Body of man missing at Bear Valley recovered by search teams

The body of a man missing after a day of skiing at the Bear Valley Resort in March has been recovered by search and rescue dogs.

Jane Drummond-Mullarkey had notified the Alpine County Sheriff's Office at 11:30 p.m. on March 14 when her husband, Thomas Mullarkey, 65, had failed to return to their Arnold cabin.

The family was from Richmond, Calif., and staying at their Sierra cabin.

On May 14, search and rescue dogs trained to detect the scent of human remains alerted to an area of Bear Valley known as Grovey Gully. Soon after the alert, searchers found a ski pole and ski protruding from the surface of the snow. Mullarkey's body was found just beneath the snow where these items were.

Teams from Calaveras County Search and Rescue, Alpine County Search and Rescue, resort ski patrol and helicopters from the California Highway Patrol Air Division and the Air National Guard all responded to the ski resort after Mullarkey's car was found parked at the resort. Weather hampered searches at the time, but they were able to search for five days in heavy snow.

"The Alpine County Sheriff's Office offers their sincerest condolences and would like to thank the Mullarkey family and their many friends for their patience and understanding during this very emotional and painful event, the sheriff's office said in a press release Monday.