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

[Tower]

I think the baby was first to die then. You wouldn’t leave a baby on the ground alive, not if snakes are around. Tbh if that were me, knowing my hike had resulted in my child’s death, I’d pretty much want to give up too. So sad

I don’t think my insight here will really matter to solve this mystery, but some general info on baby backpacks and snake behavior. This type of baby backpack has a stand so the baby would be upright, in the same position as if she were riding on her daddy’s back. If the dad were resting, taking off the backpack and sitting next to it would be the first, most appropriate step.
And snakes would not be out in that heat, nor do they come up and bite babies. They are very shy, so that would not be a danger at all. The parents could accidentally step on one in a very shady crevice, but otherwise, no chance the baby could be bitten in a baby backpack. Jmo

 

[I wonder]

My grandad had a massive heart attack and was found sitting in his chair with his glasses on correctly. We took some solace from that, as we felt that had he been aware of the heart attack, or in pain, his glasses may have been askew. He had a calm look on his face too.

This man may have been propped up by something, but, I am surprised that he was still holding the baby, as surely his muscles would relax? Perhaps the baby was strapped to him?

The mum was a short distance away. Could she have been going for help? I'm not sure if she had turned back though? It's horrible to think she was the only one left alive, if only for a relatively short time.

 

[CocoChanel]

……<snipped for brevity>

This man may have been propped up by something, but, I am surprised that he was still holding the baby, as surely his muscles would relax? Perhaps the baby was strapped to him?

The mum was a short distance away. Could she have been going for help? I'm not sure if she had turned back though? It's horrible to think she was the only one left alive, if only for a relatively short time.

According to this article posted and quoted upthread by @Seattle1, the baby was NOT still strapped to dad JG:
Investigators hope phones of family found dead on hiking trail might solve 'baffling' mystery | Daily Mail Online

There were no signs of foul play and no traumatic injuries indicated at the scene, where Briese said, Miju was 'in a backpack carrier near the dad, but not on the dad,' and Chung was found about 30 yards away.

 

[Tower]

This is not the same brand of baby backpack (as I believe I’ve seen a photo of the actual pack on SM), but just to give an idea of how the baby would likely have been placed on the ground in her pack, as described by MSM:
Google Image Result for https://www.babycantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/best-baby-carrier-backpack-for-travel-2.jpg

 

[Sunny Day]

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

 

[Noelscat]

It is insinuated (IMHO) by statements such as :

"Now that we're five days in, no, we're no longer considering homicide as a cause of death.
They are now looking into other possible causes, including carbon monoxide poisoning, rattlesnake bites - although there would likely have been evidence on their bodies, and heat strokes." Source: Investigators hope phones of family found dead on hiking trail might solve 'baffling' mystery | Daily Mail Online​

that they do NOT consider heat stroke, the algae bloom, or CO2 poisoning as the likely causes of death. These people aren't like us, on the internet, making guesses about what happened -- they actually witnessed the scene and more, have more than likely recovered other victims of heat stroke in the past.

​

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

The question of LE not naming heat stroke outright: I'm sure it's one of the suspected causes, but it would be wrong to name anything or even a suspicion at this point without evidence. The fact that they are "young" and "fit" and experienced hikers and travelers, in a way, predisposes all of us to assume they did not do something so daft as hike at mid-day in 100+ temperatures. (The same way we assumed Philip Kreycik should have known better. Even to the end, no one wanted to doubt his common sense.) So we look for more exotic answers to fit our conception of who these people were. I believe that as climate changes, these deaths will become more prevalent, and it will no longer just be old people with heat stroke. LE will see more and more of these deaths, and they will not appear so mysterious.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

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

"Mr Briese said the baby was in a backpack carrier with the dog near her father but attached to him, while her mum was 30 yards away"

Does this mean the baby was near her father but attached to him. Or the dog on a leash attatched to the father.

If the latter it could explain why the dog died as well, if it was sunstroke and it couldn't get away to find some shade.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

This is to repeat something I said earlier. There are two forms of heat stroke. One is "exertional" and is generally associated with young people over-exercising in heat. The other is "classic." This is just pure heat-related crisis. It affects babies/children and the elderly and can kill a person in a chair in a hot apartment. I don't know if these produce different symptoms.

So . . . if the couple were not wearing exercise clothes but appeared to be normal day-hikers, their very ages would not lead LE to assume "classic" heat stroke.

 

[flower_girl]

Avid outdoorspeople. Could they have eaten a mushroom or some other berry found along trail, and passed it to baby through breastmilk....? I have no idea if the second part is even possible, but I am from the West Coast and part of the mycology community. There are many FB groups for identifying poisonous mushrooms and countless stories every day about dogs/people eating foraged mushrooms that may be poisonous...

I specifically find it odd that the dog died right next to them. If they all died of heatstroke or something natural/environmental like this, you would think the dog would run off or continue on when humans could not to look for a water source or shade. Not pass away right next to them.

 

[MissUnderstood]

If LE are ruling out homicide, that doesn’t rule out suicide. My heart wants to believe this was a tragic accident but my head is saying otherwise. Moo

 

[Sunny Day]

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

"Mr Briese said the baby was in a backpack carrier with the dog near her father but attached to him, while her mum was 30 yards away"

Does this mean the baby was near her father but attached to him. Or the dog on a leash attatched to the father.

If the latter it could explain why the dog died as well, if it was sunstroke and it couldn't get away to find some shade.

The fact of the dog being attached to the father explains why it didn't try to get to shade, etc. but since other articles have stated that on previous hikes the dog was unleashed, it makes me wonder why this would be different. Also I read that the baby was not "on" the father. I would assume this to mean the baby was placed next to the father.

 

[Noelscat]

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

"Mr Briese said the baby was in a backpack carrier with the dog near her father but attached to him, while her mum was 30 yards away"

Does this mean the baby was near her father but attached to him. Or the dog on a leash attatched to the father.

If the latter it could explain why the dog died as well, if it was sunstroke and it couldn't get away to find some shade.

I don't know if this means anything at all -- there are multiple pictures of their dog (which was actually Ellen's dog, pre-Jon) -- Oksi was never pictured tethered in any photos. He was also not a lab as people have reported here. He may have been a mixed-lab -- but he was certainly not a pure lab and was more medium sized. He was pictured as a constant companion on a multitude of adventures hiking and traveling. In fact, there are far more pictures of Oksi than of the baby on her Instagram account.

 

[happyday]

Avid outdoorspeople. Could they have eaten a mushroom or some other berry found along trail, and passed it to baby through breastmilk....? I have no idea if the second part is even possible, but I am from the West Coast and part of the mycology community. There are many FB groups for identifying poisonous mushrooms and countless stories every day about dogs/people eating foraged mushrooms that may be poisonous...

I specifically find it odd that the dog died right next to them. If they all died of heatstroke or something natural/environmental like this, you would think the dog would run off or continue on when humans could not to look for a water source or shade. Not pass away right next to them.

Unless the dog died first.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

One more thing. . .too much morning coffee . . . if they were such avid hikers, outdoorspeople. . . where are their gps, magic tech watches, phone apps, gizmos? They may have wanted to be unplugged, but every hiker now, it seems, takes safety seriously, particularly with a baby along. Could they have not known there was no cell service? Does All-Trails mention that?

 

[Sunny Day]

I don't know if this means anything at all -- there are multiple pictures of their dog (which was actually Ellen's dog, pre-Jon) -- Oksi was never pictured tethered in any photos. He was also not a lab as people have reported here. He may have been a mixed-lab -- but he was certainly not a pure lab and was more medium sized. He was pictured as a constant companion on a multitude of adventures hiking and traveling. In fact, there are far more pictures of Oksi than of the baby on her Instagram account.

I believe I read that he was a golden retriever. I agree he is not a lab.

 

[happyday]

I don't know if this means anything at all -- there are multiple pictures of their dog (which was actually Ellen's dog, pre-Jon) -- Oksi was never pictured tethered in any photos. He was also not a lab as people have reported here. He may have been a mixed-lab -- but he was certainly not a pure lab and was more medium sized. He was pictured as a constant companion on a multitude of adventures hiking and traveling. In fact, there are far more pictures of Oksi than of the baby on her Instagram account.

He was a golden retriever. I haven’t seen anyone say lab?

 

[happyday]

I believe I read that he was a golden retriever. I agree he is not a lab.

Incidentally, I would think goldens and labs might be similar as far as sensitivity to heat. I have a lab, and we have to be SUPER careful with her in the heat. She has had 2 heat related incidents—one she was in the lake water the whole time! The other she was just fetching her ball for about 5-7 minutes in about 90 degrees. We have learned how quickly dogs can be affected by the heat. My dog would probably not survive the hike they were doing at those temps.

ETA. My dog is a humongous hiker! It’s her thing, and she would literally hike through any weather until she fell over dead. We take her all the time but it’s not even a possibility that we would take her in the afternoon—even in nice weather! It still gets too warm for her even when it’s ok for us. I don’t know that this is helpful, but the more I think about it, it’s just unfathomable to me that they would consider taking a golden retriever on a long hike in the sun in 100+ degrees in the heat of the day. Let alone a baby. It makes no sense.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

Other than the heat, to me, the biggest contributor to this tragedy may have been the trail itself. It was described as heading down slope from their car for a good ways. Someone here estimated the relief to be 1400 feet. That is significant.
Getting back to their car on a cool day would have been a haul walking back up to the car. Struggling in the heat with a baby and a dog would have been torture.
Their biggest mistake may have been treating this hike on a very isolated, rather brutal trail like a Sunday afternoon stroll through a park. “Let’s take the baby and let’s take the dog...it’ll be fun”. Other than some water I don’t think they had any other hiking equipment with them.

 

[Ruthbullock]

Interested to know why it took 9 hours to find the family only 1.5 miles from the car too. You’d think you would grab your best partner and get out there with a flash light stat. Could have potentially saved someone’s life!

IMO and reading what has been written- the hike and last contact was Sunday morning- they weren’t reported missing until very late Monday night as they hadn’t been to work and couldn’t be contacted. By this point the crucial golden hours (24 hours) had been and gone, so in that respect going out searching in the pitch black probably wasn’t going to make much difference, but would put search and rescue in danger themselves.

Another point I noted having whipped through the thread is the comments on heat stroke and vomiting- my young daughter many years ago suffered heat stroke, turned blue and her lung collapsed after being at a sports event at school. I’m not a bad parent, but the timeline was much longer than people here seem to appreciate- she vomited getting off the school bus, then she drank a bit and dozed for England (we thought at this point she had a virus), it was four hours later that her lips turned blue and she could no longer breathe and she was taken to hospital. There was no apparent gradual decline- one minute we assumed she had a sickness bug and she was fine just tired, four hours later within a few minutes she couldn’t breathe and her body began to shut down. It was only after the fact we found out she had been exposed to the heat all day without shade.