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Mysterious disappearance of explorer Everett Ruess solved after 75 years
May 01, 2009The mysterious disappearance of Everett Ruess, a 20-year-old artist, writer and footloose explorer who wandered the Southwest in the early 1930s on a burro and who has become a folk hero to many, has been solved with the help of University of Colorado at Boulder researchers and the National Geographic Society.
The short, compelling life of Ruess, who went missing in 1934 after leaving the town of Escalante, Utah, has been the subject of much speculation. His story has spawned two documentary films, as well as plays, books, magazine and newspaper articles and a T-shirt line, and his name now graces an annual art festival in Escalante.
Ruess is well known for his artwork -- including watercolors and woodcuts of Southwest landscapes -- as well as extensive, romantic journaling of his travels. He was photographed by famous American documentary photojournalist Dorothea Lange, exchanged photos with Ansel Adams, and even merited a chapter in John Krakauer's book "Into the Wild," about another young wanderer, Chris McCandless.
An investigative article in the April/May issue of National Geographic Adventure by David Roberts, who had been probing the Ruess disappearance for years, indicates a Navajo man, Aneth Nez, told his granddaughter, Daisy Johnson, in 1971 that he witnessed the murder of a young white man near Bluff, Utah, in the 1930s by Ute Indians. Nez told her he buried the body in a crevasse on nearby Comb Ridge.
Roberts reported that in May 2008, Denny Belson, grandson of Nez and sister of Johnson, located the burial site and contacted the FBI in Monticello, Utah. FBI investigators then visited the site and took photographs. The enterprising Belson used a Google search using the keywords "missing persons," "1930s," and "Arizona/Utah," and came across stories about the disappearance and speculation about Ruess, said Roberts.
Roberts contacted Ron Maldano, the supervisory archaeologist at the Cultural Resource Compliance Section of the Navajo Nation based in Chimney Rock, Ariz. Maldano conducted a detailed examination of the burial site and determined the remains were likely Caucasian. Roberts put him in touch with two nieces and two nephews of Ruess for mitochondrial DNA samples, which proved inconclusive.
Roberts then contacted CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Dennis Van Gerven, who traveled to the site with doctoral student Paul Sandberg with the support of the National Geographic Society, excavated the remains, and returned with them to CU-Boulder with the permission of the Ruess family.
An analysis of teeth and bones by Van Gerven and Sandberg were used to determine the sex, age and stature of the person. Wisdom tooth eruption, pelvic structure, bone growth markers and femur length indicated it was a male roughly 20 years old and about 5 feet 8 inches tall -- a virtual match for Ruess, said Van Gerven.
The CU-Boulder researchers began a painstaking reconstruction of the fragile facial bones, stabilizing them on a ball of clay. Sandberg used Adobe Photoshop to superimpose photos he took of the remade face onto a frontal portrait of a smiling Ruess and a profile portrait of him, both taken in the 1930s by Lange.
"The next step was to match two points on the photos of the bones to their respective positions on the portraits," Sandberg said. "If the other anatomical points did not match, we could exclude Ruess. But all the points fell into place. The jaw fit, the curve of the nasal bones fit, the rim of the eye orbit fit and the bridge of the nose fit."
The most compelling piece of evidence was the teeth, he said. "Once a single tooth was scaled into position, the size and shape of the other teeth, as well as the morphology of the face above the teeth, matched the portrait. The correspondence was striking," Sandberg said.
"We spent a lot of time making certain that the skeletal images superimposed on the Lange photos remained anatomically exact and were in no way altered by the technique," said Van Gerven.
"But we wound up with a constellation of evidence that was a remarkable match to Ruess," he said. "We had a male about 20 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall with facial bones that precisely matched the photographs. We concluded it was very, very unlikely that this was not Everett Ruess. But we also knew the final arbiter in this case would be genetic testing."
Van Gerven contacted CU-Boulder molecular, cellular and developmental biology Professor Kenneth Krauter, an expert in DNA analysis. Krauter brought in CU-Boulder research assistant Helen Marshall, who had extensive experience working with DNA. Marshall took two small femur fragments and prepared them by grinding and liquefying them, subsequently extracting, purifying and amplifying DNA samples.
The team members used techniques developed as a byproduct of the Human Genome Project that permitted them to assess the passing of DNA markers from one generation to the next. "We used the most stringent protocols and standards available," said Marshall. "The results were totally blind in the sense that the computer doesn't have an opinion in terms of the DNA marker matches."
High-tech "gene chips," or microarrays, made by Affymetrix Corp., a global company headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., provided Krauter and Marshall with 600,000 separate DNA markers from the femur DNA. These were compared with roughly the same number of DNA markers extracted from saliva samples taken from the two nieces and two nephews of Ruess. As an added precaution, the team also compared the markers with the DNA of 50 people around the world.
CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Matthew McQueen of CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics, consulting with experts at Oxford University in England, statistically analyzed the data. The results showed the nieces and nephews of Ruess -- all siblings -- shared about 50 percent of the genetic markers with each other, and all four shared about 25 percent of the DNA markers from the femur bone samples. The results from the DNA comparisons from the 50 random people from around the world showed a less than 1 percent match, said Krauter.
"It was almost exactly what geneticists would expect when comparing DNA between nieces and nephews and an uncle or an aunt," said Krauter. "This is entirely consistent with the hypothesis that the bones are those of Everett Ruess, and make it virtually impossible that the bones are from an unrelated individual.
"The combination of the forensic analysis and the genetic analysis makes it an open and shut case," Krauter said. "I believe it would hold up in any court in the country."
The wandering spirit of Ruess, whom author Wallace Stegner once compared to a young John Muir, appears to have finally come to rest. The family of Ruess plans to have the remains cremated and scattered over the Pacific Ocean. Case closed.
University of Colorado at Boulder
An investigative article in the April/May issue of National Geographic Adventure by David Roberts, who had been probing the Ruess disappearance for years, indicates a Navajo man, Aneth Nez, told his granddaughter, Daisy Johnson, in 1971 that he witnessed the murder of a young white man near Bluff, Utah, in the 1930s by Ute Indians. Nez told her he buried the body in a crevasse on nearby Comb Ridge.
Roberts reported that in May 2008, Denny Belson, grandson of Nez and sister of Johnson, located the burial site and contacted the FBI in Monticello, Utah. FBI investigators then visited the site and took photographs. The enterprising Belson used a Google search using the keywords "missing persons," "1930s," and "Arizona/Utah," and came across stories about the disappearance and speculation about Ruess, said Roberts.
Roberts contacted Ron Maldano, the supervisory archaeologist at the Cultural Resource Compliance Section of the Navajo Nation based in Chimney Rock, Ariz. Maldano conducted a detailed examination of the burial site and determined the remains were likely Caucasian. Roberts put him in touch with two nieces and two nephews of Ruess for mitochondrial DNA samples, which proved inconclusive.
Roberts then contacted CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Dennis Van Gerven, who traveled to the site with doctoral student Paul Sandberg with the support of the National Geographic Society, excavated the remains, and returned with them to CU-Boulder with the permission of the Ruess family.
An analysis of teeth and bones by Van Gerven and Sandberg were used to determine the sex, age and stature of the person. Wisdom tooth eruption, pelvic structure, bone growth markers and femur length indicated it was a male roughly 20 years old and about 5 feet 8 inches tall -- a virtual match for Ruess, said Van Gerven.
The CU-Boulder researchers began a painstaking reconstruction of the fragile facial bones, stabilizing them on a ball of clay. Sandberg used Adobe Photoshop to superimpose photos he took of the remade face onto a frontal portrait of a smiling Ruess and a profile portrait of him, both taken in the 1930s by Lange.
"The next step was to match two points on the photos of the bones to their respective positions on the portraits," Sandberg said. "If the other anatomical points did not match, we could exclude Ruess. But all the points fell into place. The jaw fit, the curve of the nasal bones fit, the rim of the eye orbit fit and the bridge of the nose fit."
The most compelling piece of evidence was the teeth, he said. "Once a single tooth was scaled into position, the size and shape of the other teeth, as well as the morphology of the face above the teeth, matched the portrait. The correspondence was striking," Sandberg said.
"We spent a lot of time making certain that the skeletal images superimposed on the Lange photos remained anatomically exact and were in no way altered by the technique," said Van Gerven.
"But we wound up with a constellation of evidence that was a remarkable match to Ruess," he said. "We had a male about 20 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall with facial bones that precisely matched the photographs. We concluded it was very, very unlikely that this was not Everett Ruess. But we also knew the final arbiter in this case would be genetic testing."
Van Gerven contacted CU-Boulder molecular, cellular and developmental biology Professor Kenneth Krauter, an expert in DNA analysis. Krauter brought in CU-Boulder research assistant Helen Marshall, who had extensive experience working with DNA. Marshall took two small femur fragments and prepared them by grinding and liquefying them, subsequently extracting, purifying and amplifying DNA samples.
The team members used techniques developed as a byproduct of the Human Genome Project that permitted them to assess the passing of DNA markers from one generation to the next. "We used the most stringent protocols and standards available," said Marshall. "The results were totally blind in the sense that the computer doesn't have an opinion in terms of the DNA marker matches."
High-tech "gene chips," or microarrays, made by Affymetrix Corp., a global company headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., provided Krauter and Marshall with 600,000 separate DNA markers from the femur DNA. These were compared with roughly the same number of DNA markers extracted from saliva samples taken from the two nieces and two nephews of Ruess. As an added precaution, the team also compared the markers with the DNA of 50 people around the world.
CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Matthew McQueen of CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics, consulting with experts at Oxford University in England, statistically analyzed the data. The results showed the nieces and nephews of Ruess -- all siblings -- shared about 50 percent of the genetic markers with each other, and all four shared about 25 percent of the DNA markers from the femur bone samples. The results from the DNA comparisons from the 50 random people from around the world showed a less than 1 percent match, said Krauter.
"It was almost exactly what geneticists would expect when comparing DNA between nieces and nephews and an uncle or an aunt," said Krauter. "This is entirely consistent with the hypothesis that the bones are those of Everett Ruess, and make it virtually impossible that the bones are from an unrelated individual.
"The combination of the forensic analysis and the genetic analysis makes it an open and shut case," Krauter said. "I believe it would hold up in any court in the country."
The wandering spirit of Ruess, whom author Wallace Stegner once compared to a young John Muir, appears to have finally come to rest. The family of Ruess plans to have the remains cremated and scattered over the Pacific Ocean. Case closed.
University of Colorado at Boulder
More Everett Ruess Current Events and Everett Ruess News Articles
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Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty by W.L Rusho (Author), Vicky Burgess (Author), John Nichols (Introduction) 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 In, 240 Pp, 60 Black and < White Illustrations < Everett Ruess, The Young Poet and Artist < Who Disappeared Into The Desert of Utah < In 1934, Has Become Widely Known < Posthumously As The Spokesman For The < Spirit of The High Desert. Many Have < Been Inspired By His Intense Search For < Adventure, Leaving Behind The Amenities < of A Comfortable Life. His Search For < Ultimate Beauty and Oneness With Nature < Is Chronicled In This Remarkable < Collection of Letters To Family and < Friends. |
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The Wilderness Journals of Everett Ruess by Everett Ruess (Author), W.L Rusho (Editor) 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 In, 208 Pp, 10 < Line-Drawings, 20 Black & White Photos < "Ruess's Letters Are Stunning, Alive < With Achingly Poetic Descriptions of The < Land. We're Left With A Moving, Ghostly < Vision of A Young Artist At Odds With A < Society Growing Out of Control As He < Escapes Farther and Farther Into An < Unforgiving Wilderness. " --Backpacker < Magazine, About Everett Ruess: A < Vagabond For Beauty. While Most of < Everett's Lyrically Written, Essay-Type < Letters Have Been Made Public In Everett < Ruess: A Vagabond For Beauty (Gibbs < Smith Publisher), His Only Existing < Journals--For 1932 and 1933--Have Never < Before Been Published. These Journals < Were His Companions, A Place Where He < Confided His Joys, His Regrets, His < Complaints, and His Aspirations, As Well < As Some... |
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On Desert Trails With Everett Ruess by Gary James Bergera (Editor), Gary James Bergera (Editor), W.L Rusho (Editor) 9X12 In, 96 Pp, 45 Black & White < Illustrations < We Are Proud To Introduce This Handsome < Commemorative Edition of On Desert < Trails With Everett Ruess (First < Introduced In Our 60, 000 Copy A Vagabond < For Beauty), Which Was Originally < Published In 1940 and Has Since Become < A Collector's Item. The Poetry, < Letters, and Artwork Contained In This < Book Reveal The Adventurous Young Artist < Who Loved The Arid Wilderness and < Disappeared Into The Desert of Southern < Utah. To The Original Book We Have < Added Many Photographs of Ruess On The < Trail, Along With Others Taken By < Ruess of The Land That So Inspired Him. < A Special Appenidx Tells The Salt Lake < Tribune's Account of Its 1935 < Expedition To Southern Utah In Search of < Everett Ruess. |
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Sandstone Sunsets by Mark A. Taylor (Author) |
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Vanished!: Explorers Forever Lost by Evan L. Balkan (Author) In the best adventures, the intrepid explorer returns home to banner headlines and a hero’s welcome…but what of the men and women who don’t return home? This collection proves their stories are just as compelling. From the disappearance in Utah of cowboy roamer Everett Ruess to the loss of billionaire explorer Michael Rockefeller in the wilds of New Guinea, the tales ring with mystery, intrigue, and excitement. Whether murdered, drowned, or eaten alive, their disappearances are likely to remain unsolved, but never forgotten. |
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Everett Ruess: A Vagabond For Beauty by Gibbs M. Smith, Inc. (Publisher) Introduction by John Nichols. Afterword by Edward Abbey. pp. 228. Black and white illustrations. Collection of letters and biographical information about the artist who disappeared in the Utah desert in 1934 at the age of 21. Ruess traded prints with Ansel Adams and lived for a time with Maynard Dixon and his wife Dorothea Lange. | |
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On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess, ( Artist ) he Was Youthful Poet , Vagabond of Remote Southwestern Trails During Part of 4 Yrs. Then in November , 1934 he Vanished in Desert Wilderness of Southern Utah, Search Parties Found His Burros in Isolated Cany by Vagabond of Remote SOuthwestern Trails for 4 Yrs, Illustrated, Blank Endpapers FoXED Light Chips Extremities, Fabulous waterColor Frontispiece By Rueess, Introduction Hugh Lacy, Foreword Randall Henderson, Editor Desert Magazine, With Everett Ruess (Author) | |
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Everett Ruess Dave Alvin (Primary Contributor) |
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On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess by Randall Henderson (Author) | |
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Granite Towers Woodblock Print By Everett Ruess, Reproduction by Aftermath Holding LLC Hand Serigraphed in the USA. Numbered Edition, 3rd edition, Comes with Full Color Certificate-of-Authenticity. EVERETT RUESS was an sensitive, artistic, adventurous young man who set out alone several times to experience the beauties, as well as the furies, of nature in the American West during the 1930s. He met and discussed art with painter Maynard Dixon, and well-known photographers Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Dorothea Lange. He was lured first by the splendors of Yosemite, the California coast, and later by portions of the lonely red rock lands of Arizona. In November 1934, at the age of twenty, Everett disappeared from the canyon country in Southeastern, Utah. For 75 years his vanishing is amongst the most enigmatic tales to ever come out of the Americas. |
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