The search for the last hiker missing in a deadly Grand Canyon flash flood is over. Officials have confirmed that human remains recovered along the Colorado River belong to Timothy Allen Smith, 53, a pilot from Star Valley, Wyoming, bringing the death toll from the late-August disaster to three, according to CBS News.

Smith's wife, Carrie, broke the news herself in a Facebook post Thursday before officials made it public. "We no longer have to wait, Tim was found two days ago by the Rangers at Grand Canyon National Park," she wrote, according to reporting carried by ABC News. "Not in the way we had hoped, but we know that he was doing something he loved with John and Brent."

"We no longer have to wait, Tim was found two days ago by the Rangers at Grand Canyon National Park. Not in the way we had hoped." — Carrie Smith

How the search unfolded

Smith's remains were located Monday near Crystal Rapids on the Colorado River, deep in the canyon's Granite Gorge, and identification was confirmed by the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office. He was on a multiday hiking, fishing and camping trip with two friends, Brent Rosenkranz, 42, and John Giusti, 46, both of Granbury, Texas, when the flooding struck the Phantom Ranch area on Aug. 29 during a monsoon storm. Rosenkranz's and Giusti's remains were recovered earlier in the search.

More than 80 other people were pulled to safety during the initial two-day deluge, with rescue teams leaning on night-vision equipment, vehicle license-plate tracking at trailheads and the park's backcountry permit system to account for everyone who had been in the area. Investigators say the flood was worsened by a burn scar left from a July 2025 wildfire, which stripped vegetation that would normally have slowed runoff into the canyon.

The disaster also wrecked a pipeline that supplies drinking water to the South Rim and damaged the historic Phantom Ranch lodge at the canyon floor, forcing closures of trails and backcountry facilities that park officials say could take weeks to fully repair. A second flash flood swept through the same area Wednesday; no injuries were reported, but it underscored how unstable the burned terrain remains heading into the tail end of monsoon season.

What's next

The National Park Service has extended condolences to the three families and thanked the search personnel involved in the weeks-long recovery effort. With the last of the missing accounted for, attention now shifts to restoring the South Rim's water system and reopening inner-canyon trails before park officials will say whether any additional safety measures — such as tighter permit restrictions during monsoon storms — are being considered for the burn-scarred corridor.