Price, UT - Search and rescue teams located the vehicle associated with the search for two missing Grand Junction men on Sunday afternoon. At approximately 12:20 PM, searchers located the gold Jeep Grand Cherokee involved in the search for Mark Widegren and Brian Axe.

The area where the vehicle was found is difficult to access due to the terrain. It is not known if the vehicle is occupied.

Search and rescue officials anticipate it could be several hours before they can reach the vehicle in Cottonwood Canyon area of Nine Mile Canyon. Cottonwood Canyon is a side-canyon of Nine Mile Canyon, which is the location of Widegren and Axe’s work camp. The vehicle is located more than two hours away from Price.

Axe and Widegren, both 28 years old, have been missing for a week. Search organizers, working with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department, were able to target a specific area of land to search using cell phone data.

Cottonwood Canyon Road is closed by order of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department until further notice.

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Sunday officials plan to bring in a search dog team from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department to search areas of Cottonwood Canyon. Searchers continue to search all back-roads, service roads to drilling operations, and possible routes that Widegren and Axe may have traveled from Price to the work camp where they lived, located in Nine Mile Canyon.


Search volunteers are asked to check in at the Holiday Inn in Price, 838 Westwood Blvd. This is an organized search with specific areas to cover, and volunteers need to be accounted for.

The search is also accepting donations to cover costs for the search team at Wells Fargo banks, in the “Brian Axe and Mark Widegren Search and Rescue Fund.” There is also a group facebook page dedicated to the search under “Search for Mark Widegren and Brian Axe” with a link for online donations.


The search for two missing Grand Junction men continues with no solid clues and more questions than answers. Saturday marked the seventh day since family members say the men vanished without a trace. Searchers are remaining hopeful as hundreds of volunteers scour the rugged wilderness near Price, Utah.

Carbon County Sheriffs officials are scouring eastern Utah by air for two men who have been missing since Saturday night. The two Grand Junction men, Brian Axe and Mark Widegren, both 28 years old, were in the area working on a pipeline for W.C. Streigel Incorporated, in Nine Mile Canyon near the town of Price.

According to Authorities, the two men left work at 5:30 PM Saturday evening and were last seen at the Silver Dollar Bar that night. Around 11:30 PM, Axe called his wife to say they were leaving the bar before midnight. They haven't been heard from since.

The men were driving a gold 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with Colorado license plate, 724-TDP.

Carbon County Sheriff's officials say that Friday morning, they started searching the area using a helicopter and airplane.

If you have any information about this case, please call the Carbon County Sheriff at (435) 636-3251.