FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2025
MISSING RAFTER FROM 2024 LOCATED IN COLORADO RIVER IN 2025
GRAND COUNTY, CO- On Saturday, June 1, 2024, at approximately 3:40 p.m. the Grand County Communications Center received a text to 911 reporting a subject that was not breathing on the Colorado River in the Gore Canyon, South West of Kremmling.
Grand County Search and Rescue, Grand County Sheriff’s Office, Grand County Emergency Medical Services, Bureau of Land Management, Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Eagle County Paramedics, Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Greater Eagle Fire Protection District, and Vail Mountain Rescue initially responded to the area due to the report being on the Grand / Eagle County line. Further reports from the scene received by a Garmin device reported that there had been a rafting accident and that bystander CPR was in progress on an adult male, who was later pronounced deceased by EMS personnel.
Additionally, there was another male subject who was still missing following the accident after the raft capsized. Emergency responders utilized additional rafts, ground crews, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), and a Union Pacific Railroad Hi-Rail to search the river and surrounding area for the missing subject, however, were unable to locate him.
The Grand County Coroner’s Office identified the male who was deceased on June 1 as Brent Boulter, a 56-year-old man from Aurora. The missing subject was identified as Thomas Russell, a 61-year-old man from Littleton. Preliminary reports were that neither subject were wearing a personnel flotation device (PFD). A third individual from this group was able to safely exit the river and was accounted for.
On Sunday, June 2, 2024, River Rangers from the Bureau of Land Management and an Officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted additional search operations by raft and kayak in the Colorado River from Radium to Two Bridges and, unfortunately, were unable to locate the missing rafter from the incident on June 1.
On May 21, 2025, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office advising that they had located a deceased subject in the Colorado River near Rancho Del Rio. This discovery had occurred after a significant decrease in water levels in this area. Based on a preliminary investigation, it was believed that this subject was Thomas Russell. The Eagle County Coroner’s Office transferred the case to the Grand County Coroner’s Office. Grand County Coroner’s Office notified Russell’s next of kin once he was forensically identified utilizing an odontologist.
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