10/11-15 Search for Joy Cipoletti

On Sunday, October 11, 2020 Alamosa Volunteer Search and rescue was contacted about a missing female hiker, who was last heard from at 1500hours from the summit of ellingwood point. AVSAR immediately sent out a page to the team. The missing female hiker was described as Joy Cipoletti, a 60year old female, wearing a purple fleece jacket and a white hat. She was last seen by a fellow hiker above the C2 colouir at 1400hours on 10/10. AVSAR successfully started cellphone forensics with AFRCC and were able to ping her cellphone at the summit of ellingwood point at 1500hours. The search for Joy spanned over five days and involved multiple search and rescue teams from around the state and multiple assets. Joy was found deceased, from an apparent significant fall, around 1330hours on 10/15 when a UH60 from Buckley Air Force Base, being guided visually by three AVSAR technical team members, spotted her orange backpack. A drone team deployed to the area from Douglas County Search and Rescue then deployed their drone to confirm Joy’s location. Joy’s body was then evacuated off the mountain by Flight for Life, after an extremely technical lower/scree evacuation.

   Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and family of Joy Cipoletti. The stories shared about Joy proved that she was the most beautiful soul and had a very positive impact on everyone she met. We cannot begin to imagine the pain that everyone she touched is feeling. This mission proved how the state of Colorado rallies together when they are most needed. Teams across the state of Colorado sent volunteers to aid in the search for Joy. There were also multiple assets who responded to assist in the search.
  AVSAR cannot thank all of the volunteers from around the state enough for leaving their families, friends, jobs and lives to commit their time to bring Joy home.

AVSAR would like to thank:
Out of County Search and Rescue Teams who responded:
Douglas County SAR
Arapahoe County Rescue Patrol
Saguache County Search & Rescue
Chaffee County Search and Rescue – South
El Paso County Search and Rescue
Mineral County SAR
Fremont County SAR
Western Mountain Rescue
Park County SAR
Custer County SAR
Teller County Search and Rescue
Huerfano County SAR

Assets who assisted with the mission:
REACH29- REACH Air Medical Services
Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office
ACSO Sgt. Paul Gilleland & K9 Blitz
Lifeguard4- Flight For Life Colorado
MMA Aircraft- Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control
Care Connect
PIKE41- UH60 Buckley Air force Base
Colorado Search and Rescue Association – CSARAVSAR 4×4 team
AFRCC- Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
Alamosa County Victim’s Advocates

Some of our local employers, who were stuck short handed and did not bat an eye when one or multiple employees left their jobs to respond to missions:
SLV Animal Center- Dumb Friends League
Kristi Mountain Sports, LLC
Square Peg Brewerks
All 4 Paws
City of Alamosa