A search-and-rescue crew found a missing hiker’s body on Monday. Officials now say she was likely killed by a mountain lion.
Diana Bober, 55, went hiking alone on a trail near Mount Hood on August 29.
Because they hadn’t heard from her since then, her out-of-state relatives reported her missing on September 7. A search-and-rescue crew found her body on the Hunchback Trail on September 10.
“There’s a slim possibility that something else is responsible, but at this point, every indication is that a cougar is responsible,” Brian Wolfer, Oregon Fish & Wildlife spokesman, told The Oregonian.
He said an autopsy showed that a large animal caused the wounds on Bober’s body. Officials sent DNA samples to a forensics lab in Ashland to pinpoint what killed her.
Wildlife officials are currently looking for the animal that killed Bober. They found her car Saturday at the Zigzag Ranger Station, and they found her body about 2 miles away in Mount Hood National Forest.
Authorities have closed the trail to the public since the incident and advise hikers to avoid the area.
The attack is the first time a wild mountain lion has killed a human in Oregon. But a cougar did kill a mountain biker and injured a second man in Washington state in May.
