MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. — An armed Iraq War veteran suspected of killing a Mount Rainier National Park ranger managed to evade snowshoe-wearing SWAT teams and dogs on his trail for nearly a day. He couldn’t, however, escape the cold.

A crew searching by plane in the remote wilderness Monday discovered the body of Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, lying partially submerged in an icy mountain creek with snow banks standing several feet high on either side.

Additional Photos

Benjamin Colton Barnes poses with weapons in an undated photo. He had been depressed since returning from the Iraq War, the mother of his toddler said. AP/Pierce County Sheriff’s Department

Ranger Margaret Anderson, 34, was fatally shot Sunday at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state. Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson, a mother of two young girls who was married to another Rainier ranger, had served as a park ranger for about four years. AP/National Park Service

“He was wearing a T-shirt, a pair of jeans and one tennis shoe. That was it,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.

Barnes did not have any external wounds and appears to have died from the elements, Troyer said. A medical examiner was at the scene to determine the cause of death. Troyer said two weapons were recovered, but he declined to say where they were located.

According to police and court documents, Barnes had a troubled transition to civilian life. The mother of his toddler daughter sought a temporary restraining order against him.

She alleged that he got easily irritated, angry and depressed and kept an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child’s safety. Undated photos provided by police showed a shirtless, tattooed Barnes brandishing two large weapons.

The woman told authorities that Barnes was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008, and that he had once sent her a text message saying, “I want to die.”

In November 2011, a guardian ad litem recommended parenting and communication classes for both parents as well as a visitation schedule for Barnes until he completed evaluations for domestic violence and mental health and complied with treatment recommendations.

Maj. Chris Ophardt, an Army spokesman, told The News Tribune that Barnes had been stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma. He was released from the Army in November 2009 after two years and seven months on active duty following charges of driving under the influence and improperly transporting privately owned weapons.

Steven Dean, FBI special agent, said Barnes worked in communications while in the Army

Barnes is believed to have fled to the remote park on Sunday to hide after an earlier shooting at a New Year’s house party near Seattle that wounded four, two critically. Authorities suspect he then fatally shot ranger Margaret Anderson.

PARK VISITORS EVACUATED

Immediately after the park shooting, police cleared visitors out of Mount Rainier and mounted a manhunt.

Fear that tourists could be caught in the crossfire in a shootout with Barnes prompted officials to hold more than a 100 people at the visitor center before evacuating them in the middle of the night.

Late Sunday, police said Barnes was a suspect in another shooting incident.

On New Year’s, there was an argument at a house party in Skyway, south of Seattle, and gunfire erupted, police said. Barnes was connected to the shooting, said Sgt. Cindi West, King County sheriff’s spokeswoman.

Police believe Barnes headed to the remote park wilderness to “hide out” after the Skyway shooting.

“The speculation is that he may have come up here, specifically for that reason, to get away,” parks spokesman Kevin Bacher told reporters early Monday. “The speculation is he threw some stuff in the car and headed up here to hide out.”

Anderson had set up a roadblock Sunday morning to stop a man who had blown through a checkpoint that rangers use to check if vehicles have tire chains for winter conditions. A gunman opened fire on her before she was able to exit her vehicle, authorities said.

Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.

Anderson would have been armed, because she was one of the rangers tasked with law enforcement, Bacher said.

Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls who was married to another Rainier ranger, had served as a park ranger for about four years.

King said Anderson’s husband was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.

GUNS-IN-PARKS CHANGE CRITICIZED

The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal for people to take loaded weapons into national parks. The 2010 law made possession of firearms subject to state gun laws.

Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision.

“The many congressmen and senators that voted for the legislation that allowed loaded weapons to be brought into the parks ought to be feeling pretty bad right now,” Wade said.

Wade called Sunday’s fatal shooting a tragedy that could have been prevented. He hopes Congress will reconsider the law that took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today’s political climate.

Calls and emails to the National Rifle Association requesting comment were not immediately returned Monday.

Media fears of gun violence in parks were unlikely to be realized, the NRA wrote in a statement about the law after it went into effect. “The new law affects firearms possession, not use,” it said.

The group pushed for the law, saying people have a right to defend themselves against park animals and sometimes people.

King said the park will remain closed today as the investigation continues and the rangers grieve the loss of their colleague.

“We have been through a horrific experience,” King said. “We’re going to need a little time to regroup.”

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