UPDATE 12/21/25 at 6:40 p.m. ET — On December 20, the Inyo County Coroner’s Office confirmed that the body discovered on Mount Whitney belonged to Joseph Brambila, as noted in a press release acquired by Us Weekly.

“The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to Mr. Brambila’s family and friends and is grateful for the public’s patience and support during this challenging recovery mission,” the statement conveyed.

Original story below:

A body has been located on California’s Mount Whitney amid the ongoing search for the missing hiking YouTuber, Joseph Brambila, who vanished last month.

“On November 12, 2025, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to a potential deceased person on Mt. Whitney,” reported the Sheriff’s Office in a press statement released on Monday, December 15. “The remote, dangerous terrain combined with multiple storms that followed complicated the recovery efforts, necessitating weeks of meticulous planning and coordination.”

The release, which was shared via Facebook, noted that the “deceased individual was successfully recovered” on Monday after “multiple helicopter-assisted and ground operations.”

“Formal identification is pending with the Inyo County Coroner’s Office. We will release further information as it becomes available,” the statement read. “While identification is pending, we recognize the difficulty of this situation and extend our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.”

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The release continued, “The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office is aware that the public knows of the reported missing person in the area. Still, we caution anyone from making conclusions until positive identification is made.”

Brambila, who turned 21 days before he went missing in November, was reported missing by his family after they did not hear from him. His friend Luis Buenrostro told The Los Angeles Times that he last saw Brambila at Trail Crest in Mount Whitney, where the YouTuber had previously filmed a video in June.

He has not been found since he filmed a YouTube video on the mountain in November and said he would be taking a “short cut” on the way back, per the outlet

The outlet reported that Brambila had previously posted a video of himself sliding down Mount Whitney in June by way of the “glissade” — a maneuver that requires the use of an ice pick and a helmet. When Brambila returned to Mount Whitney on November 11, the outlet noted that the weather conditions can change without warning.

UPDATE 9/15/25 at 11:02 a.m. ET — Influencer Marian Izaguirre has reportedly died at age 23 after being hospitalized in Morelia, Mexico. Local outlet El Financiero reported that the Michoacán attorney general’s office confirmed Izaguirre’s death on September 12. The statement shared that fatal health complications led to her becoming brain-dead in the hospital. Original […]

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told People in a statement on Wednesday, December 17, that Brambila’s family was present during the recovery process but did not view the body of the deceased. The family was informed of the clothing worn by the individual, but “clothing alone is not considered a legal or positive means of identification,” the spokesperson noted.

Us Weekly reached out to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

As the search for Brambila continues, his girlfriend, Darlene Molina, told SFGate that he was prepared hiker.

“He loves disconnecting from the world and spending time with himself in nature,” Molina told the outlet earlier this month. “He has told his friends that he’ll turn his phone off during hikes but is always recording and talking to himself for vlogs.”

Molina noted that Brambila “wasn’t afraid to turn around if he got to a spot he couldn’t handle,” noting that he hiked halfway up Yosemite’s Half Dome before turning around. Molina added that she felt “helpless” amid the search for Brambila.