By Boreal Community Media and the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office - June 3, 2024


After spending over two weeks of searching, the body of the second missing canoeist has been located by the St. Louis County Rescue Squad and Sheriff's Office. 

Shortly after 10:00 a.m. this morning the body of Reis Melvin Grams, age 40, of Lino Lakes, MN was located just west of Curtain Falls, and was flown by plane to the Ely Sea Plane Base, Ely, MN.  

The first missing canoeist, Jesse Melvin Haugen, Age 41, of Cambridge, MN, was located on May 31.

Both Grams and Haugen went missing on May 18, after their canoe went over Curtain Falls in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness while fishing. Two people, Kyle Thomas Sellers, 47, from Ham Lake, and Erik Michael Grams, 43, from Ham Lake, also went over the falls in their canoe but were found and rescued. Sellers was airlifted to a hospital in Duluth with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A fifth person, Jared Jay Lohse, 33, from Cambridge, MN, was with one of the groups but not involved in the incident. Multiple sources report that the group was anchored at the top of the falls, and were familiar with the area. 

Bad weather, low cloud cover, and high water levels hindered search efforts since the two canoeists went missing. The Minnesota National Guard also assisted in the search efforts after being authorized by Minnesota Governor Walz.