A 19-year-old hiker fell to his death when the cliff he was standing on crumbled beneath him as he was taking photos at a scenic overlook in Utah, a Salt Lake City news outlet reported.
Jonathan "Johnny" Fielding, who had recently moved from Missouri to Orem, Utah, was hiking with his friends on Saturday near the Moonscape Overlook just outside of Hanksville in southern Utah, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office told KUTV-TV. As Fielding tried to get a better angle to take photos, he went near the edge of the cliff, which crumbled under his feet, and he plunged to his death, the sheriff's office told the outlet.
The sheriff's office, which ruled the death accidental, did not respond to USA TODAY's messages for information on Friday.
"While the passing of Jonathan was unexpected, we take some comfort knowing that he was doing what he loved at the time of the accident," Fielding's family said in his obituary. "He was on a photoshoot with friends in the beautiful Utah wilderness where he loved to be."
Moonscape Overlook gets its name from the extraterrestrial terrain in the area and its resemblance to the moon's craters.
Jonathan's sister, Rebecca Fielding, said in a Facebook post said that "this kind of thing was never supposed to happen to him."
"There’s no words to describe the the way it feels to be alive when he’s not," she wrote. "It doesn’t feel right being in a world without him and I’d give anything to trade places with him."
In a separate post, she said that her brother's tragic accident "should be a cautionary tale to anyone who hikes or does photography."
"Never trust the ground on the edge of a cliff," she wrote. "The rocks may look solid, the ground might seem like it will hold, but it’s still an eroding ticking time bomb. All it takes is one wrong step to dislodge rocks, one moment of unbalance, a trip over a rock, and you can plummet to your death."
Rebecca further said that "no view is worth" one's life.
"There was no reason for my brother to die. Please don’t make the same mistakes he did," she urged.
Fielding, who grew up in Blue Springs, Missouri, was the fourth of six children and the only boy among his siblings, according to his obituary.
Fielding ran track and field and did the pole vault in high school, and was a longtime Boy Scout, eventually earning the top rank of Eagle Scout. He belonged to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his obituary said.
A GoFundMe page created to help pay for Fielding's funeral stopped taking donations after collecting $27,000. He'll be laid to rest on Saturday in Independence, Missouri.
"Jonathan was a fun-loving, intelligent young man that had developed some unique talents," the obit said. "He was truly a friend in every sense of the word. He had many friends and was an influence for good."
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.
