‘A TRAGEDY’

Missing 20-Year-Old Hiker’s Body Discovered on Her Birthday in NH Mountains

Emily Sotelo was found in the New Hampshire Mountains, after plunging temperatures and blowing snow buffeted the area where she was last seen.

New Hampshire conservation officials said that the body of a sophomore at Vanderbilt University was found in Franconia Notch State Park on Wednesday, the day she would have turned 20 years old. Emily Sotelo went missing after being dropped off at Franconia’s popular Lafayette Place campground to hike through the area on Sunday morning. An extensive search effort, “hampered by high winds, cold temperatures and blowing snow,” eventually uncovered her body on the northwest face of Mount Lafayette just after 11 a.m., officials said. A state national guard helicopter was able to retrieve her body from the area. A cause of death was not immediately announced, but Fish and Game officer Maj. David Walsh suggested exposure to the elements may have played a role. “The biggest lessons learned in a tragedy like this is when you’re hiking in New Hampshire, especially in the White Mountains, be prepared for the unexpected,” he told WMUR-TV. “Be prepared with knowledge. Know the weather conditions. Dress for the weather conditions. Have extra clothes. Have extra food, water. Have a headlamp map, a compass.”