Clint White

A search for a missing Powell man ended in tragedy on Tuesday afternoon, with the discovery of his body north of town.

Clint P. White had last been seen on the night of March 25. The longtime Powell resident was 52.

“He will be so missed,” White’s family members wrote in an obituary.

Authorities said Wednesday that they were awaiting test results before determining the official cause of death.

White was a U.S. Air Force veteran and worked with his mother, Ann, and sister, Charise Rose, at their business, White Ink Printing.

A funeral for White is set for 2 p.m. Friday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Seventh Street.

White was reported missing on March 27, but the search effort was initially stymied by a lack of information about where he might have gone. 

The locator functions on White’s electronic devices had been shut off, and a ping of his cellphone yielded only a general indication that it was in the Powell area, said Powell Police Chief Jim Rhea.

“To be able to conduct searches at that point, it was kind of primitive at most, because basically we had no direction of travel,” Rhea said.

Police efforts also included working with Toyota to try locating White’s 2018 Tacoma, but that didn’t pan out, the chief said.

On Monday, police received surveillance camera footage from White’s family, indicating that he’d left his home around 2 a.m. on March 26 with a generator and a blanket. Around midday, Powell police put out a public call for help locating White. 

Rhea said they also reached out to Cody police investigators, who helped connect the department with federal law enforcement experts in cellphone location data.

On Tuesday morning, those federal experts relayed that the cellphone data indicated that the device appeared to have last connected from a spot on Polecat Bench, the chief said.

“It was a fairly large area,” Rhea said, and he spent several hours driving around many of the roads and trails on the bench — as did some of White’s friends and family members.

Given the wide area, Rhea decided to ask for assistance from Park County Search and Rescue. They launched a plane from Cody and spotted White’s Tacoma around 3 p.m. Tuesday at a spot about a mile off Wyo. Highway 295, Rhea said. Park County deputies reached the vehicle about a half-hour later, finding White deceased inside, and the Park County Coroner’s Office was summoned.

Coroner Cody Gortmaker said his deputy determined that White died on March 26 — the same day he was seen leaving his residence. Gortmaker said the death remains under investigation pending toxicology results.

White’s family wrote in his obituary that he had previously experienced “an accidental carbon monoxide poisoning” that “damaged his mind and affected his mental health.”

The obituary describes White as compassionate, quick-witted and caring. “Clint had a huge heart and was always willing to help someone who might be in need,” it says in part.

White’s sister, Rose, said Wednesday that her family wants to offer its gratitude “to everyone in the area for their kindness and the efforts made to look for Clint.”

“We live in an amazing community,” she said.

Chief Rhea also extended his thanks to the agencies that offered their assistance, especially complimenting Park County Sheriff Darrell Steward and the professionalism of the county’s search and rescue personnel.

The work of the aerial searchers was “amazing,” Rhea added, saying that authorities “could not have brought closure without that.”