Missouri deputy attorney general found alive 6 days after vanishing in Wyoming wilderness

A Missouri deputy attorney general has been found alive six days after authorities said he vanished during a hike through the Wyoming wilderness.

Shaun Mackelprang, 55, was rescued by helicopter on Wednesday morning near Scott Lake in the Wind River Range, a roughly 100-mile-long mountain range in western Wyoming, according to the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office said Mackelprang set out from the Green River Lakes trailhead on Aug. 20 with plans to end at Gannett Peak, the state’s tallest mountain at 13,804 feet.

Search and rescue efforts began after he was reported missing and his vehicle was found at the trailhead.

“We also sincerely thank the public and backcountry users who shared information, reviewed photographs and GPS data, shared the missing-person information, and helped get the word out,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson wrote on Facebook .

Authorities did not initially provide details on Mackelprang’s condition; however, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) told a local radio station he was dehydrated and in the hospital but expected to make a “full recovery.”

The sheriff’s office later shared that Mackelprang was continuing to “recover well,” with Sheriff K.C. Lehr describing the situation as a “miraculous recovery.”

“Currently, our priority is allowing Shaun the opportunity to rest and recover,” a spokesperson wrote in a Thursday update. “Search and Rescue personnel will have an opportunity to debrief with him later, but the details of what Shaun experienced during his time in the backcountry are ultimately his story to tell, and we will respect his privacy as he recovers.”

Mackelprang has worked at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office since 1998. He assumed the role of deputy attorney general for the criminal division in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He thanked personnel from the sheriff’s office and Tip Top Search and Rescue, both of which participated in the rescue, for their “selfless desire to serve those who might otherwise be lost for good.”

“I cannot say enough about the dedicated men and women who worked to save my life,” Mackelprang said in a statement. “It’s no easy task to put your life on the line for someone else, especially a stranger who had no place in your life.”

“These men and women did so without a second thought,” he added.