The body of a missing young woman was found below a popular tourist spot in the Grand Canyon this week — the third dead person discovered at the national historic site in a week, park officials say.
Leticia A. Castillo, 20, of Albuquerque, NM, was believed to have gone to the canyon around Aug. 3 and hadn’t been heard from — before her body was found Tuesday 150 feet below the Canyon’s Twin Overlooks during a multiday search, according to a National Park Services press release.
“I love you so much Prima, and I will always cherish all the times I got to spend with [you],” a cousin of Castillo’s posted on Facebook. “You would light up any room you walked in.
“Be at rest and just know that you will never be forgotten and will be loved even if you’re not here with us.”
Last week, two other bodies were recovered from the canyon, marking a total of 11 deaths at the site so far this year, park rep Joelle Baird said.
On July 31, Abel Joseph Mejia, a 20-year-old from North Carolina visiting on a mission trip with Turning Point Pentecostal Church, stumbled over the edge of the South Rim. He fell 400 feet to his death.
The next day, an unnamed 43-year-old man from Missouri died in an ill-fated BASE jump attempt from Yavapai Point, falling 500 feet. BASE jumping is banned in the park, Grand Canyon officials said.
The park recorded 11 deaths in 2023, 12 in 2022, a staggering 23 in 2021 and 13 in 2020, Baird said. A breakdown of the causes of death at the park wasn’t immediately available.
The National Park Service said it will be investigating Castillo’s death, as will the Coconino County medical examiner. Both agencies are doing the same for the other two bodies recently found.
