Authorities in Colorado have identified a body as a Blount County man who went missing last June.

Eric Ashby was swept away while rafting on the Arkansas River in late June 2017. He was raised in Blount County, and has just moved to Colorado in 2016, according to his family.

The Fremont County (Colorado) Sheriff's Office conducted searches for Ashby after he went missing on June 28.



This is the photo of Eric Ashby from a Change.org petition. Family and friends of Ashby are writing a "duty to report" law after Ashby disappeared in a rafting accident in Colorado this summer. 
Family members and friends have said Ashby was searching for the Forrest Fen treasure — a box purportedly filled with gold and jewels worth $2 million that was hidden by a wealthy art dealer.

MORE: Family, friends of missing Blount Co. man push for 'duty to report' law in his honor

A body believed to be Ashby was found on July 28, 2017, and after an autopsy, DNA samples were sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to be compared to DNA from Eric's father, according to the Fremont County Coroner's Office.

The coroner's office said they just received the DNA report on Friday, which positively identified the body as Ashby.

Ashby's family and friends have been working to pass "Eric's Law" — a duty to report law — in Tennessee and Colorado. They say a witness called 911 after Eric was swept away on the river, but the friends he was with did not.