Boulder County investigators said Thursday they do not believe the are those of a 20-year-old ski area employee who has been missing since January.
The county sheriff’s office said they are combing through other missing-persons reports across the state and country to determine whom the remains might belong to.
, of Lafayette, was last seen leaving his job at the resort in January. Extensive search efforts for Johnson, including around Gross Reservoir, have come up empty.
A ski area employee found the boot Wednesday afternoon near the base of the resort, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
“The employee had been working in a clearing near the base of the mountain when he discovered a single snow-style boot,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “When he examined the boot closer, he observed what he believed to be human remains inside.”
The size-13 boot is a left men’s Rugged Outback snow-style boot, authorities said. Inside the boot was a black sock and human remains consisting of a foot and the lower leg bones.
An army of searchers — including cadaver dogs and horses — worked on Thursday to find additional remains but concluded the day’s hunt without finding anything new.
“The investigative effort to identify who the remains belong to is occurring contemporaneous to the search effort,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday.
