CA - Jonathan Gerrish, Ellen Chung, daughter, 1 & dog, suspicious death hiking area, Aug 2021 #2

[annpats]

It is possible to hike in 100+ degree temps. You need lots of water, a head covering, cool rags and lots of breaks.

But why even do it? Just wait until it's cooler. Hiking is 100°F/38°C temperatures is foolhardy, even with lots of water, cool rags and many breaks. It sounds like torture, not something that is supposed to be enjoyable. People need to respect their bodies and the dangers of heat more.

 

[Deleted member 292879]

Sorry for repeating this (I mentioned once many pages ago), but one-year-old babies nap two or even three times a day. It’s conceivable that they thought Miju could take at least one nap on the trail and the other(s) at home. This also may have affected when they left their house, if they ended up having her nap once before they left. Just something to factor in as we scratch our heads over the potential timeline/departure time.

 

[GatorFL]

But why even do it? Just wait until it's cooler. Hiking is 100°F/38°C temperatures is foolhardy, even with lots of water, cool rags and many breaks. It sounds like torture, not something that is supposed to be enjoyable. People need to respect their bodies and the dangers of heat more.

Lots of reasons. The love of the trail. Conditioning. Meeting others. Experiencing something new. Research.

Bottom line, it can be done safely, if you know what you're doing.

 

[whirrledpeas]

pathophysiology of heat-related illness and death :: www.forensicmed.co.uk

This is interesting, there really isn't any way to determine death by heat stroke by an autopsy.

Respectfully, this isn’t the case.

“The non-specific post-mortem findings in cases of fatal heatstroke include: pulmonary and cerebral oedema, necrosis of the liver, neuronal degeneration of the brain, rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of muscle), tubular casts in the kidneys and signs of disseminated intravascular coagulation” etc.

Non-specific findings post mortem means the aforementioned symptoms can be found in people who died of heat stroke but also in other causes of death. This means toxicology is usually needed when it is not clear what a person died of, even though there is evidence present of the above.

But for these autopsies, the coroner did not mention any findings that could be linked to a possible cause of death, which leads me to believe that the above non-specific findings weren’t even there.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

If the family had been two people over 60, I'm sure LE would have assumed heat-related deaths. This family does not present as foolhardy hikers -- all you have to do is read through these 500 comments where we've tried to find reasons or explanations other than the obvious. (at least no one said, "aliens.") IMHO, this is the new face of spring and summer hiking in the American West.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

. . .but for these autopsies, the coroner did not mention any findings that could be linked to a possible cause of death, which leads me to believe that the above non-specific findings weren’t even there.

It is my understanding that the evidence of heat-related death could also be attributable to other causes. Therefore, the signs can be there but do not automatically prove heat. It would seem untoward for LE to announce inconclusive evidence until all the testing is in and a reasonable conclusion (or process of elimination) can be made. I totally defer to your experience in this science, @whirrledpeas. My experience is in human nature and false assumptions. Thank goodness for science!

 

[whirrledpeas]

It is my understanding that the evidence of heat-related death could also be attributable to other causes. Therefore, the signs can be there but do not automatically prove heat. It would seem untoward for LE to announce inconclusive evidence until all the testing is in and a reasonable conclusion (or process of elimination) can be made. I totally defer to your experience in this science, @whirrledpeas. My experience is in human nature and false assumptions. Thank goodness for science!

To be fair, I am no longer in the field and my expertise is not as prominent as someone who still is. I’m also not, nor ever was, a medical examiner (though I did sit in on two autopsies).

I 100% get what you’re saying. I just feel that the medical examiner would have found these things in at least one of them and put that in their column of possible causes. But it was released to the public that the autopsy revealed no answers to what could possibly have been the cause of death.

To me, I would think that if any of those things were present, the coroner would have released that information as a possible cause or at least one they would be considering. Hope this makes sense.

 

[d4i5y]

Hi all. Like many, I’ve become deeply invested in this case, mostly because it seems such an awful, unnecessary tragedy and because I’m hoping to hike in these areas when I visit the US (it looks like next year now). I signed up because I’ve been reading these threads with great interest, but one thing I wanted to add was looking at Ellen’s Instagram, she seems someone who spent almost every weekend (prior to the marriage and baby from what I can make out), hiking and spending time outdoors.

This reminds me a little of myself when I used to do running until I had to give up due to my back and knee. It’s hard to explain but I would feel terrible if I didn’t do my runs, especially on designated days (usually Saturday). So I’m wondering if both of them were avid hikers (her Instagram suggests they were very outdoors-y including glacier hikes in Iceland, etc) and so they were so keen to go hiking, they sort of dismissed the heat, elevation, and other potential issues. Both seemed very fit and healthy too so perhaps they thought they could cope with the hike and heat anyway.

I just wanted to add that, and I otherwise agree something happened either to the dog or baby and then perhaps not enough water, an ankle strain or pulled muscle, heat exhaustion, and then everything snowballed. Whatever happened, I just hope the family can find answers. My heart breaks for them all.

 

[happyday]

If the family had been two people over 60, I'm sure LE would have assumed heat-related deaths. This family does not present as foolhardy hikers -- all you have to do is read through these 500 comments where we've tried to find reasons or explanations other than the obvious. (at least no one said, "aliens.") IMHO, this is the new face of spring and summer hiking in the American West.

Sadly, I think you’re 100% right. We’ll probably start seeing a lot more of these kind of incidents.

 

[happyday]

To be fair, I am no longer in the field and my expertise is not as prominent as someone who still is. I’m also not, nor ever was, a medical examiner (though I did sit in on two autopsies).

I 100% get what you’re saying. I just feel that the medical examiner would have found these things in at least one of them and put that in their column of possible causes. But it was released to the public that the autopsy revealed no answers to what could possibly have been the cause of death.

To me, I would think that if any of those things were present, the coroner would have released that information as a possible cause or at least one they would be considering. Hope this makes sense.

Do you think toxicology will tell the story? I agree it’s weird they mentioned no signs of it being heat related after autopsy, but perhaps they don’t want to say anything until tox results come back?

 

[whirrledpeas]

Do you think toxicology will tell the story? I agree it’s weird they mentioned no signs of it being heat related after autopsy, but perhaps they don’t want to say anything until tox results come back?

Very likely. And even then, unless they find a poison or three very straight forward causes, they may have to piece it all together until it makes sense. Hopefully it’s clear when all of the tests come back.

 

[HawthorneJuniper]

I think that's the only thing that makes sense even though I'm not positive heat related reasons totally make sense. Just hard to imagine 2 adults, a toddler & a dog all died at approx the same time from the same cause.

These people were world travelers who had hiked in all kinds of conditions. They had been living in the area. But they had moved from San Francisco where it's much cooler. And this year, well, every year, is hotter & drier than the prior.

We were hiking on a trail on the other side of the road from Hites Cove/Savage Lundy along the main Merced this past April. We live in MA but go out west frequently. We turned back one day in April. It was so hot, no shade, so dry-it was actually unpleasant despite hiking along the river. There were algae signs up although there wasn't any then.

We also visited Yosemite. We even went to Glacier Point Rd which was an unexpected thrill as it had never opened this early. Bad news is it was open in April instead of June because the snowpack was so little thus increasing the overall dryness which resulted in the current fires which made me evacuate my 23 yr old son, who we had just moved out there, from the Dixie Fire.

So my Occam's Razor is heat. I also only heard about one water bladder. That doesn't sound right though so don't want to assume that's accurate. Experienced hikers don't "share" water. Every adult needs to carry adequate, meaning worst case adequate, water for themselves. At least I follow that scrupulously out west-much more so than back in New England. And these days it is literally a life & death thing. You dehydrate so quickly out west right now.

The current moisture levels out west are the lowest ever. EVERYTHING is dry and flammable. The conditions are oppressive even for seasoned professionals. They had to cancel the sheep count at Anza Borreago this year after one person died and another was hospitalized due to heat.

BIGHORN SHEEP COUNTER DIES IN ANZA-BORREGO DESERT, ANOTHER HOSPITALIZED; FIREFIGHTER COLLAPSES DURING RESCUE

Heat is what makes the most sense to me.

El Portal sits by the river in a canyon full of green trees, it's lovely there.
It's quite different than the barren, burned out landscape of Hites Cove and Devil's Gulch.
There shouldn't be any doubt it was heat stroke hot there.

 

[Sunny Day]

Yesterday the area where I live had an air temp. of 95 degrees and a heat index of 105 with humidity of 60%. I took the dog out for a minute to potty under a large shade tree in the back yard and it was unbearable after just a few minutes. My thoughts immediately went to this poor family in that heat for hours with no shade. So very sad.

 

[happyday]

I think that's the only thing that makes sense even though I'm not positive heat related reasons totally make sense. Just hard to imagine 2 adults, a toddler & a dog all died at approx the same time from the same cause.

These people were world travelers who had hiked in all kinds of conditions. They had been living in the area. But they had moved from San Francisco where it's much cooler. And this year, well, every year, is hotter & drier than the prior.

We were hiking on a trail on the other side of the road from Hites Cove/Savage Lundy along the main Merced this past April. We live in MA but go out west frequently. We turned back one day in April. It was so hot, no shade, so dry-it was actually unpleasant despite hiking along the river. There were algae signs up although there wasn't any then.

We also visited Yosemite. We even went to Glacier Point Rd which was an unexpected thrill as it had never opened this early. Bad news is it was open in April instead of June because the snowpack was so little thus increasing the overall dryness which resulted in the current fires which made me evacuate my 23 yr old son, who we had just moved out there, from the Dixie Fire.

So my Occam's Razor is heat. I also only heard about one water bladder. That doesn't sound right though so don't want to assume that's accurate. Experienced hikers don't "share" water. Every adult needs to carry adequate, meaning worst case adequate, water for themselves. At least I follow that scrupulously out west-much more so than back in New England. And these days it is literally a life & death thing. You dehydrate so quickly out west right now.

The current moisture levels out west are the lowest ever. EVERYTHING is dry and flammable. The conditions are oppressive even for seasoned professionals. They had to cancel the sheep count at Anza Borreago this year after one person died and another was hospitalized due to heat.

BIGHORN SHEEP COUNTER DIES IN ANZA-BORREGO DESERT, ANOTHER HOSPITALIZED; FIREFIGHTER COLLAPSES DURING RESCUE

Heat is what makes the most sense to me.

Welcome to WS!!

My Occam’s Razor is also heat. But I’ll admit it’s notable that LE has said there were no answers from the autopsies, saying nothing at all about possible signs that it was heatstroke. But I think it could be they’re waiting to get ALL the results back before putting it all together and saying things publicly.

 

[MissMYB]

RSBM

I'm not of the opinion that this case involves suicide, but -- I do think it's been mentioned that this is *not* usually such a quiet or unused trail, except during extreme heat (and also since the fire 3 years ago which took much of the shade and view).

Although these folks have only lived in the area for a year, they presumably know the area enough to have chosen it as where they want to live.

I believe I read that the father had a home there as early as 2016 (possibly a rental property) but that they just purchased this home recently. This would lead me to believe that he especially was familiar with this area.

Also, something I haven’t seen mentioned here but I never leave the house even for a walk without telling someone where I’m going, my general route and when I expect to return. If I’m not back in communication within an hour of my expected time, someone would alert authorities. This is what most responsible hikers would do. The only time I don’t do this is if I don’t want anyone to know where I am or come looking for me.

 

[MissMYB]

I believe I read that the father had a home there as early as 2016 (possibly a rental property) but that they just purchased this home recently. This would lead me to believe that he especially was familiar with this area.

Also, something I haven’t seen mentioned here but I never leave the house even for a walk without telling someone where I’m going, my general route and when I expect to return. If I’m not back in communication within an hour of my expected time, someone would alert authorities. This is what most responsible hikers would do. The only time I don’t do this is if I don’t want anyone to know where I am or come looking for me.

 

[agilbe]

Here too. Yesterday our high wasn't even 100. Our summers can be over 110 easily. But the sun was brutal. When our black dogs came in from outside their fur was HOT. And they weren't even out that long. Long enough to do their business.

 

[Smokingun]

I joined specifically for this case. I cannot get it out of my head. It’s not that far from me, it’s just so tragic, and so many unknowns and twists and turns. You can’t help but try to fill in the blanks to bring some type of explanation to the whole horrendous thing!

I read in a Mariposa mountain community comment thread that the dad had gotten lost (maybe that is speculation because how would someone know that…). Regardless, if you look at the Savage-Lundy trail near Devil’s Gulch on Google Earth, it’s steep terrain headed back up. Our heat here and in Yosemite Valley, is dry dry dry and at 107/109 nobody should be out in it, much less hiking. They were near the river at times while on the trail, but in some places it was inaccessible. And perhaps they were concerned about the algae mats and consuming the water. My first thought was something sinister, but Imo think heat exposure/exhaustion/stroke is very likely. Something happened to alter the hike as others here have said, baby got sick, dog got sick, lost off trail (after fire…terrain looks similar) and they were in the heat longer than anticipated. But so many…what ifs, and assumptions.

You are all brilliant btw! And so respectful and thoughtful in your posts! I should’ve joined sooner.

 

[ilovewings]

Final calls on Brit dad's phone may hold key to how family died on hiking trip

They are now examining the phone looking for phone calls that might give them a clue.

When I look at this family and that sweet dog, I feel heart sick. I hope that toxicology will give them some type of answer.

 

[woods]

I believe I read that the father had a home there as early as 2016 (possibly a rental property) but that they just purchased this home recently. This would lead me to believe that he especially was familiar with this area.

Also, something I haven’t seen mentioned here but I never leave the house even for a walk without telling someone where I’m going, my general route and when I expect to return. If I’m not back in communication within an hour of my expected time, someone would alert authorities. This is what most responsible hikers would do. The only time I don’t do this is if I don’t want anyone to know where I am or come looking for me.

A family friend said the last contact they had with the family was a photo they uploaded Sunday at 6:45 a.m. of the baby backpack they take with them. Also, it was known to the people close to them that they were hiking every weekend (presumably on this same trail, which is right near their house)
Entire family reported missing, later found dead in Mariposa County