Ian Stasko’s mother says her son had a “gentle soul” and a “fearless” love of adventure.

Three weeks after a 25-year-old hunter and his friend were killed by a lightning strike in the southern Colorado wilderness, his grieving mother is opening up about her last moments with her son — and how she endured the agonizing, days-long search that ended in heartbreak.

“Spiritually, I believe that there’s a reason that things happen,” Michelle Sirch tells [outlet name] following the death of her son, Ian Stasko, and his close friend Andrew Porter, both 25. The two young men were missing for days before their bodies were discovered on Sept. 18 in the Rio Grande National Forest.

“I have wondered if his soul felt like, ‘I don’t think I can do the changes that I’m here to do while I’m in this body,’” adds Sirch, a 64-year-old outpatient therapist from Virginia.

Stasko, she says, was an avid outdoorsman who felt a deep connection to nature. He discovered his passion for hunting through Porter, a childhood friend he’d known since their Little League Baseball days.

Both experienced hunters, the pair were in the San Juan Wilderness when they lost contact. Porter had been checking in with his fiancée, Bridget Murphy, every few hours until Sept. 11, when she received his final message via satellite device, Murphy previously told The Colorado Sun.

By Sept. 13, deputies from the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Rio de Los Pinos Trailhead after reports that the two men were overdue. According to officials, they had “failed to check in with loved ones at a predetermined time.”

A massive search effort was launched, involving more than 170 people — including ground teams, aerial support, horseback units, and canine teams. Early in the search, investigators located the men’s vehicle at the trailhead, with their backpacks and camping gear still inside. The discovery raised serious concerns, especially given the “heavy rain and bad weather,” according to the sheriff’s office.

By Sept. 14, Sirch received a phone call from Porter’s mother, delivering the news that the two 25-year-olds were missing.

“I was terrified,” she recalls. The distraught mother immediately booked a flight from Virginia to Colorado — a grueling trip that took three separate flights and several sleepless nights.

“I cried through all three flights,” Sirch remembers. “It was endless hours of travel, little to no rest, and an overwhelming sense of dread. But I had to get there. I had to be close to where he was.”

Ian Stasko and Andrew Porter.
GoFundMe

She arrived on Sept. 16, where she was met by other friends and family members anxiously waiting for news. Ian’s 20-year-old sister, Dylan Stasko, also flew in so she could be there as search and rescue teams continued to scour the wilderness for her brother.

“For the next three days, that’s where we were,” Sirch recalls. Officials, however, did not permit family members to join the search due to safety concerns. As they waited, they witnessed firsthand how unpredictable and unforgiving the mountain weather could be.

“It would be beautiful and warm one minute,” remembers Sirch. “Then this wind that was really cold would just come from nowhere.” Her fear never subsided — from the moment she received that first devastating phone call to the day her son and Porter were found on Sept. 18.

Officials announced that the bodies of both men were discovered about two miles from the Rio de Los Pinos Trailhead. Four days later, Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin confirmed that the pair had died after being struck by lightning. Their injuries, he said, were consistent with “a pretty intense electrical jolt.”

Sirch later learned from investigators that based on the positioning of their bodies, the two friends had likely been making their way back to the car as the weather began to worsen.

“They took a step, and lightning just hit at that moment, in that spot,” Sirch says softly. “The coroner said it was ‘instantaneous,’ which is one way to make peace — knowing that he did not suffer.”

As she grieves her kind and gentle son — a young man with what she calls a “gentle soul” and a “fearless love of adventure” — Sirch finds comfort in the last days they spent together earlier this year. In January, she and Dylan had been in a car accident, and as she recovered from her injuries, Ian moved back home to help care for her.

“That was lovely,” says Sirch. “I was home recovering, so we were able to have talks about metaphysical things, spiritual things, the world.”

Ian Stasko.
Courtesy of Michelle Sirch

Ian, who was working as a tree climber, had dreams of one day starting his own business. His mother says he deeply understood “our interconnectedness both with one another and with nature,” and carried a profound desire to “change the world.”

Sirch says she hopes to publish her son’s writings someday — reflections that capture his thoughtful spirit and his belief in humanity’s bond with the natural world.

For now, she and her daughter are preparing to attend Andrew Porter’s funeral on Sunday, Oct. 5, in Earlysville, Va. Later this year, she plans to hold a celebration of life in Ian’s honor.

“My life will be forever changed without you,” Dylan wrote in a heartfelt tribute on Instagram on Sept. 22. “I promise to keep living each and every day for the both of us and continue your goal of changing the world.”

At the end of her emotional message, Dylan added a final note to her brother — one that reflects the adventurous spirit he was known for:

“You always loved adventures,” she wrote. “And I know that death will be the greatest adventure of them all.”