American presumed dead for 30 years found healthy

August 6, 2008

An American man presumed to be dead after the 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood has been found alive in Oklahoma City.

Barb Anderson, a Big Thompson Canyon resident, was researching the flood victims and found Darrell Johnson, alive and well, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Sixty-three-year-old funeral director Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan on Friday that he didn't know he was on the victim list until Anderson told him last year. He was one of the six reported missing and the 144 killed, which has now been amended to 143.

Johnson and his family were living in a Sleepy Hollow resort cabin in Estes Park, but decided to leave after staying for one night. A few hours later, the whole resort was washed away.