Yavapai County, Arizona: Missing Worker Benny Sutton Jr. Found Dead at Lake Pleasant After Flood

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office confirmed on Friday that Benny Sutton Jr., 63, has been found dead, ending a six day search that began when his truck was swept into a flooded wash near the Castle Hot Springs Resort. Sutton had left home on Sunday, November 1, to report for work at the resort and never arrived, according to the Sheriff's Office.

His vehicle was found that day fully submerged in rushing floodwaters in a wash about two miles downstream from the resort, the Sheriff's Office said. A Maricopa County Sheriff's Office helicopter crew lowered a rescuer onto the roof of the submerged truck and confirmed Sutton was not inside.

A search down the wash to Lake Pleasant

Search teams could work from the air at first because the rushing water posed extreme hazards, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said. Floodwaters in the wash reached up to 10 feet at the peak, Lt. Charles Owens told FOX 10 Phoenix. Ground teams, dog teams and aircraft searched the desert around the resort, and once the water receded, crews cleared the main channel, more than three miles long, from the vehicle down toward the lake.

"We had search teams on the ground. We had dog teams. We had aerial assets," Owens said. "My teams went all the way up to Castle Hot Springs, started their search there and went all the way down to Lake Pleasant."

On Friday, November 6, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office lake patrol team found Sutton along the waterway with drones, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that deputies found his body at Lake Pleasant, about four miles downstream from where his truck was first discovered.

"I would like to express our immense gratitude to the many dedicated Yavapai Search and Rescue volunteers and others who spent days tirelessly searching for him," Sheriff David Rhodes said in a statement.

The third death in the northern Arizona storms

Sutton is the third man to die after the severe weather that hit northern Arizona over the weekend of October 31. In Flagstaff, a 73 year old man was found dead on November 2 after falling into floodwaters, Flagstaff Sgt. Jerry Rintala said. Officers found another man dead in a stormwater drainage area near North Highway 89 and Lynch Avenue, according to Rintala.

Castle Hot Springs is a resort in Yavapai County, about 51 miles north of Phoenix. The county lifted its evacuation orders on November 4 as floodwaters receded, while recovery work continued across communities hit by the storms.

Remembered at the resort

At Castle Hot Springs, managing director Kevin Maguire said Sutton built much of what guests see at the property, from the hot springs to the archery and axe throwing range.

"He was the epitome of a friend. He wanted to do anything and everything he could for everybody," Maguire told FOX 10 Phoenix. "As sad as I am, I am also grateful that there was closure for his family."