A New Jersey man who was last seen at the White Mountains Hostel in Conway, New Hampshire, on June 24 was found dead Thursday, July 20, in the White Mountains.
New Hampshire Fish and Game suspended its search for Gregory Auriemma, 63, from Brick, New Jersey, after about three weeks on July 17—just a few days before a hiker came across his body.
Fish and Game said it had found evidence that he had stayed in the area of the Mizpah Spring Hut in Bean’s Grant on or about June 28, and found an abandoned campsite near the Dry River Trail in Cutts Grant.
He was found Thursday by the Appalachian Mountain Club work crews in the Dry River Wilderness, about 70 miles north of Concord, the AP reports.
Auriemma’s brother Kevin Auriemma told New Jersey 101.5 that his brother was a seasoned White Mountain hiker and was hiking alone and without a cellphone.
He said Auriemma’s significant other contacted the family after he didn’t show up for a barbecue on July 5 in New Jersey, and later learned he also didn’t show up at the hostel where he had a reservation.
He told the radio station that a woman who who was hiking near the Dry River on July 14 noticed a campsite that she had seen the week before still there, and that Auriemma’s pills were in the tent.
Severe weather was reported in the area where Auriemma was hiking, but it is unclear whether that played a role in his death, the cause of which is unknown.
Auriemma was an attorney with a private practice in Brick, and was an active member of the New Jersey Sierra Club and the head of its Ocean County Chapter.
He was nominated in 2013 by former President Barack Obama as a “Champion of Change” for his work on environmental issues.
His friend and fellow New Jersey Sierra Club member Jeff Tittel said he worked “tirelessly” on ocean issues and will be sorely missed.
“He was a good friend and a champion for the environment,” Tittel said in a statement. “Whether it’s trying to preserve land for open space, organizing beach cleanups, or stopping a massive sprawl development, you could always find Greg at the meetings … . There is not an issue on the coast that he hasn’t been involved in.”
