{"id":371598,"date":"2026-08-14T19:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/371598\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T19:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:38:07","slug":"missing-florida-woman-identified-after-remains-found-in-grand-county-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/371598\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Florida woman identified after remains found in Grand County forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human remains first discovered in 2023 at the Fraser Experimental Forest in Grand County have been identified as Svetlana Ustimenko, a Florida resident in her mid-50s who was reported missing and endangered, the Grand County Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Grand\u00a0County\u00a0Coroner\u2019s\u00a0Office\u00a0officially\u00a0identified\u00a0the\u00a0remains\u00a0as\u00a0those\u00a0of\u00a0Ustimenko\u00a0and\u00a0has been\u00a0in\u00a0contact\u00a0with\u00a0her\u00a0family.\u00a0Her\u00a0family\u00a0said\u00a0Ustimenko\u00a0had\u00a0been\u00a0diagnosed\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0terminal\u00a0illness, was\u00a0struggling\u00a0to\u00a0cope\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0diagnosis\u00a0and\u00a0felt\u00a0a\u00a0strong\u00a0pull\u00a0toward\u00a0the\u00a0Colorado\u00a0mountains, according\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0release.<\/p>\n

The investigation<\/p>\n

In\u00a0July\u00a02023<\/a>,\u00a0a\u00a0rental\u00a0vehicle\u00a0was\u00a0reported\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Deadhorse\u00a0Trailhead\u00a0off\u00a0County\u00a0Road\u00a073\u00a0in\u00a0the Arapaho\u00a0National\u00a0Forest.\u00a0The\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Forest\u00a0Service\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0Grand\u00a0County\u00a0Sheriff\u2019s\u00a0Office\u00a0investigated after\u00a0the\u00a0vehicle\u00a0remained\u00a0parked\u00a0for\u00a0an\u00a0extended\u00a0period\u00a0with\u00a0no\u00a0signs\u00a0of\u00a0activity.\u00a0The\u00a0agencies worked\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0rental\u00a0car\u00a0company\u00a0and\u00a0Ustimenko\u2019s\u00a0family,\u00a0and\u00a0law\u00a0enforcement\u00a0confirmed\u00a0the vehicle\u00a0belonged\u00a0to\u00a0her.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0August\u00a02023,\u00a0an\u00a0active\u00a0search\u00a0began\u00a0around\u00a0the\u00a0trailhead,\u00a0and\u00a0operations\u00a0continued\u00a0throughout the\u00a0month.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0secondary\u00a0search\u00a0took\u00a0place\u00a0on July\u00a015,\u00a02026,\u00a0involving\u00a0the\u00a0Grand\u00a0County\u00a0Sheriff\u2019s\u00a0Office,\u00a0the coroner\u2019s\u00a0office\u00a0and\u00a0Grand\u00a0County\u00a0Search\u00a0and\u00a0Rescue,\u00a0known\u00a0as\u00a0GCSAR.\u00a0Additional\u00a0remains\u00a0were discovered\u00a0during\u00a0the\u00a0search.\u00a0After\u00a0that\u00a0effort,\u00a0the\u00a0coroner\u2019s\u00a0office\u00a0positively forensically identified\u00a0the\u00a0remains\u00a0as\u00a0those\u00a0of Ustimenko\u00a0and\u00a0notified\u00a0her\u00a0family,\u00a0the\u00a0sheriff\u2019s\u00a0office\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Resources devoted over multiple years<\/p>\n

Grand County Search and Rescue and partner organizations devoted significant resources to locating Ustimenko over multiple years. The release listed 57.5 mission hours and 1,043.5 person-hours.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Sheriff\u2019s\u00a0Office\u00a0said\u00a0it\u00a0maintained\u00a0close\u00a0contact\u00a0with\u00a0Ustimenko\u2019s\u00a0family\u00a0and\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0BrowardCounty\u00a0Sheriff\u2019s\u00a0Office\u00a0in\u00a0Florida,\u00a0which\u00a0initiated\u00a0the\u00a0original\u00a0missing-person\u00a0case.<\/p>\n

Grand\u00a0County\u00a0Sheriff\u00a0Brett\u00a0Schroetlin\u00a0said\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0release\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0outcome\u00a0is\u00a0heartbreaking\u00a0but\u00a0offers the\u00a0family\u00a0closure.\u00a0\u201cThis\u00a0case\u00a0highlights\u00a0the\u00a0incredible\u00a0work\u00a0and\u00a0dedication\u00a0of\u00a0our\u00a0professional Search\u00a0and\u00a0Rescue\u00a0volunteers\u00a0from\u00a0Grand\u00a0County\u00a0and\u00a0our\u00a0surrounding\u00a0entities.\u00a0While\u00a0this\u00a0is\u00a0a heartbreaking\u00a0outcome,\u00a0we\u00a0hope\u00a0it\u00a0brings\u00a0a\u00a0degree\u00a0of\u00a0closure\u00a0to\u00a0her\u00a0loved\u00a0ones.\u00a0The\u00a0family\u00a0and\u00a0I\u00a0are deeply\u00a0grateful\u00a0to\u00a0these\u00a0volunteers\u00a0for\u00a0their\u00a0courageous\u00a0efforts\u00a0and\u00a0unwavering\u00a0dedication,\u201d Schroetlin\u00a0said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Human remains first discovered in 2023 at the Fraser Experimental Forest in Grand County have been identified as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-371598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}