Body Recovered from Chelan Butte

From a press release - On Thursday June 22, 2017 at approximately 12:30 p.m., RIVERCOM dispatch received a report of an overdue person in the Chelan area. The caller advised that her son was camping somewhere in the Chelan area and they hadn’t heard from him in two days. The caller also advised that the subject’s two dogs had been located by a hiker on the north side of Chelan Butte but her son was not with them.

The subject was identified as 31-year-old Johnathan M. Taylor of Mount Vernon, WA.

A Chelan County Deputy responded to Chelan Butte and located the subject’s vehicle abandoned at the top of Chelan Butte. Deputies searched the area but were unable to locate Taylor. A Chelan County Sheriff’s Office helicopter was called in to assist in the search but was also unable to locate Taylor.

On Friday morning, Chelan County Search and Rescue deputies and members of Chelan County Volunteer Search and Rescue began an extensive ground search of the area. At approximately 2:30 p.m., searchers located Taylor deceased at the bottom of a steep embankment on the south side of Chelan Butte. It is not known what caused Taylor to fall.