Search crews have spent days combing a dried-out desert wash near Morristown for 63-year-old Benny Sutton Jr., a Castle Hot Springs resort employee who vanished after his vehicle was swept into floodwaters on Sunday, Nov. 1. Teams have logged 16 to 18 hours a day on the ground, in the air and on drones, and so far they have turned up only what investigators call possible minor clues.
Sutton left home for work that Sunday but never made it to the resort, according to ABC15. His vehicle was later found submerged in a wash about two miles south of Castle Hot Springs, near where the waterway empties toward Lake Pleasant, as reported by KTAR News 92.3 FM. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office says Sutton went missing Sunday night after the flash flooding tore through the area.
A Maricopa County Sheriff's Office helicopter crew happened upon the submerged vehicle while returning from a separate rescue, and lowered a rescuer onto its roof, per KTAR's reporting. That rescuer confirmed Sutton was not inside, a detail also noted by 12 News. At the height of the flooding, the water in the wash spanned roughly 200 feet wide and ran 6 to 8 feet deep, according to AZFamily.
Days of Searching Turn Up Little
Because the water was still rising and dangerous, search efforts were limited to the air until floodwaters receded the following Monday, KTAR reported. Once conditions allowed, crews searched the wash's 3.5-mile main channel from where the truck was found all the way down toward the lake, 12 News noted. AZFamily's reporting adds that the wash has since dried out entirely, letting deputies drive and walk through the terrain as they widen their search.
Despite the extended effort, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said crews have found only possible minor clues, according to the same AZFamily report. The sheriff's office confirmed the search was continuing as of Nov. 4, per MyRadioPlace. The operation has drawn in an unusually large roster of agencies given the terrain and the uncertainty over where Sutton may have been carried by the current.
Multiple Agencies, Specialized Teams Join the Effort
The search has brought together the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office Jeep Posse, ground searchers and drone operators, along with Verde Search and Rescue and Coconino County Search and Rescue, according to ABC15. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has contributed swift-water rescue operators and air support, while specialty K9 teams have been sweeping the wash and surrounding area, the station's report notes.
The flooding that swept away Sutton's vehicle was part of a broader storm system that battered northern and central Arizona over the weekend, triggering road closures and evacuation orders, according to The Arizona Republic. Low-lying areas in Sedona, Flagstaff, Camp Verde and other communities were ordered evacuated on Nov. 1 as flood warnings covered four counties, the outlet reported.
Elsewhere in the state, the storm's toll proved fatal. A 73-year-old man who disappeared in Flagstaff floodwaters on Nov. 1 was found dead the following day, Flagstaff police told the Republic. Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter crews conducted 27 rescue missions statewide over the course of the weekend as the storm moved through, according to the same report.
No update has been reported on Sutton's whereabouts since the Nov. 4 search confirmation, and search crews continue working the dried wash between Castle Hot Springs and Lake Pleasant.
