The body found last week near the Pahrump airport has been positively identified as Ross John Artese.
Nye County Sheriff’s Office is waiting for the results of a toxicology report to help determine a cause of death, Sheriff Sharon Wehrly said.
According to police, the sheriff’s office received a call at approximately 8:15 a.m. on Sept. 14 regarding a deceased person on Bell Vista, about a half mile east of the airport. He was positively identified a few days later through DNA testing by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department lab.
Artese, 48, was reported missing by his family after last being seen on Sept. 4 walking with his pet husky, Lulu, on Mesquite Road near the Southern Nevada Detention Facility. This set off a large search coordinated by Nye County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue that lasted until Sept. 10.
The search involved officials from the Nevada Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Civil Air Patrol, along with Las Vegas Metro’s Search and Rescue air support, and the Nevada State Search and Rescue coordinator.
Search crews located and impounded his vehicle, which was reportedly well stocked for camping.
In a “Letter to the Editor” in today’s Pahrump Valley Times (page 10) Artese’s mother Sharon Otellio said the family is still searching for LuLu and Artese’s personal effects.
She also expresses her “deepest, heartfelt gratitude” to everyone involved in the search for her son.