Coroner: Father And Daughter Fell To Their Deaths

BUENA VISTA, Colo. (CBS4) - A father and daughter from Boulder who died during a hike last month were killed by some sort of fall, according to authorities.

Chaffee County's coroner told CBS4 on Monday that preliminary autopsy results indicate Michael Von Gortler, 53, and his daughter Makana, 20, died from blunt trauma injuries to the head and neck. The injuries came from some type of fall.

Searchers found the bodies on Saturday morning, 10 days after the pair set out for a hike on the Missouri Gulch Trail. The coroner said the two died on the day they set off on their hike.

The bodies were spotted as a helicopter dropped off a search team on Saturday. They were about 500 feet above the main trail.

The coroner said they can't determine what time of day the fall hapened and that it may never be clear the details surrounding the fall.

Makana was studying ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado and her father was a traveling ER physician. They had just attended the Telluride Bluegrass Festival prior to going missing on the trail.