The Mill Valley Fire Department and the Marin County urban search and rescue team Friday afternoon removed the body of 73-year-old Walter Guthrie from a mudslide that buried him early Wednesday morning behind his home at 70 Bolsa Ave.
Mill Valley fire Battalion Chief Greg Moore said Guthrie’s body was removed at 4:45 p.m. The Marin County coroner was on the scene to take possession of the body, Moore said.
Moore said a break in the mudflow allowed the recovery team to remove Guthrie’s body after nearly a day of effort. They found it Thursday around 2 p.m., worked until 3 a.m. Friday and returned at 8 a.m., Moore said.
Moore said Guthrie’s body was found in a 10- to 12-foot slide where he was last seen at 3 a.m. Wednesday when he went outside his home to clear a culvert. He wife called for help immediately when he disappeared. The rescue operation became a recovery operation at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday.
"We had a pretty good idea where he was at. Unfortunately he was in the deepest part of the slide,’’ Moore said.
The slide came down a hill above the home and into a garage and bedroom at the rear. Rescuers initially formed a bucket brigade to remove mud, but then brought in a crane to remove large tree stumps and root balls. The first floor of the house was dismantled to better access the slide area at the rear of the house.
Recovery teams Friday built a 5-by-4-foot wood box to shield Guthrie’s body from the continuing mudslide while they worked to extricate him, Moore said.
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