Overview
- Josué Baires Alfaro was swept into the Merced River and carried over Nevada Fall on June 20, and park rangers and search-and-rescue teams recovered his body later that day.
- Yosemite officials say the circumstances that led him into the water are under investigation and have not released a detailed account of the moments before he was swept over the fall.
- Eyewitnesses and social media shaped early public understanding, including a circulated photo of Alfaro in the current and a witness, Freesia Gaul, who said she jumped in to try to save him but could not reach him.
- Alfaro’s family has launched a GoFundMe to cover transport, funeral and burial costs to return his remains to El Salvador, and the fundraiser says his mother had previously lost another son.
- Nevada Fall sits on the Mist Trail where slick granite and powerful currents have caused past deaths, the National Park Service warns that swimming or wading upstream of Vernal and Nevada Falls is illegal and dangerous.