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Search scaled back for missing Steamboat woman

Associated Press
Steamboat Springs, CO Colorado

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colorado – The search for a Steamboat Springs woman who fell into a creek is being scaled back until water levels drop to safer flows.

A spokeswoman for search crews said hopes of finding 40-year-old Rebecca Green alive were fading.

Green fell into Fish Creek near Steamboat Springs while hiking with her 8-year-old son, Kade, Saturday.



The two fell in below the upper falls on the creek. Kade was rescued and was treated at a hospital and released.

Routt County search and rescue team spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said Monday night that crews were scaling back the search until the water drops to a safe, consistent level. She said the team is concerned about the safety of searchers in the water and on the trail because of slick rocks.

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“Rout County Search and Rescue will continue to monitor streamflow data, and we’re also going to walk high-probability areas (at the falls) and scan those,” Polumbus said.

Mount Werner Water and Sanitation District officials closed the water gate at Long Lake, about two miles upstream from the upper falls, to slow the creek’s flows. Polumbus said the water level dropped a little, but rose again after it rained.

Searchers on Sunday found Green’s hat about 300 yards downstream of the last place she was seen. They found her shoes about 150 yards downstream of her hat.

But nothing new came of Monday’s efforts, Polumbus said. “This is a search and recovery mission at this point,” she added

Green’s father, who was hiking with her, told search crews that his daughter was trying to bring Kade back from a rock when the boy slipped. Green slipped and fell into the water as she tried to rescue him.

Searchers said the boy apparently grabbed a branch and pulled himself out of the creek.

Green’s husband, Rodney Green, was in San Diego on Saturday but has returned and spent much of the day Sunday with search crews at a trailhead near the spot where his wife disappeared.


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