Oregon Public Broadcasting

Human bones, found in the deserts of southeast Utah, don't belong to depression era artist and writer Everett Ruess according to an Oregon family member. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Ruess became a western legend when he set out into the painted deserts of Utah alone in 1934. He never returned.

Some believe he died, other's that he moved on to a different life.

But last year, a Navajo woman told authorities a story handed down by her grandfather. He had seen two Ute tribal members kill a man at about the same time Ruess was there.

She says her grandfather buried the body -- as dictated by tribal tradition.

The remains were found. But a study by the Armed Forced DNA Lab now shows the bones didn't belong to Ruess.

Everett Ruess was Brian Ruess's great uncle. Brian says there are many who are pleased the mystery lives on.

Brian Ruess: "I'm certain there's a large group of people who feel that way."

Everett Ruess wrote about the beauty and the fury of the American West. He knew painters like Maynard Dixon and photographers like Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange.