Authorities on Tuesday positively identified the body of a man who was found dead last weekend near another man’s abandoned vehicle.

Michael DeCoteau, 29, of Wenatchee, Wash., was found “stuffed into a culvert” with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the San Juan County (N.M.) Sheriff’s Office.

DeCoteau was friends with Irvin Rangel, 22, a former Durango man who has been missing since Jan. 24, when he was last seen leaving Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort.

His black 2001 Lincoln Navigator was found at noon Jan. 29 about four miles south of Farmington at Head Canyon, east of milepost 102 on New Mexico Highway 371.

A car door was open and a “significant” amount of blood was found inside the vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

A search was conducted of the area, but detectives were unable to locate anything of value.

Detectives learned that Rangel had traveled to Washington and returned with DeCoteau in the first or second week of December. The two men were staying together with a few other people at a home in Farmington, according to the news release.

Detectives contacted DeCoteau’s family and learned he also had not been heard from since Jan. 24.

Rangel’s family conducted an expanded search of the area on Feb. 4 where the vehicle had been found. They found DeCoteau’s body in a culvert with multiple gunshot wounds, the release says.

A medical examiner confirmed the body was that of DeCoteau.

Rangel remains missing.

He lived in Durango for about 11 years before moving about six months ago to New Mexico, his family said.

The family is offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to the Rangel’s whereabouts.

shane@durangoherald.com