Colleen Burns, a 35-year-old marketing executive for Yelp, was hiking in the Grand Canyon with friends when she fell and died on Friday.
According to the Associated Press, Burns was hiking on the South Kaibab Trail when she accidentally fell off the edge of Ooh Aah Point.
“She was stepping out of the way for another gentleman to kind of squeeze in, and unfortunately, Colleen kind of got tripped up on her own feet and fell backwards, fell into the canyon,” her friend Jessica Roman told WESH. “That was the longest, strangest, craziest two seconds of my life.”
Officials found Burns’ body 400 feet below.
She was the Southeast regional marketing director and had worked for Yelp since 2009 in a various other positions.
“We are deeply saddened by the death of Colleen Burns, a cherished Yelp colleague and friend,” the company said in a statement. “Colleen launched the Yelp community in Orlando nearly seven years ago. Her passing represents a tremendous loss to our company, the communities she supported and the many friends she made while doing what she loved. We are heartbroken but thankful to have been positively shaped by her passion and joy for life.”
Burns was great fan of the EDM DJ, Kaskade, who payed a tribute to her by posting a picture of the two of them on his Instagram page.
“Colleen showed up in my life before the tidal wave of support had hit,” Kaskade’s caption read. “And she always rose to the top of that wave.”