SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed Wednesday that human remains discovered near Moab last month are those of Lance Leeroy Arellano, who disappeared after a shootout with State Park Ranger Brody Young in 2010.
A statement from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office indicates the medical examiner’s office used dental records to identify Arellano, but the cause of his death has not been released.
According to a press release from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office, Arellano is suspected of shooting Young nine times in an altercation on November 19, 2010.
According to the release, a Moab resident who was home for Christmas break was searching the area around Tangrila Ranch for the “sole purpose to search for any evidence of the location of the suspect in the shooting.”
The terrain in the area is very rocky and features numerous ledges, caves and crevasses. Inside a cave-like area accessed by crawling through a narrow entrance way, the Moab resident found human remains and a bag containing a handgun and magazine.
The man who found the remains, Caleb Shumway, contacted police.
Young was shot while checking on a parked car at the Poison Spider Mesa Trailhead.
“He shot me nine times,” Young told FOX 13 news in 2014 when he was interviewed regarding the documentary “Heroes Behind the Badge: Sacrifice and Survival.”
He said the man suddenly opened fire on him, striking him in the arm, leg and stomach.
“I’m lucky to be here, vertical and mobile, to be honest,” Young said in 2014.
