Yellowstone officials identify person whose foot was found floating in hot spring

Il Hun Ro was identified as the victim ‘in the last three weeks’ using DNA analysis, say officials

FILE - In this photo provided by the National Park Service is the Abyss Pool hot spring in the southern part of Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., in June 2015. (AP)

Yellowstone National Park officials say that the foot found floating in one of the park’s deepest hot springs belonged to a 70-year-old man from Los Angeles.

Park officials say that Il Hun Ro was identified “in the last three weeks” using DNA analysis and that his family has now been informed.

Ro’s foot was found by staff inside a shoe in Abyss Pool in the park’s West Thumb Geyser Basin in August. It is still not known how he fell into the pool, but investigators do not suspect foul play.

“The investigation determined, to the best of our knowledge, that an unwitnessed incident involving one individual happened on the morning of July 31, 2022, at Abyss Pool, and no foul play occurred,” park officials said.

“Based on a lack of evidence, the circumstances surrounding the death of Ro remain unknown. This investigation has concluded, and the park has no additional information to share.”

And the statement added: “Yellowstone would like to thank the investigating national park rangers and special agents, Teton County (Wyoming) Coroner’s Office, Teton County (Wyoming) Search and Rescue, and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation for their assistance in the investigation.”

The NPS says that the Abyss Pool is up to 53ft deep and has a temperature of around 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Visitors are warned to “stay on boardwalks and designated trails” as “hydrothermal water can severely burn you.”

Park officials say that it is not the first fatality at a hot spring in Yellowstone over the past few years.

The park’s website states that in 2016 “a man in his early 20’s walked off the designated boardwalk, slipped, and fell into a hot spring at the Norris Geyser Basin.”

And in August 2000 “one person died from falling into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin.”