Deputy Fire Chief Jay Schreckengost died after falling down a steep hillside or cliff, the Kittitas County Coroner says.
Rescue crews recovered Schreckengost's body on Nov. 14. The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office says Schreckengost was found in the mountains near Cliffdell, about a half-mile from where his pickup was parked, and he had been missing since Nov. 2.
The cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma. The coroner believes Schreckengost fell more than once.
"It’s known that there was snow on the ground when Chief Schreckengost went scouting for Elk on the morning of Tuesday, 11/2—creating slick conditions in that already rugged and dangerous terrain. The location where he was found was near the bottom of a sharp, broken slope about 700 feet in elevation, north-northeast from the end of spur rd 553 off Forest Service Rd 1703 in the Wenatchee-Okanogan National Forest near Cliffdell."