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A 22-year-old hiker missing in the Cedar City area since Sunday has been found dead, authorities said.

The body of Cedar City resident Shaw Phillipsen was spotted at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in mountainous terrain east of Cedar City, Cedar City police Sgt. Clint Pollock said.

It appears Phillipsen suffered a fall in the Red Hill area, which is filled with cliffs and large boulders, Pollock said.

Helicopters with the Southern Utah University Aviation Program and the Utah Department of Public Safety were able to locate Phillipsen's body. The DPS helicopter airlifted the body from the scene.

Phillipsen was reported missing Tuesday afternoon. Officers learned he had not been seen since Sunday, when he sent Snapchat messages to friends saying he was going hiking in the mountains.

His truck was located Tuesday near a trail about a mile east of Cedar City along State Route 14. But law enforcement and search and rescue volunteers, along with several search dogs, were unable able to find Phillipsen Tuesday afternoon.

Helicopters spotted his body Wednesday about 500 yards up a hillside, north of the highway and not far from his truck, Pollock said.

Officials found significant trauma that indicated Phillipsen had taken a fall; his body was being sent to the medical examiner to determine a cause of death, said Pollock, who added it appeared to be an accident.

Phillipsen's Facebook page said he was studying at Southern Utah University and was from Delta.

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