November 27th 2025.
Micah Smith, a 31-year-old father, has been arrested and charged with torture and abuse after subjecting his three children to emotional and psychological harm during a grueling hike. The family had embarked on a hike through the Broads Fork Trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, with the children aged two, four, and eight.
After eight hours of hiking, they reached the summit at 11,330 feet, but then disappeared, prompting a search to be launched. They were eventually found the next day, suffering from severe frostbite and near-death after being caught in a rain and hailstorm. The two-year-old had fallen and hit his head on nearby rocks during the ordeal.
Following the traumatic event, a GoFundMe page was set up claiming that Smith had tried to sacrifice himself by lying on top of the children to keep them warm. However, the police have since revealed that it was his fault from the beginning and he is now being held without bond, facing federal charges.
Two of the children were in critical condition, including the four-year-old boy who had no pulse when he was found. He required 25 minutes of CPR before being resuscitated, with his body temperature plummeting to a freezing 62.6 degrees. The eight-year-old girl, on the other hand, was found in a stable condition but still traumatized by the experience.
According to police, Smith initially claimed that he had performed CPR on his toddler when he lost consciousness, but then proceeded to descend the mountain alone. In a disturbing clip found on his phone, his eight-year-old daughter can be heard asking if they were going to freeze to death, to which he responded that they were almost at the top.
It has also been revealed that the children had expressed fears about the hike before setting off, which their father chose to ignore. The Salt Lake City District Attorney has described the incident as a case of emotional and psychological harm caused by Smith's depraved actions.
Smith and his partner, Samantha, have three children together. According to documents seen by local news station FOX 14, the children may never fully recover from the traumatic experience. As a result of his actions, Smith was banned from visiting his critically ill son in the hospital for tampering with equipment. He has been charged with three counts of child torture and three counts of aggravated assault and is currently in custody without bond.
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