The body of William Davis, a man from Jacksonville, was found on Friday after he went missing from the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Search teams discovered Davis’s body 400 feet off Lion Head Trail after three days of searching in challenging weather conditions, according to a news release from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
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The search for Davis began after he wandered away from the summit of Mt. Washington on Wednesday afternoon, the release said.
Despite extensive efforts on the western side of the summit, no clues were found until Friday, when searchers focused on the east and south slopes.
Officials said weather conditions had worsened, with high winds, clouds, rain, and low temperatures, complicating the search efforts.
A volunteer search team located Davis’s body at approximately 11:00 a.m. Friday, the release said.
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An Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter, which was on a training mission, assisted in the recovery of Davis’s body.
The helicopter faced heavy winds and cloud cover but managed to land and remove the body during a brief window of opportunity.
Officials said preliminary observations suggest that Davis suffered a “significant fall” from a steep, rocky slope.
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His body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
Davis was not a hiker and had no map, and it remains unclear how he ended up at the location where he was found, officials said.
The Fish and Game Department expressed gratitude to the volunteers and staff who participated in the search.
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