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Hikers Steve and Natalie Brody went missing while hiking in Alaska’s Denali National Park in 2017, and their bodies were found in a glacier crevasse six years later.
In summer 2025, Facebook users and YouTube channels shared a story (archived) claiming that the bodies of Steve and Natalie Brody, two hikers who vanished in Alaska’s Denali National Park in 2017, were found six years later in a glacier crevasse.
According to Facebook posts sharing the alleged story, the pair vanished while on a remote trail in Alaska’s Denali National Park in July 2017. Days before the hikers’ “GPS beacon went dark,” they sent a final satellite message that read, “Reached the Tlat River. All good,” the posts claimed.
A search team later found the hikers’ tent in a valley, but their sleeping bags and hiking boots were missing, the posts said. Their disappearance “remained a mystery” for six years until climbers reportedly found their bodies frozen in a glacier crevasse in 2023, according the posts. The posts claimed the two were “dressed in oversized winter gear that didn’t match their original supplies.”
The posts continued:
The discovery raised disturbing questions. Steve had suffered a crushed wrist and a violently removed eye, while Natalie bore only minor bruises. Around her neck hung a Swedish passport belonging to Lars Anderson, a man who had vanished in Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park in 2009—with no known connection to the Brodys.
Theories swirled: Was it a bizarre encounter with a hermit? A case of foul play? Or something more inexplicable? Alaska State Police offered only minimal speculation, leaving the public to grapple with the eerie details.
The posts also included purported images of the hikers and their frozen bodies, as well as a photo of a mountain landscape.
(Ancient World on Facebook)
Multiple Snopes readers asked us to confirm whether the story was authentic.
However, the story was false. Federal and state officials told Snopes they did not have any record of such a missing-persons case and resulting death investigation.
“This is not a case that happened in Denali National Park and Preserve,” a spokesperson for the park told Snopes via email.
Likewise, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety said, “From my records search, Alaska State Troopers were not involved in a search and rescue or body recovery for anyone named Steve and Natalie Brody.”
A Google search also found no reputable news outlets reporting on the story, which would likely be the case if the rumor were true.
Examining images used in posts, YouTube videos
An examination of photos included in Facebook posts and YouTube videos sharing the false story indicated that some were likely created with the help of artificial-intelligence software.
For example, the AI-detection platform Sightengine estimated a 99% probability that the photo claiming to show the hikers was a deepfake, or an image that was generated or heavily edited using AI. Hive, another AI-detection platform, also flagged the image as likely containing “AI-generated or deepfake content.”
Reverse image searches did not return any credible matches for the photo, further suggesting that it was created with the help of AI.
(Sightengine AI-detection platform)
It was not entirely clear whether the purported photo of the frozen bodies used in the Facebook posts was AI-generated, as detection platforms provided differing responses. However, a reverse image search also failed to return any credible matches for the image.
A reverse image search of the mountain landscape photo led us to a stock video on the website Shutterstock (archived). Whoever created the image appeared to have taken a screenshot from the video and added a red arrow.
The Facebook posts appeared to have been an adaptation of lengthier fake stories about Steve and Natalie Brody that were first shared on YouTube (archived here and here).
Another purported image of the pair used in one of the YouTube videos (archived) probably contained AI-generated or deepfake content, Hive found. Sightengine also estimated a 99% probability that the image was AI-generated.
(Hive AI Detector)
The voices in the YouTube videos also displayed telltale signs of AI-generated audio, such as unnatural breathing patterns and robotic intonation.
For further reading, we looked into a story that spread online about a Colorado couple who were found dead in a uranium mine.
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Megan Loe
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