The Mono County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was activated after a missing‑person report called Monday, October 5, following Seibert’s last known text.
Investigators combed the Grand Central Couloir with photo‑topographic matching, mobile‑phone forensics and a K‑9 unit that searched Seibert’s vehicle, but the rugged terrain forced them to suspend the ground search that day. The team logged hours of aerial footage to map the couloir’s ledges.
The Cal Guard CH‑47 Chinook deployed crews to 12,500 ft on Monday, scanning the couloir from the air, and later that morning Yosemite National Park’s helicopter 551 began short‑haul operations to reach the base. Both aircraft coordinated with ground teams to identify potential drop zones. The aerial search extended until late evening, covering over 200 acres.
On Tuesday, the volunteer team spotted an anomaly near the bottom of the couloir after 2 p.m., and a second group following descending tracks moved into the spot, locating Seibert. The find was confirmed by a ground‑level photograph that matched the last known location of his phone.
Because the gap between the find and the nearest landing zone was too wide for safe extraction, rescue teams could not recover the body that day, delaying the operation until Wednesday. On Wednesday, helicopter 551 and the Yosemite Search and Rescue crew extracted the body from the cliff face and transported it to a recovery vehicle.