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Man's remains found in Nevada wilderness

ELKO, Nev. — The remains of a missing Canadian man whose wife survived for seven weeks in the Nevada wilderness after the couple got lost have been found a year and a half after he disappeared.

ELKO, Nev. — The remains of a missing Canadian man whose wife survived for seven weeks in the Nevada wilderness after the couple got lost have been found a year and a half after he disappeared.

Albert Chretien’s whereabouts have been a mystery since the couple’s van got stuck in the mud in March 2011.

Det. Dennis Journigan of the Elko County Sheriff’s Office said Chretien’s remains were discovered Saturday by two elk hunters in a secluded area of Merritt Mountain, about 11 kilometres west from where he set off.

Journigan said the remains were intact and hadn’t been scattered by animals. Chretien was identified by items found in his pockets, including business cards and an address book, police said.

Rita Chretien stayed with the couple’s van and was found on the verge of starvation 49 days after her husband went for help. She survived on trail mix, hard candy and melted snow, and has said her Christian faith kept her going.

The couple got lost when they decided to take a shortcut to a Las Vegas trade show from their home in Penticton, B.C.

Det. Jim Carpenter said the hunters in their 40s found a backpack that Chretien carried when he left the van. It contained a spiral notebook and sunflower seeds.

The hunters then went up the mountain and found his body, Carpenter said.

“They know of the story, of what took place and they were in the general area,” he said Monday. “They put two and two together and called us and said, ‘Hey, we think we found your missing Canadian guy.”’

The hunters led police to the wooded area, about a four-hour drive from the sheriff’s office, early Sunday morning, Carpenter said.

“It’s big news around here, and everybody who lives here knows the whole story.”

Rita Chretien was relieved to hear her husband’s body had been found after so long, Carpenter said.

“She’s obviously upset but she’s also relieved that we recovered Albert’s remains,” he said.

“This wasn’t anything that we gave up on. We were continuing searches up in that area and always trying to cover more ground and the thing that people don’t know is this ground is steep, rocky, (with) trees. There’s roads there but they’re really tough.”

In the last 18 months, a search and rescue crew from Carpenter’s department has made countless trips to the area in hopes of finding Chretien’s body, and the last search happened two weeks ago, he said.

“From where their vehicle was, it’s miles and miles and miles of ground to cover up there. When you have 15 to 20 people up there at a time on a search, you can only cover so much ground.”

- By Camille Bains in Vancouver