UTAH COUNTY, Utah — It’s hard for hope not to turn into dread when hours of searching for a missing teen in American Fork Canyon turns into days with still no answer.
“OK, it's been cold out,” recalled Sergeant Dallin Turner with Utah County Search and Rescue about the search, “She's been out for 1-to-2 nights already. It's hard not to have those thoughts of, OK, this might be more of a recovery than a rescue.”
Unfortunately, that recovery mission became a reality for Turner and around 40 other search and rescue volunteers when they found 19-year-old McKenna Miner Wednesday morning.
It’s not the first recovery mission the men and women have had to respond to and it won’t be the last.
“A lot of these guys have been doing this volunteer work for 10, 15, 20-plus years," Turner said. "And they've seen a lot of different rescues and a lot of different outcomes and it's hard for that to not put a toll on them and their mental health."
In the past few years there has been a healthy shift in focusing on coping resources for responders like Turner's team.
“We're trying to join that change of emotions aren't as scary as everybody thinks they are and it's OK to show emotion,” he said.
That's exactly what Turner did in front of news cameras Wednesday, tearing up as he spoke about the phone call he made to Miner’s family. He said it’s so important for him to talk to people who understand.
Turner is one of four trained peer support members at the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, which he said has been a great program.
“We can provide them with the resources to just sit, have somebody to listen and just let them vent their frustrations or vent their emotions or just to talk about it to help process,” he said.
Turner said it also never hurts to check in on those you know in the career.
“A lot of us get into it because we're the guys, we're the heroes going in and we're the tough guys and we're saving people and serving people and helping people," he added. "But a lot of times those guys are the ones that just need somebody to reach out.”
A GoFundMe page has been created for Miner’s funeral expenses, and funds raised will be also be donated to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team who searched to find Miner.
