Found Deceased AZ - Diana Zacarias, 22, Grand Canyon, 2 April 2016

[neesaki]

I can't believe there are no recent updates on the search, are they still searching?

ETA: this is all I've found from the park's website, nothing new though. http://grandcanyonnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=11774&TM=39617.34

 

[heather.scissorhands]

Very bizarre that there isn't more publicity for Diana? Is it because missing girls aren't good for business? You'd think this would be national news.

 

[heather.scissorhands]

She is still missing. I can't find much info. Nothing new. Anyone else have any luck?

 

[drjones]

same thing happened with morgan heimer, very little info, disappeared from news quickly

he will be missing a year soon

 

[neesaki]

She is still missing. I can't find much info. Nothing new. Anyone else have any luck?

It's really something isn't' it, seems so 'hush, hush'... Maybe there's something to Paulides' 411.

 

[whimdriven]

Bumping for Diana.

 

[CanyonHiker]

I just joined this site because I saw the post on Diana Zacarias being missing, and I hike at Grand Canyon regularly. On my hike last week, I noticed several missing person posters on the road to Hermit Rest. I did notice some unusual helicopter activity in the Hermit area. Since this is a no-fly zone for tourist helicopter flights, you only see aerial activity when the NPS is doing official business such as maintenance and search and rescue. Also I noticed on a hiking forum a couple of days ago, the NPS has officially stopped aggressively searching for her. I am going up there again tomorrow and am planning a hike down the Hermit trail, thence off to the Dripping Springs trail and looping out via a seldom used route. I will certainly keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Also, I have read through the previous posts and can make these observations:

1. The chance of something happening to her on the rim trail between Hermit Rest and the Grand Canyon village is very remote. It is a well traveled route for thousands of tourists and it is rare that you walk this route without seeing someone every couple of minutes.
2. The Hermit Trail sees a lot less traffic than the two most popular hiking trails, the Bright Angel and the South Kaibab, but it still sees a fair amount of hikers each day. Accessing this trail is done via the shuttle bus, as the road is closed to private vehicles from March 1 until December 1, except for those with handicap passes and for hikers that have overnight backpacking permits and wish to park at the trailhead. The distance to the Hermit Trail is 8 miles from the village, so if she were to hike there, it would undoubtedly be via the shuttle bus.
3. Falls from the rim are not unheard of, but are rare enough that they are not the first thing that the National Park Service checks for. And as gruesome as it may sound if this does happen, body location is found fairly easily due to increased activity by ravens and other birds.

I am hoping for the best and that she will be located soon.

 

[Treelights]

I just joined this site because I saw the post on Diana Zacarias being missing, and I hike at Grand Canyon regularly. On my hike last week, I noticed several missing person posters on the road to Hermit Rest. I did notice some unusual helicopter activity in the Hermit area. Since this is a no-fly zone for tourist helicopter flights, you only see aerial activity when the NPS is doing official business such as maintenance and search and rescue. Also I noticed on a hiking forum a couple of days ago, the NPS has officially stopped aggressively searching for her. I am going up there again tomorrow and am planning a hike down the Hermit trail, thence off to the Dripping Springs trail and looping out via a seldom used route. I will certainly keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Also, I have read through the previous posts and can make these observations:

1. The chance of something happening to her on the rim trail between Hermit Rest and the Grand Canyon village is very remote. It is a well traveled route for thousands of tourists and it is rare that you walk this route without seeing someone every couple of minutes.
2. The Hermit Trail sees a lot less traffic than the two most popular hiking trails, the Bright Angel and the South Kaibab, but it still sees a fair amount of hikers each day. Accessing this trail is done via the shuttle bus, as the road is closed to private vehicles from March 1 until December 1, except for those with handicap passes and for hikers that have overnight backpacking permits and wish to park at the trailhead. The distance to the Hermit Trail is 8 miles from the village, so if she were to hike there, it would undoubtedly be via the shuttle bus.
3. Falls from the rim are not unheard of, but are rare enough that they are not the first thing that the National Park Service checks for. And as gruesome as it may sound if this does happen, body location is found fairly easily due to increased activity by ravens and other birds.

I am hoping for the best and that she will be located soon.

WELCOME CanyonHiker!!
Thanks for your post! And keeping an eye out for anything suspicious while you hike there tomorrow!

 

[ClaireNC]

Welcome CanyonHiker! Thanks for joining the discussion and please keep us updated. Be safe on your hike!

 

[DAMages]

3. Falls from the rim are not unheard of, but are rare enough that they are not the first thing that the National Park Service checks for. And as gruesome as it may sound if this does happen, body location is found fairly easily due to increased activity by ravens and other birds.

I am hoping for the best and that she will be located soon.

(Snipped by me.)

Thank you for this post!

I've been wondering exactly this about the birds -- that if she'd sadly passed away, bird activity would clearly indicate the location of the body. Does this imply she's not along the trail, or that she's in a sheltered or hidden location?

 

[CanyonHiker]

(Snipped by me.)

Thank you for this post!

I've been wondering exactly this about the birds -- that if she'd sadly passed away, bird activity would clearly indicate the location of the body. Does this imply she's not along the trail, or that she's in a sheltered or hidden location?

Well there could be countless places that she might be, since the area is so expansive. But all of the trails below the rim within a 20 mile radius of the Grand Canyon village see enough hiking activity that either she or at least articles of her clothing or a backpack perhaps would be noticed. It's my guess that if she were anywhere along one of the normal hiking routes, she would have been located by now. This would lead me to believe that she is not along the main corridor that sees thousands of visitors per day, and where something would turn up. An excellent book titled "Over The Edge, Death In The Grand Canyon" chronicles the enormous and various incidences of the tragedies that have happened in the area. It covers everything from accidental falls, medical situations, river rafting accidents, and suicides at the Grand Canyon National Park. Highly recommended reading if you have an interest in that sort of thing.

Edited: I am adding a link to the official Grand Canyon Information Office page with details on contacting them if anything is found.

https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/missing-woman-zacarias.htm

 

[CanyonHiker]

I thought I would write a follow up to my previous post. I was able to hike the route I had planned today, going down the Hermit trail, then I branched off to the Boucher Trail, and thence up to Dripping Springs and exited via what used to be known as the old Silver Bell trail to Eremita Mesa. Sections of this trail above the springs are very dicey, scrambling up through cliffs with some exposure and across various rock slides. From the mesa, I followed a series of forest trails for 6 miles back to the Hermit Road at the Abyss location. The route from Dripping Springs and out from there is very seldom used. In fact, I did not see another hiker the whole day after I left the junction of the Hermit/Boucher trails, so that was about 10 miles of solo hiking. I did not see anything of interest regarding the missing person. But I can see how someone might get lost out there and no one would know it. Some sections might only see 1 or 2 hikers per month! As an added note, I did notice that missing person posters are still in place in many sections of the park, as I saw one at Maswick Lodge on the way back to my car.

Edited: here is a link to a Facebook missing persons page set up by her family: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=979763665406023&set=o.247088125340367&type=3

 

[neesaki]

I thought I would write a follow up to my previous post. I was able to hike the route I had planned today, going down the Hermit trail, then I branched off to the Boucher Trail, and thence up to Dripping Springs and exited via what used to be known as the old Silver Bell trail to Eremita Mesa. Sections of this trail above the springs are very dicey, scrambling up through cliffs with some exposure and across various rock slides. From the mesa, I followed a series of forest trails for 6 miles back to the Hermit Road at the Abyss location. The route from Dripping Springs and out from there is very seldom used. In fact, I did not see another hiker the whole day after I left the junction of the Hermit/Boucher trails, so that was about 10 miles of solo hiking. I did not see anything of interest regarding the missing person. But I can see how someone might get lost out there and no one would know it. Some sections might only see 1 or 2 hikers per month! As an added note, I did notice that missing person posters are still in place in many sections of the park, as I saw one at Maswick Lodge on the way back to my car.

Edited: here is a link to a Facebook missing persons page set up by her family: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=979763665406023&set=o.247088125340367&type=3

Thanks so much CanyonHiker, and a Warm :welcome: to the site! It's just so strange how Diana just seems to have vanished into thin air. It's cases like this that keep me up at night, any information you can provide, especially first hand via your hiking there, is very much appreciated.

 

[CanyonHiker]

Thanks so much CanyonHiker, and a Warm :welcome: to the site! It's just so strange how Diana just seems to have vanished into thin air. It's cases like this that keep me up at night, any information you can provide, especially first hand via your hiking there, is very much appreciated.

Thank you and all the others for the nice welcome. I never knew this site existed. I hike at the Grand Canyon quite regularly, sometimes as often as once each week. I guess I can be counted on for any information regarding the Grand Canyon National Park, and always happy to keep an eye open for missing persons there. I am sure this is not the first time, as the park has quite a history of "unusual" events of one sort or another. I do hope that some progress will be made regarding Diana's disappearance. With the huge flood of park visitors, I would think by now there would be some results if she had disappeared within the park boundaries. This leads me to believe that she went to some other location.

 

[Lilibet]

Thanks so much for your efforts, CanyonHiker! I agree that she may have gone elsewhere, or even stayed in Flag. The fact that she has been out of touch is a worry. There are unsavory people in Flag as there are everywhere. A friend who used to live there got scared a few times on her way to work in the early morning. A woman alone is vulnerable.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Hikers should always carry a flare gun and a real gun just in case you get lost or run into a animal or human-animal.

Jmo.

 

[CanyonHiker]

Thanks so much for your efforts, CanyonHiker! I agree that she may have gone elsewhere, or even stayed in Flag. The fact that she has been out of touch is a worry. There are unsavory people in Flag as there are everywhere. A friend who used to live there got scared a few times on her way to work in the early morning. A woman alone is vulnerable.

I agree. There is regular shuttle service to Flagstaff. And without a car, I'm assuming that would have been her logical next location if she left Grand Canyon. Flagstaff is a college town too (NAU) and also has train and bus service.

 

[Cryptic]

This leads me to believe that she went to some other location.

Or maybe murdered, then concealed under a rock cairn of sorts? From your experiences in the park, are there squatters in the area? Also, what is the reputation of Grand Canyon Village as far as drifters or "hang around" types?

Some of the National Forests in socal when I lived there had reputation for containing a good number of drugged out squatters. Likewise, some of the small towns of say 1,500 people in the area had reputations for having a disproportionate number of problem residents.

 

[Cryptic]

I never knew this site existed. I hike at the Grand Canyon quite regularly, sometimes as often as once each week. I am sure this is not the first time, as the park has quite a history of "unusual" events of one sort or another. I do hope that some progress will be made regarding Diana's disappearance. With the huge flood of park visitors, I would think by now there would be some results if she had disappeared within the park boundaries. This leads me to believe that she went to some other location.

As the others have mentioned, thanks for your inside knowledge about the park. I am thinking, could you post some information, or open some threads regarding Diana on any hiking or out door forums that you are a member of. Some oft he more dedicated hikers who have since returned home might have noticed her alone, or maybe hiking with a new "friend" or "friends" (espescially if she ventured into the Canyon proper where there are fewer hikers and people stand out more). Diana did not have true hiking gear and is clean cut. Thus, she should stand out if she joined either a small group of dedicated hikers (and was befriended by somebody in the group, or if she was approached by "Desert rats" (term used to describe often drugged out squatters, drifters, and recluses in southren Califronia deserts. I don't know if the Grand Canyon has a lot of these types, but some of the deserts in socal sure did. Some were dangerous, most were just drugged, or plain weird.)

 

[CanyonHiker]

Or maybe murdered, then concealed under a rock cairn of sorts? From your experiences in the park, are there squatters in the area? Also, what is the reputation of Grand Canyon Village as far as drifters or "hang around" types?

Some of the National Forests in socal when I lived there had reputation for containing a good number of drugged out squatters. Likewise, some of the small towns of say 1,500 people in the area had reputations for having a disproportionate number of problem residents.

I have been a regular hiker at Grand Canyon, being a part time visitor since 1988 and full time since 2010 when I retired, and in those 6 years I have never seen a drifter, squatter, or panhandler. The park is fairly heavily monitored by its own law enforcement and such activities would not be tolerated. Way back in the "hippie days" of the 60's and 70's, there were some instances of such activity, mostly several miles below the North Rim in a back country location nicknamed "Hippie Camp." This spot is still identified as such on some hiking maps and guides, but reaching it is for the hard core backpacker and not something the general public would ever come across. And to also answer your second post, I do have an account on the Hike Arizona forum which has an ongoing sub-section strictly for missing hikers. You can view it, along with the Diana Zacarias post here:

http://hikearizona.com/dex2/viewforum.php?f=66

I actually think Grand Canyon National Park is extremely well run and for the most part does not have a lot of "unscrupulous" characters. Since the park wishes to portray a clean and family oriented image, it strives hard to keep on top of any illegal activity. Anyone who has visited the park realizes how much of the visitor base is non-American. I have had hiking days where a good 30% of the people I run across are foreign language speakers! The park is very high profile, probably more so when compared to some of the more remote national parks in the country. If there is illegal activity going on, it really is in a more remote location, not accessed by park transportation.

Additionally, I think that Diana's extent of park travel would certainly be limited by the shuttle bus service, since it appears she did not have her own transportation. That would limit her to travel along the bus routes which extend from Hermit's Rest which is west of the village, to Yaki Point in the east. That would preclude her venturing out to Grandview Point, Lipan Point, and the Desert View watch tower unless she had some assistance in getting there. Since there are no signs of her in that heavily traveled park corridor, it is my best guess that she is no longer in Grand Canyon National Park.