Update: 10/03/12

PENTICTON, British Columbia -- The wife of a man whose remains were found in the Nevada wilderness 18 months after their van got stuck in mud and he went for help said she's grateful there's now tangible evidence of how he died. Albert Chretien's body was found in a heavily wooded area of Merritt Mountain, six miles west of where he set off. Dozens of searches were conducted in the vast Nevada area around where he disappeared. Rita Chretien said Tuesday she and her family will be even more grateful on Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend now that her husband Albert's remains have been found by two elk hunters. His wife survived for 49 days in the couple's van and was nearly dead when she was found by hunters.

ELKO, Nev. (AP) — A Canadian man whose remains have been found 18 months after he and his wife got stranded in the Nevada wilderness was within six miles of town when he apparently veered off course into mountain snowdrifts. Hunters found Albert Chreitien's remains over the weekend on a mountain near the Nevada-Idaho line. Elko County Sheriff's Deputy David Prall tells The Associated Press the 59-year-old man was about six miles from where he left the vehicle in March 2011 with his wife Rita, who was rescued after 48 days and survived. Prall says Albert Chreitien would have been on the downhill side of his trip within six miles of Mountain City, but his GPS battery probably failed and he began angling too far north, uphill into the deepest snow. Prall says it took a courageous man to make it as far as Chreitien did.

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