The body of a Gillette man was discovered Tuesday morning at the Medicine Wheel east of Lovell.


North Big Horn Search and Rescue Squad Captain Scott Allred was notified of the situation at 9 p.m. Monday night when the car of a missing person was reported to be parked at the Medicine Wheel east of Lovell by U.S. Forest Service employees.


Members of the NBHSR team and Sheriff’s office confirmed Monday night that the grey Buick LeSabre parked near the Medicine Wheel belonged to 39-year-old Steven Engel of Gillette, who had been missing for about a week.


Tuesday morning, a full-scale search was launched, Allred said, with 10 members of the NBHSR team, Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. employees and several Big Horn County Sheriff deputies on scene for preliminary or “hasty” searches of the immediate area while other agencies were on their way to help. Allred said other groups enroute were the South Big Horn County Search and Rescue Squad, a Sheridan search and rescue team and a Civil Air Patrol plane.


The additional personnel were called off about an hour and a half into the search when one of Allred’s teams spotted a piece of clothing in the distant rocks below Medicine Wheel. A closer look revealed Engel’s body about 180 feet below in a ravine, Allred said. His body was found about 100 yards away from the parked car.


“Finding him was easier than I thought but recovering the body was tougher than I thought it would be,” Allred said.
He said the USFS was very cooperative in allowing the team to use six-wheeled vehicles to creep down into the rough terrain to recover the body.


“It was grueling to get in there,” he said.


The unattended death was treated like a crime scene as standard procedure and the access road to the Medicine Wheel was closed for about an hour. Allred and Sheriff Ken Blackburn said there was no evidence of foul play.


Engel had been missing since July 14 at about 4 p.m., according to the Gillette News-Record.


Allred said the parked car might not have been called in for a few days because it is common for people to park at Medicine Wheel and hike to a camping spot. He said NBHSR members finished recovering the body and headed home at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Allred said despite the loss of life, the search went well.


“It was an unfortunate outcome, but (having) the resolution was good,” Allred said.


Sheriff Blackburn commended the coordinated effort of the groups involved in the search and those on their way to Medicine Wheel.


Blackburn said there has been a positive identification of the body and Engel’s family was notified Tuesday. The BHCSO and the Big Horn County Coroner are investigating the death.