Western State College student missing: family and friends await news

Jonathan Rasmussen

WSC STUDENT

 Brendan St. Denis, a Western State College sophomore from West End, NC, has been missing since Saturday night.

Brendan was attending the birthday celebration of one of his WSC cross-country teammates at a Blue Mesa Reservoir beach along Hwy. 149 (approximately nine miles west of Gunnison).

A teammate of Brendan’s, who was also at the party and wishes to remain unnamed, says the group of about 20 people arrived at the beach around 8 p.m. Saturday The teammate reports that during the party Brendan said he wanted to jump into Blue Mesa Reservoir from the Hwy. 149 bridge at the junction of Hwy. 149 and Hwy 50.

Carloads of people left the party throughout the night with the last group leaving around 11:30 p.m. according to the teammate. It was at this time that Brendan’s absence was noticed. The group drove to the bridge to look for him, and upon arrival found his t-shirt and sweatshirt on a rock near the bridge.

At this point the group split up with some driving into Gunnison to see if Brendan had returned to town earlier and the other group staying at the lake to search the shoreline  neither group having any luck. The searchers then flagged down a passerby who called the police for them.

According to Joanie Budzileni of the National Park Service, a team of search and rescue workers from the National Park Service, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s office and [the] Crested Butte Search and Rescue [dog team] responded immediately and began searching from shore and by boat until 5 a.m. Sunday.

Since Brendan’s disappearance, searchers and divers from the NPS, Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, Mt. Crested Butte Police and Crested Butte Search and Rescue [dog team] have been at the site every day. On Wednesday a detective and search dog from the Montrose County Sheriff’s Department joined in the search.

The progress of the search is being slowed by strong currents and low visibility

Budzileni said, ‘The divers are pretty much going by feel, which means they must go slower and backtrack a lot.” The current caused by the Gunnison River flowing into Blue Mesa is very strong according to rescue diver Randy Barnes of the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Department. This strong flow caused a break in the search yesterday so that divers could determine the safest way to search the area without “having to rescue one of (their) own,” said Barnes.

Brendan St. Denis

Although the evidence indicates that Brendan did jump, no one witnessed him do so and it is still not certain that he did. Because of this uncertainty Budzileni said that the NPS and the Gunnison Sheriff’s Department are also investigating other possibilities.

People often jump into Blue Mesa Reservoir from the bridge or cliffs, quite often causing injuries.

“Every year we have people jumping off other things  primarily cliffs  and we’ve had some very bad injuries caused by it,” said Park Ranger Edward Kelleher the incident commander for the search efforts.

Brendan’s mother Carol Robertson said her son ‘bad his whole life planned out.”

She hopes that the story of her son will stop people from jumping into Blue Mesa.

“Brendan is excited about having three more years of eligibility and has trained hard all summer hoping to be in the top seven in cross-country and to do well in the steeplechase in track,” said Brendan’s teammate. Besides being a runner, Brendan, “a hilarious guy who is liked by everyone who knows him,” is described as a “great artist” whose artwork his  teammate “always enjoyed seeing.”

Brendan’s family is working with WSC to set up a scholarship fund in Brendan’s name.

“Brendan would want to help another student,” said Brendan’s mother, “this is the best way to remember him.

The family asks that any memorial contributions be sent to the Brendan St. Denis Scholarship Fund at WSC Foundation, 909 Escalante Dr., Gunnison CO, 81230.

As of press time Wednesday,  Brendan St. Denis had not been found and according to Budzileni, he is “presumed drowned.’

Local team helps find drowning victim

Search for Western State College student is over

By Pete Sharp

 The fears of the family and friends of missing Western State College (WSC) student Brendan St. Denis, 21, were confirmed Saturday morning when his body was found in the water under what is known as the Lake City Bridge on Highway 149. County coroner C.J. Miller deter­mined that drowning was the cause of his death.

St. Denis, a sophomore art major and member of the WSC cross-country running team, was at a party on the eastern shores of Blue Mesa Reservoir celebrating the birthday of a teammate on the night of Saturday, August 4, when he disappeared. According to reports, he told friends during the party that he intended to jump from the 36-foot high bridge. When the party ended and St. Denis could not be found, a search began among those who had been at the party.

Search-and-rescue crews from the National Park Service, Gunnison County Sheriff’s office and Crested Butte [Search and Rescue Dog Team] responded immediately to the call, searching until 5 a.m. the following day both from shore and by boat. The search effort was ham­pered by poor underwater visi­bility.

Subsequent crews, includ­ing a diving crew, continued the search [for a week] until Saturday, August 11, when the Crested Butte Search and Rescue [dog team of Sue Purvis and Tasha found St. Denis’ body at approx­imately 6 a.m. near the northeast part of the bridge while assisting the National Park Service.  The dog, Tasha, pinpointed the location of St. Denis’ body in the early morning hours before the arrival of additional search teams.  Crested Butte Search and Rescue team member Sue Purvis explained that the quiet early morning is an ideal time for search dogs to work.

WSC cross-country coach Dr. Duane Vandenbusche said that the team is having a hard time with the death of St. Denis.

“The team is shaken and devastated,” said Vandenbusche. “For a lot of the team, this is the first time they have ever had to deal with the finality of this type of thing. Unfortunately, it took this for many of them to find out that they’re not bulletproof.”

A memorial service for St. Denis will take place this fall when all his friends are back at Western State College after a summer vacation. The funeral is planned for Saturday morning, August 18, in Maryland.

Search for missing WSC student ends

Jonathan Rasmussen

 The tragic question “what happened to Brendan St. Denis?” was answered Saturday when the Crest­ed Butte Search and Rescue [dog] team [assisting the] National Park Service discovered his body in Blue Mesa Reservoir near the junction of Highway 149 and Highway 50.

The cause of death is listed as drowning.

Brendan disappeared from a party the night of Saturday Aug. 4 at a beach along Highway 149 after telling several friends  that he wanted to jump into Blue Mesa from the Highway 149 bridge.  Searchers and divers from the NPS, the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, the Mt. Crested Butte Police, Crested Butte Search and Rescue [dog team] and the Montrose County Sheriff’s Department joined forces in the seven-day search.

NPS officials strongly discourage jumping into Blue Mesa from bridges or any other natural or manmade structures  several in­juries occur each year due to jumping into Blue Mesa.

Brendan’s friends describe him as a great friend, a great artist and a great runner.

“Brendan was a very special young man who touched a lot lives,” said friend Irma  Lull.

Brendan’s friends plan to hold a private memorial service at a later date to remem­ber his life and the joy he brought to theirs.

The family asks that any memorial con­tributions be sent to the Brendan St. Denis Memorial Scholarship Fund at WSC Foundation, PO Box 1264, Gunnison CO, 81230.