Update No. 1: Derby Barracks / Overdue hiker – body recovered

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

CASE#: 25A5000159

RANK/TROOPER FULL NAME: Trooper James Gallup                            

STATION: VSP Derby Barracks                    

CONTACT#: 802-334-8881

DATE/TIME: About 6:10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025

INCIDENT LOCATION: Westmore, VT

MISSING PERSON: Sue Mi Ko

AGE: 51

CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Craftsbury, VT

SUMMARY OF INCIDENT:

During Search and Rescue Team training on Wednesday afternoon, April 30, 2025, near Lake Willoughby in Westmore, members of the Vermont State Police located a body believed to be that of missing hiker Sue Mi Ko, 51, of Craftsbury. Crews recovered her body several hundred yards from the Mount Pisgah trailhead.

An autopsy will be conducted at the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington to determine the cause and manner of death. There continue to be no indications that this incident is suspicious.

No further details are available at this time.

***Initial news release, 6:50 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10, 2025***

The Vermont State Police is investigating a missing-persons case involving an overdue hiker in Westmore.

VSP was notified on Thursday evening, Jan. 9, 2025, that Sue Mi Ko, 51, of Craftsbury was overdue in the vicinity of the Mount Pisgah trailhead. The state police is looking for information from anyone who has hiked the area in the past week and might have seen Mi Ko. Photographs of her are attached to this release.

There are no indications at this time that this incident is suspicious.

Anyone with information is asked to call the VSP barracks in Derby at 802-334-8881.

No additional information is currently available. VSP will provide updates as developments warrant.

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