually confirm a body and at approximately, 11:00AM, rangers rappelled about 500 feet below the rim west of Mather Point to begin their investigation, recover the body and prepare it for transport via helicopter to the park’s Emergency Operations Center where it was transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

The body has been tentatively identified as that of Shaw Joseph Ostermann, 47 of Tempe, Arizona, whom rangers had been attempting to locate since April 16, 2012 after his car was found abandoned in a parking lot near the Grand Canyon Visitor Center and Mather Point.

An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the National Park Service with the assistance of the Coconino County Medical Examiner.