Foot found in Yellowstone hot pool ID'd as that of LA man
In this photo provided by the National Park Service is the Abyss Pool hot spring in the southern part of Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., in June 2015. Park officials say part of a foot, in a shoe, found floating in the hot spring on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, is related to a July 31, 2022 death. No foul play is suspected, but the investigation continues. (Diane Renkin/National Park Service via AP)
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A foot found floating in a Yellowstone National Park hot pool last summer belonged to a 70-year-old man from Los Angeles, park officials said Thursday.
It still isn't clear how the man, Il Hun Ro, ended up in the spring, but that investigators don't suspect foul play, park officials said in a statement.
Park staff found Ro's partial foot inside of a shoe in Abyss Pool in the park's West Thumb Geyser Basin in August.
Investigators concluded that whatever happened to Ro occurred on the morning of July 31, but that nobody saw it. They identified Ro through a DNA analysis and notified his family, officials said.
Abyss Pool is 53 feet (16 meters) deep and about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). In such springs, hot water cools as it reaches the surface and then sinks as it is replaced by hotter water from below. The circulation prevents the water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption like those that happen in the park's geysers.