Found Deceased Co - Matthew Shelters, 38, Steamboat Springs, 24 Apr 2018

[Timekeeper65]

Bump

 

[Timekeeper65]

The last entry on the Shelters Missing Facebook page is from 5/30/18.

I read that the areas where his phone pinged have been thoroughly searched.

Did someone pick him up after he left his bike at the E3 Chophouse?

ETA it’s only a short distance (0.5 mile) from the chophouse to Howelson Hill (where phone last pinged).

 

[Vail]

2 months later, police say they will keep looking for missing Steamboat resident Matthew Shelters

Police have thoroughly sifted through cellphone data, and psychics were even enlisted to help...

Christensen said the cellphone tower near Anglers Drive is equipped with three antennas that each collect data in a 120-degree arc.

Knowing the distance the cellphone was from the antenna with a margin of error of about 1/10 of a mile, police were able to map an arc where Shelters' phone was last functioning. Christensen said Shelters' cellphone was stationary for the 45 minutes leading up to 1:59 a.m., which is when the cellphone last communicated with the tower.

 

[Timekeeper65]

Where are you MS? Why no activity on the MS Missing Facebook page? No updates. Nothing.

 

[Vail]

I hope his friends and family consider contacting organisations like the Colorado Forensic Canines rather than wasting time and money on psychics. [email protected] 303-733-4220 or 303-995-8243

 

[Whiskers16]

Sad update "police recovered the body of a man they believe is 38-year-old Steamboat Springs resident Matthew Shelters"

Police: Body found near Soda Creek thought to be Matthew Shelters

 

[Timekeeper65]

Thank you Whiskers16. This is indeed sad. Not the outcome I had hoped for.

Fly high MS. I am truly sorry for all of those who knew and loved you.

 

[margarita25]

Sad update "police recovered the body of a man they believe is 38-year-old Steamboat Springs resident Matthew Shelters"

Police: Body found near Soda Creek thought to be Matthew Shelters

"Deputies found Shelters' wallet with identification.

Hermacinski said they also found his cellphone, which was a critical part of the investigation."

 

[margarita25]

Very much like Adam Gilbertson's case, moo.

Sad ending. Not unexpected. It seems Matthew was very loved.

Soda creek, is that an inlet/tributary of the Yampa...looking it up...

 

[JerseyGirl]

Police: Body Of Missing Man Matthew Shelters Found

The body was found along the bank of Soda Creek with Shelters’ ID and cellphone. The body was found along the creek bank at the bottom of a cliff on a parcel of land know as the Atwood Ranch, and it was badly decomposed.

Police: Body found near Soda Creek thought to be Matthew Shelters

 

[Timekeeper65]

Police: Body found near Soda Creek thought to be Matthew Shelters

This has 2 pics which show where MS was located. More detailed description of the area. It sounds like he fell off a cliff into the stream below.

 

[Vail]

I am very sad to hear this news. I hope his loved ones get the answers they need.

 

[Vail]

Police: Body found near Soda Creek thought to be Matthew Shelters

This has 2 pics which show where MS was located. More detailed description of the area. It sounds like he fell off a cliff into the stream below.

There are comments here from his mom indicating she believes this was not accidental. I agree that there is something weird here.

Autopsy provides few clues in death of Matthew Shelters

The body was found along the bank of Soda Creek about 25 yards upstream from a barbed-wire fence that serves as a property boundary for an 800-acre parcel known as the Atwood Ranch as well as the end of Steamboat city limits.

The land is leased by local ranchers, and they use it for cattle and hay operations. The ranchers emphasized Thursday that it is private property and trespassing is not permitted.

On Thursday, Routt County Sheriff Garrett Wiggins visited the area where Shelters was found, and he also wants to know how Shelters ended up there.

investigation ongoing - waiting for toxicology reports.

 

[Timekeeper65]

Vail thanks for the news article. After 2 months I wonder how accurate the toxicology results would be? Gonna go do some research.

 

[Vail]

I find it interesting that the friend Matt was with earlier that day (where he parked his girlfriend's car that night) lives right on Soda Creek - did Matt perhaps go back for the car to end up going in that dirction? There is also so much debris and many shallow inlets that it is likely Matt went into the creek very close to where he was found (ie I doubt he hiked up the mountain, went in and was carried all the way down)

 

[dspdenver]

Search map: Mel Master Map

Case Map: Matthew Shelters - Google My Maps

So from the case map, if I have it right, it would have been a straight shot walk a third of a mile along 8th Street from the Back Door Grill to where his girlfriend's car was parked, if for some reason he decided to head that way instead of to his bike the other direction. Then it looks like less than half a mile along Soda Creek or nearby streets to the north city limit just beyond which he was found?

I wonder what could have led him past the car back to the creek (maybe he took 9th Street until he hit the creek and then drunkenly followed along it too far) and if the toxicology results, if extreme, will suggest disorientation. If the tox results are extreme, I agree with above posters that this will be much like the Adam Gilbertson case result.

It's sad that so many reportedly good and kind people end up this way.

 

[Vail]

So from the case map, if I have it right, it would have been a straight shot walk a third of a mile along 8th Street from the Back Door Grill to where his girlfriend's car was parked, if for some reason he decided to head that way instead of to his bike the other direction. Then it looks like less than half a mile along Soda Creek or nearby streets to the north city limit just beyond which he was found?

I wonder what could have led him past the car back to the creek (maybe he took 9th Street until he hit the creek and then drunkenly followed along it too far) and if the toxicology results, if extreme, will suggest disorientation. If the tox results are extreme, I agree with above posters that this will be much like the Adam Gilbertson case result.

It's sad that so many reportedly good and kind people end up this way.

Except we know he went to the VFW the opposite direction, sat there smoking for a few minutes. That is when I suspect he had a text or call that sent the ping to the nearby tower and thus created the 180arc around that area and defined what happened next. Matt's phone either dies shortly after, or he turns it off and heads back towards the car since we never get another ping (I'm speculating now). The mystery now is how he ended up in an upstream location. I just feel that if suicide is off the table here, there had to be someone else with him. Would you go walk up a creek in the dead of night to skip rocks or watch the moon by yourself? Why that location and not back along the Yampa trail? I also cannot find any cliff along the creek, can you? (It all appears rather flat with some gradual rises up towards the fields)

 

[Timekeeper65]

Worked in pathology years ago - therefore my interest in the toxicology testing on decomposed bodies (UGH I hate typing that). As I recall we did not perform toxicology texting on decomposed bodies due to skewed results.

“Other problems may arise with ancillary testing. For example, microbiological and biochemical analyses are not possible, and toxicological results must be interpreted with care. Substances such as alcohol may be generated by bacteria [17] and levels of certain drugs may also be markedly affected by both redistribution and bacterial degradation [18]. Obtaining fluids for analysis in dried or mummified remains may be difficult”.

ETA I tried to update with link to above quote and unable to do so. Sorry

 

[dspdenver]

Except we know he went to the VFW the opposite direction, sat there smoking for a few minutes. That is when I suspect he had a text or call that sent the ping to the nearby tower and thus created the 180arc around that area and defined what happened next.

Are we sure of him at the VFW? The only thing I saw was that his father thought he might have gone that direction if he wanted to buy cigarettes, if he had to bum one at the bar(not sure if that was confirmed, either.)

The police said the ping area encompassed the downtown area including within 1/10th mile of where he was found, and I think southwest to the Howelsen Hill (ski?) area across the Yampa from downtown, and northwest up to the library and 13th St., if I understand the map and the police info. So Matt *could* have gone to the VFW, or toward the girlfriend's car, or anywhere within that 120-degree area, though no one saw him after he left the bar, as far as I can tell, so no real intel on where he went except knowing where he was found.

2 months later, police say they will keep looking for missing Steamboat resident Matthew Shelters

"The arc goes from the downtown Steamboat Springs area, goes over the 13th Street bridge crossing the Yampa River near Bud Werner Memorial Library and then goes onto Howelsen Hill."

 

[dspdenver]

I just feel that if suicide is off the table here, there had to be someone else with him. Would you go walk up a creek in the dead of night to skip rocks or watch the moon by yourself?

This is why this case to me seems so similar to the Adam Gilbertson one in Denver. Why did either of them head to the waters where they were found instead of toward their homes after leaving the bars? That really haunted me in the AG case, and the autopsy report of accidental drug and alcohol poisoning still leaves room for doubt. So the toxicology report in Matt's case may prove interesting, if results can be reliably obtained.