Hunting fall takes life of Colton teacher, coach

After a search that covered two days and 15 square miles, search crews Monday morning found the body of Glenn Voshell, 44, Pullman, in a ravine on the Snake River breaks west of Colton. Voshell was fatally injured Saturday afternoon when he apparently lost his footing and fell into the ravine while hunting with his dog, Jake.

A memorial service is scheduled for today, Thursday, at 1:30 p.m. in the gymnasium at Colton High School where Voshell was a science teacher and basketball coach.

Voshell was also the founder and leader of Colton’s award-winning Science Olympiad team.

Colton School Supt. Nate Smith said extra counselors have been brought in for students.

“It’s shocking and unfortunate, but we’re getting through it,” he said. “It’s been a tough couple days, that’s for sure. But the kids are holding up pretty well.”

Voshell left his home Saturday to go bird hunting along the rim of an area east of Yakawawa Canyon along Rimrock Road. Search crews were called out after he failed to return and his truck was found unoccupied along Rimrock Road. Sheriff Brett Myers said Voshell frequently hunted birds in the area.

His body was found near 9:30 a.m. Monday about 1.5 miles from his truck.

Coroner Pete Martin determined Voshell slipped while walking along the edge of a cliff and slid almost 400 feet down an icy ravine. He hit his head against frozen rocks near the bottom of the ravine.

Martin said the trauma to his head from the rocks likely put Voshell into a coma. He said Voshell likely felt no pain, and died from the trauma within an hour.

Martin estimated Mr. Voshell probably died about an hour before snow began to fall about 3 p.m. Saturday in the canyon area. Heavy snow fell on the Colton area throughout Saturday night.

Voshell’s body was pulled out of the canyon shortly after 10 a.m. by a Spokane County Sheriff’s tactical ropes team.

One of the more than 20 teams searching the area heard the barking of Voshell’s black labrador retriever, Jake.

“Without the dog being heard and barking at the right time, we’d still probably be out there today,” Myers said Tuesday.

The dog’s barking led the search crew to Mr. Voshell, who was found in a thicket of brush and covered in snow.

Myers said he believes Jake stayed by Voshell during the two days.

More than 200 people covered the area during the two-day search effort. Joining emergency personnel from Whitman, Latah, Spokane and Nez Perce counties were dozens of volunteer firefighters and teachers, students and residents from the Colton area.

The layer of snow blanketed the brush-covered crevices along the breaks and complicated the search effort.

Three helicopters were called in to assist the search. Myers said weather and terrain conditions were too severe to use a helicopter to recover the body.

The helicopters came from Fairchild Air Force Base, the Spokane County Sheriff and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Myers credited all involved with putting forth a dedicated search effort.

“We probably would have never found him without volunteers and people with real skill and expertise,” he said. “In this case people were really risking their own safety to find him.”