UPDATE: The body found on Mount Hood Thursday morning has been positively identified as David Yaghmourian, 30, an Arizona State graduate student who has been missing since Monday.
The Dean of Arizona State's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College released a statement on Yaghmourian's death Thursday evening:
Original story:
A body was found on Mount Hood Thursday morning but authorities still have to retrieve it to identify if it is a missing hiker from Arizona.
David Yaghmourian, 30, has been missing since Monday. He was last seen at the eastern junction of the Timberline Trail at the Pacific Crest Trail, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said.
A climber found the body at about 8,300-foot elevation, which the sheriff's office said is about 3,000 feet higher than where their search area was.
Yaghmourian, of Phoenix, Arizona, was hiking the Timberline Trail on Monday with a friend when he became tired and stopped to rest about a mile away from the Timberline Lodge.
"We were so close, about a half-hour from the lodge, with clear visibility," said his hiking partner Hayden Kirschbaum. "So we talked and he said, 'Yeah I’ll take some extra breaks. Sounds good. I'll meet you at the lodge.'"
But Yaghmourian never arrived as planned.