Cape Girardeau native dies during hiking trip in Mongolia

A 2003 Central High School graduate who was in the midst of an eight-week "externship" with the legal adviser to the president of Mongolia died on a hiking trip in one of the country's national parks, according to his father, Randy McLain of Cape Girardeau.

Randy McLain said Tuesday that his son, Colin McLain, 25, who left for Mongolia at the end of May, was reported missing over the weekend after he didn't return from a hiking trip at Bogdkhan National Park, south of the capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

Randy McLain said he received a phone call Sunday from a representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Mongolia who said Colin McLain had been missing for about 36 hours.

"They had been out searching for him, and they were getting ready to do it some more," Randy McLain said.

Tuesday morning he learned that searchers had found Colin McLain's body.

Although they have a lot of unanswered questions, the family does know that Colin McLain was hiking with another American. They had water, a map and all the supplies they needed, said Colin McLain's grandfather, Ivan McLain. The two stopped to camp the first night and when they were close to their destination the following day, Colin McLain stopped to rest. He reportedly told the other American to continue without him and that he'd catch up.

"The other guy went on," Ivan McLain said. "He assumed Colin made it out. ... He didn't report him missing for 36 hours."

Colin McLain was due to return to the United States in August.

Randy McLain said he remembers talking to his son last week and that he was doing well.

"The government is taking care of things over there. We're kind of in the dark," Randy McLain said.

In a conversation with the Embassy on Tuesday night, Randy McLain was told investigators in his son's case were still waiting on autopsy results for the cause of death.

Colin McLain wrote a blog for the Southeast Missourian website about his externship in Mongolia. He took the opportunity to get extra course credits at the law school he was attending in Washington, D.C.

He began studying law at American University in 2009.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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