Found Deceased AK - Jaxson Brown, 5, hiking w/mom, Ketchikan, 26 Mar 2020

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize she left him while he was sleeping. That poor baby must have been terrified. What did she think would happen when he woke up?! Did she think he was just going to sit there and wait and not go looking for her?

Oh no ... he was asleep!? That’s not good. They had always made it sound like the little boy absolutely refused to go with his mom, which, to be completely honest, just didn’t sound right to me. He was five, not fifteen. Every single five-year-old I’ve known (and my own two) would have gone with their mom under the circumstances.

I am going to try to find the article everyone is talking about. But when this first happened, wasn’t it said that the mom was found with a badly broken leg or foot? I remember thinking at the time maybe she didn’t intend for herself or Jaxson to return from the hike alive. Perhaps she assumed that they both would die of hypothermia, and when he did but she didn’t, she jumped off the top of a cliff or something, and when that did not kill her but left her with a badly injured leg, she had no choice but to wait for help to arrive ...?

So sad for little Jaxson .

 

[Marg from Oz]

Oh no ... he was asleep!? That’s not good. They had always made it sound like the little boy absolutely refused to go with his mom, which, to be completely honest, just didn’t sound right to me. He was five, not fifteen. Every single five-year-old I’ve known (and my own two) would have gone with their mom under the circumstances.

I am going to try to find the article everyone is talking about. But when this first happened, wasn’t it said that the mom was found with a badly broken leg or foot? I remember thinking at the time maybe she didn’t intend for herself or Jaxson to return from the hike alive. Perhaps she assumed that they both would die of hypothermia, and when he did but she didn’t, she jumped off the top of a cliff or something, and when that did not kill her but left her with a badly injured leg, she had no choice but to wait for help to arrive ...?

So sad for little Jaxson .

That is an interesting scenario.

 

[Marg from Oz]

^^^^^
This is an interesting g scenario.

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

Poor Jaxson. Still sitting on my hands.

 

[Ninja Bunny]

I am not a local but I worked a summer in Ketchikan. I arrived the first week of April and a few things I learned of the area:

• The weather that time of year is very stormy. You can get high winds and a heavy down pour at anytime.
• The town this time of the year is dead because there are no cruise ships coming in so no business for the town. Locals pretty much stay home anyway except for essential business so the quarantine really doesn't change their life much with the exception of school closing down.
• When you arrive in Ketchikan and you go inland you start to go up in elevation quickly and go far enough you can run into deep snow even in April.
• I have never taken Lunch Creek Trail but I have been to Settler's Cove which the farthest north you can drive a car. The entire road from St. George's Inlet in the south to Settler's Cove in the north is about 30 miles.

Any local would know that as you go farther inland you run into deep snow and there is no way she didn't know that. I am not sure if she planned to leave him there or she wasn't very bright but she made foolish choice after foolish choice on the day of the hike.

This. My mother was from Ketchikan and I’ve spent a lot of time up there. As they say, the town is 10 miles long, two blocks wide, and 18 inches deep. As soon as you get off the boat or seaplane, you go UP. Our friends had a cabin on the far side where they spent the summer to escape from the bloated cruise ships and the tourists.

There was no way me, my mom, or our family would go hiking in the hills anytime except summer. Even so, we got fogged in one time while hiking up Deer Mountain and Mom insisted we turn back because there was a saddleback farther up she didn’t want to fall off of in low visibility. This was in July.

Hiking in the snow with a 5-year-old in March when it’s windy, wet, sloppy, cold, remote, and just a few hours before nightfall? Nope, not done.

 

[Subiechik21]

This. My mother was from Ketchikan and I’ve spent a lot of time up there. As they say, the town is 10 miles long, two blocks wide, and 18 inches deep. As soon as you get off the boat or seaplane, you go UP. Our friends had a cabin on the far side where they spent the summer to escape from the bloated cruise ships and the tourists.

There was no way me, my mom, or our family would go hiking in the hills anytime except summer. Even so, we got fogged in one time while hiking up Deer Mountain and Mom insisted we turn back because there was a saddleback farther up she didn’t want to fall off of in low visibility. This was in July.

Hiking in the snow with a 5-year-old in March when it’s windy, wet, sloppy, cold, remote, and just a few hours before nightfall? Nope, not done.

Thank you @Ninja Bunny & @ColyH for sharing your first-hand knowledge & experience, it is greatly appreciated. My husband lived in Ketchikan as well, but he was very young & doesn't remember much about it. I just wish they would look a little further into the circumstances, but most of the evidence (if there is any) is probably gone by now.

 

[Ninja Bunny]

Thank you @Ninja Bunny & @ColyH for sharing your first-hand knowledge & experience, it is greatly appreciated. My husband lived in Ketchikan as well, but he was very young & doesn't remember much about it. I just wish they would look a little further into the circumstances, but most of the evidence (if there is any) is probably gone by now.

You’re welcome. Alaska is a huge state with multiple climates, Ketchikan is in southeastern AK which is similar to Seattle or Vancouver BC, just more of it. More rain (LOTS more), more snow, longer days in the summer, longer nights in the winter, more dense forest, more wildlife, the fishing is fantastic.

My parents (Dad lived in Fairbanks for a couple of years) drilled into my head to always keep an emergency kit packed in the car. Not just the usual rope, jumper cables, spare tire & jack, chains, etc, but also snow pants, jacket, longjohns, warm sweater & shirts, hat, ski gloves, socks, boots, blankets, towels, emergency food, water, fire kit, etc because five minutes away from town and you’re someplace remote. If you get stuck, cell coverage can be spotty and someone might not find you for a while, if ever. You really have to be prepared to take care of yourself. Even in southeastern AK the weather can turn on a dime and get bad very fast.

In one of the AK groups I belong to we constantly get posts from people in the lower 48 who get romantic notions about moving to a cabin up near the Yukon or some other sub-Arctic wilderness area and living off the land and ask us how to get started. We tell them, ugh, no, you will die. It’s much harder than it looks on TV and our SAR people have enough on their plate. Move to Anchorage or Fairbanks and live in an Alaskan city for a year to figure out if you even like the state first. Most of them don’t even make it that far before giving up.

 

[roche.analisa]

To get a sense of what it's like to live in a remote area of Alaska, read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. As a bonus, it's a fantastic story.

 

[Tealgrove]

Poor Jaxson. Still sitting on my hands.

Yup - me too but just barely.

 

[ColyH]

You’re welcome. Alaska is a huge state with multiple climates, Ketchikan is in southeastern AK which is similar to Seattle or Vancouver BC, just more of it. More rain (LOTS more), more snow, longer days in the summer, longer nights in the winter, more dense forest, more wildlife, the fishing is fantastic.

My parents (Dad lived in Fairbanks for a couple of years) drilled into my head to always keep an emergency kit packed in the car. Not just the usual rope, jumper cables, spare tire & jack, chains, etc, but also snow pants, jacket, longjohns, warm sweater & shirts, hat, ski gloves, socks, boots, blankets, towels, emergency food, water, fire kit, etc because five minutes away from town and you’re someplace remote. If you get stuck, cell coverage can be spotty and someone might not find you for a while, if ever. You really have to be prepared to take care of yourself. Even in southeastern AK the weather can turn on a dime and get bad very fast.

In one of the AK groups I belong to we constantly get posts from people in the lower 48 who get romantic notions about moving to a cabin up near the Yukon or some other sub-Arctic wilderness area and living off the land and ask us how to get started. We tell them, ugh, no, you will die. It’s much harder than it looks on TV and our SAR people have enough on their plate. Move to Anchorage or Fairbanks and live in an Alaskan city for a year to figure out if you even like the state first. Most of them don’t even make it that far before giving up.

For people thinking that living in the Alaskan wilderness is living the dream just google the name Chris McCandless and see that it can turn into a horror show.

 

[moody_chicago]

Can’t believe she didn’t even bring snacks. I was angry before but now I’m lividdddd

 

[kelsie]

Sounds like a suicide mission to me... JMO

 

[Dre]

Sounds like a suicide mission to me... JMO

what made her go for help instead do you think?

 

[moody_chicago]

what made her go for help instead do you think?

She could have changed her mind last minute. It’s like when people take a bunch of pills and have a realization, regretting the decision and end up dialing 911
Jmo

 

[Dre]

She could have changed her mind last minute. It’s like when people take a bunch of pills and have a realization, regretting the decision and end up dialing 911
Jmo

Totally, I’ve read before that those who survive suicide often reflect in the split second before that they don’t want to die anymore, which makes their survival a wonderful miracle. Just didn’t know if @kelsie had a particular reason for that inkling.

personally, I think this was a homicide mission and she thought that the leg break might help to perceive this all as a horrible tragedy due to the conditions and not the situation she put them in. Moo

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Sounds like a suicide mission to me... JMO

what made her go for help instead do you think?

Totally, I’ve read before that those who survive suicide often reflect in the split second before that they don’t want to die anymore, which makes their survival a wonderful miracle. Just didn’t know if @kelsie had a particular reason for that inkling.

personally, I think this was a homicide mission and she thought that the leg break might help to perceive this all as a horrible tragedy due to the conditions and not the situation she put them in. Moo

That is certainly a plausible theory, Dre.

If she meant for both of them to die the first night (this was the first scenario that went through my head when I heard the story; I’m sorry, but what she supposedly told LE still does not make sense to me personally) from hypothermia but she woke up the next morning only to find him deceased, and so she decided to try another method, such as jumping off the top of a waterfall and injured her leg badly enough she couldn’t even walk, she might not have been actively looking for help at that point. She still might have been wanting to end her life, but it would have been pretty hard to do if her leg injury was serious enough, IMO.

Nonetheless, “on “3-27-2020 at approximately 1036 hours, [Alaska State Troopers] received a request to help search for a woman and a five-year child, identified as Jaxson Brown” and “[a] search was initiated and the woman was located alone approximately three miles up the trail with significant injuries to her leg.”
https://dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov/Home/Display?dateReceived=3/28/2020 12:00:00 AM

Additional interesting (IMO) information/ Refresher:
1. According to the AST, “In her rush to find help, Treat reportedly tripped on a root and significantly injured her leg.”
https://dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov/Home/Display?dateReceived=3/28/2020 12:00:00 AM

2. “The trail ranged from improved walkways and boardwalks to hard-to-traverse areas with mud in some places and snow waist-deep in others, said Jerry Kiffer, Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad incident commander.” (BBM)

“Treat and her son began hiking the trail Wednesday afternoon and didn’t intend to stay the night. But troopers said they ‘became disoriented and lost the trail.’”

“Searchers found Treat Friday afternoon, and took her off the trail by a helicopter.”

“The boy’s body was found later Saturday further up the trail from where his mother was rescued, troopers said.

Temperatures in the low 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) Wednesday evening dipped to lower overnight. Light rain, fog and mist persisted from Thursday through Saturday.” (BBM)
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...om-left-him-on-trail-to-seek-help?context=amp

“The boy’s body was found later Saturday about 1,000 feet (300 metres) off the trail, troopers said.”
Boy, 5, found dead after mom left him on trail to seek help - NEWS 1130

 

[Catmommy]

This story still makes me physically sick. That poor baby, all alone.

 

[moody_chicago]

That is certainly a plausible theory, Dre.

If she meant for both of them to die the first night (this was the first scenario that went through my head when I heard the story; I’m sorry, but what she supposedly told LE still does not make sense to me personally) from hypothermia but she woke up the next morning only to find him deceased, and so she decided to try another method, such as jumping off the top of a waterfall and injured her leg badly enough she couldn’t even walk, she might not have been actively looking for help at that point. She still might have been wanting to end her life, but it would have been pretty hard to do if her leg injury was serious enough, IMO.

Nonetheless, “on “3-27-2020 at approximately 1036 hours, [Alaska State Troopers] received a request to help search for a woman and a five-year child, identified as Jaxson Brown” and “[a] search was initiated and the woman was located alone approximately three miles up the trail with significant injuries to her leg.”
https://dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov/Home/Display?dateReceived=3/28/2020 12:00:00 AM

Additional interesting (IMO) information/ Refresher:
1. According to the AST, “In her rush to find help, Treat reportedly tripped on a root and significantly injured her leg.”
https://dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov/Home/Display?dateReceived=3/28/2020 12:00:00 AM

2. “The trail ranged from improved walkways and boardwalks to hard-to-traverse areas with mud in some places and snow waist-deep in others, said Jerry Kiffer, Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad incident commander.” (BBM)

“Treat and her son began hiking the trail Wednesday afternoon and didn’t intend to stay the night. But troopers said they ‘became disoriented and lost the trail.’”

“Searchers found Treat Friday afternoon, and took her off the trail by a helicopter.”

“The boy’s body was found later Saturday further up the trail from where his mother was rescued, troopers said.

Temperatures in the low 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) Wednesday evening dipped to lower overnight. Light rain, fog and mist persisted from Thursday through Saturday.” (BBM)
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...om-left-him-on-trail-to-seek-help?context=amp

“The boy’s body was found later Saturday about 1,000 feet (300 metres) off the trail, troopers said.”
Boy, 5, found dead after mom left him on trail to seek help - NEWS 1130

The jumping theory is brilliant!

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

The jumping theory is brilliant!

Thank you. Wherever the truth lies, this boy should be alive today. Every time I think of him, I just feel like crying. He was five years old, not five months. He must have been cold, hungry, scared and just wanted to go home.

I know the AST said that they “became disoriented and lost the trail,” but, still the fact that Jaxon’s “body was found ... about 1,000 feet (300 metres) off the trail” just ... makes my head hurt.

I have additional thoughts as to why, or what might have lead to this chain of events, but I started to talk about some of them when this first happened and had a couple of posts deleted. I’m still looking for the newly published article, and when I do, depending upon what it talks about, I would like to share those thoughts with everyone.

 

[moody_chicago]

Thank you. Wherever the truth lies, this boy should be alive today. Every time I think of him, I just feel like crying. He was five years old, not five months. He must have been cold, hungry, scared and just wanted to go home.

I know the AST said that they “became disoriented and lost the trail,” but, still the fact that Jaxon’s “body was found ... about 1,000 feet (300 metres) off the trail” just ... makes my head hurt.

I have additional thoughts as to why, or what might have lead to this chain of events, but I started to talk about some of them when this first happened and had a couple of posts deleted. I’m still looking for the newly published article, and when I do, depending upon what it talks about, I would like to share those thoughts with everyone.

I agree with this all