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

[happyday]

I may have missed this elsewhere in the thread. Do we know where they were found, but what was the name of the trail they were on, was it "hite cove"? Does anyone know if the trail was ultimately a loop? The reason I ask is it's assumed they walked almost the whole trail & were close to their car. But is it possible they went through the trail backwards, & had only gone a small ways from the car before something happened? Just trying to think out of the box here...

Well we know they were found on the trail about 1 1/2 miles from their car. And LE has said they think they were returning to their car. But we don’t know how long they had been hiking. Had they been hiking all day and just didn’t make it quite back? Or did they just get 1 1/2 miles into the hike and then something happened? We don’t even know when they started their hike. I assume LE has a better idea of that by now since they’ve said they went in the afternoon. But what time? We just don’t know.

 

[Figuring]

Well we know they were found on the trail about 1 1/2 miles from their car. And LE has said they think they were returning to their car. But we don’t know how long they had been hiking. Had they been hiking all day and just didn’t make it quite back? Or did they just get 1 1/2 miles into the hike and then something happened? We don’t even know when they started their hike. I assume LE has a better idea of that by now since they’ve said they went in the afternoon. But what time? We just don’t know.

My brain is just doing acrobatics to think of scenarios. This case is so upsetting! As soon as I wrote this I realized LE must have a way of knowing which direction they'd gone or how far by being able to see at least some footprints...

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Just to put a bit of humanity into the thread. . . on Twitter, a colleague posted that Gerrish's engineering work at Google paved the way for all Android app developers. (I use a Samsung phone and Android apps.) I always like to be reminded of who people were when they were happy and alive. It's a reminder of how fragile life is and how we all make mistakes, even the smartest among us.

 

[whirrledpeas]

Hey all, thanks for the informative thread and discussion. I'm a newbie here (stumbled onto this board searching for more articles/information on this case) but I wanted to add a few thoughts of mine. Though I am no longer in the field, I'm a former forensic biologist. My specialty is blood-spatter analysis, so the following points are not in my area of expertise, though my studies did moderately touch on them.

In addition to forensics, a major portion of my education in the field involved physiology. In a nutshell, this is how the human body works, its chemical functions, etc. Based on my training and the facts known at the moment about this case, there are a few things that I feel can be confidently (though not definitely) ruled out.

• CO: Bodies of those exposed to CO (carbon monoxide) will appear pink/red 96% of the time. This was not indicted by the on-site investigators. Further evidence of CO poisoning would have also been indicated at the autopsy stage by evidence of lesions in the brain and/or other organs

• Lightning Strike/Electrical Storm: Evidence would have been present at the autopsy stage; however, the more important thing to note is that the chances of three people plus the family dog being struck by lightning would be extremely, extremely unlikely - especially since Ellen's body was found approximately 30 yards away from the other three

• Heat-related death: This one is tricky, because heat strokes or heat-related deaths do not always show up in the initial autopsy and toxicology must be relied upon - especially when time of death is unavailable. How long someone survives after a heat-stroke would also affect these findings. But for three autopsies not to reveal that heat played a factor would be extremely rare

• Snake Bite: No. Not to all four.

I didn't include algae bloom in the list above because there are a lot of things that make sense about this possibility - but there are more things that do not. The parents seem to be very avid, experienced outdoor enthusiasts. They would not have used water from a possibly contaminated source, unless they were desperate. But even if they had a lapse in judgement and did, it does not explain how the baby was affected.

From a psychological standpoint, I cannot fathom any parent substituting river water for breastmilk or, if on formula, replacing bottled water with an unknown source. I am not trying to suggest that these parents were infallible or perfect, but they seem competent enough not to put dirty water into a baby bottle.

Having said all of this, there still isn't any one thing that stands out to me as a possible cause of death. The one thing I am 100% sure of is that we will have to wait on toxicology to know what happened and even there there is a chance we will not have conclusive answers. Sad, all around.

 

[coastal]

Welcome to Websleuths, whirrledpeas!

 

[happyday]

My brain is just doing acrobatics to think of scenarios. This case is so upsetting! As soon as I wrote this I realized LE must have a way of knowing which direction they'd gone or how far by being able to see at least some footprints...

It really is upsetting! As a hiker I need to know what happened here, because is it something that could happen to any of us? I lean toward heatstroke, and this would absolutely be a lesson for us. But it’s so sad because they seemed like a happy family just doing something they love to do. But at the same time I have questions. Why why why would they take their vulnerable baby & dog out in the heat of the day? They were smart people. I know smart people can make bad decisions, but I feel like they’d have to be fighting absolute misery to continue on in that heat. One thing that makes me think this could just be getting in over their heads is the nature of the hike. Steep downhill for the first half —then you have do all that backwards UPHILL in the heat. They could have just misjudged, but it’s so strange to me.

 

[happyday]

Hey all, thanks for the informative thread and discussion. I'm a newbie here (stumbled onto this board searching for more articles/information on this case) but I wanted to add a few thoughts of mine. Though I am no longer in the field, I'm a former forensic biologist. My specialty is blood-spatter analysis, so the following points are not in my area of expertise, though my studies did moderately touch on them.

In addition to forensics, a major portion of my education in the field involved physiology. In a nutshell, this is how the human body works, its chemical functions, etc. Based on my training and the facts known at the moment about this case, there are a few things that I feel can be confidently (though not definitely) ruled out.

• CO2: Bodies of those exposed to CO2 will appear pink/red 96% of the time. This was not indicted by the on-site investigators. Further evidence of CO2 poisoning would have also been indicated at the autopsy stage by evidence of lesions in the brain and/or other organs

• Lightning Strike/Electrical Storm: Evidence would have been present at the autopsy stage; however, the more important thing to note is that the chances of three people plus the family dog being struck by lightning would be extremely, extremely unlikely - especially since Ellen's body was found approximately 30 yards away from the other three

• Heat-related death: This one is tricky, because heat strokes or heat-related deaths do not always show up in the initial autopsy and toxicology must be relied upon - especially when time of death is unavailable. How long someone survives after a heat-stroke would also affect these findings. But for three autopsies not to reveal that heat played a factor would be extremely rare

• Snake Bite: No. Not to all four.

I didn't include algae bloom in the list above because there are a lot of things that make sense about this possibility - but there are more things that do not. The parents seem to be very avid, experienced outdoor enthusiasts. They would not have used water from a possibly contaminated source, unless they were desperate. But even if they had a lapse in judgement and did, it does not explain how the baby was affected.

From a psychological standpoint, I cannot fathom any parent substituting river water for breastmilk or, if on formula, replacing bottled water with an unknown source. I am not trying to suggest that these parents were infallible or perfect, but they seem competent enough not to put dirty water into a baby bottle.

Having said all of this, there still isn't any one thing that stands out to me as a possible cause of death. The one thing I am 100% sure of is that we will have to wait on toxicology to know what happened and even there there is a chance we will not have conclusive answers. Sad, all around.

Very informative post—thank you!

 

[Razz]

I used to carry my boys around in a backpack. (Not nearly as nice as the ones shown above.) When I got tired, I shrugged out of it and set it down with the baby still in it and then I'd sit down right by it so my son could see me. I can't imagine walking with it on my back when it was hot. The backpack itself, being on your back makes you sweaty and it becomes very heavy. (Even in cool weather). So It sounds like the Dad took the backpack off, set it down and then sat down right beside it to rest. He may have had the dog on a leash because of all the cutbacks.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

News story in this morning's WASHINGTON POST. Not much new to add, except for this.

'When they lived in San Francisco, the couple enjoyed DJing and going to clubs, Jeffe said. But since they moved to Mariposa — about a three-hour drive east of the city and a 40-mile drive to Yosemite — they became “avid outdoor people.”'

Steven Jeffe is a "close family friend." So if the Gerrish-Chung's moved to Mariposa a year ago, then it doesn't sound like they are the experienced hiker/outdoors people we thought them to be. At least not from what Jeffe says. This also means they were not necessarily experienced in the various conditions of this area after living there only a year. Where did the idea surface that they were experienced?

It's probably behind a paywall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/23/mariposa-family-death-mystery/

 

[starviego]

"Bodies of those exposed to CO2 will appear pink/red 96% of the time."

I think you mean CO--carbon monoxide.

 

[whirrledpeas]

"Bodies of those exposed to CO2 will appear pink/red 96% of the time."

I think you mean CO--carbon monoxide.

Correct! I will edit. ‍

 

[Coquette]

Whirrledpeas, your post is invaluable. Thank you! And welcome to Websleuths. ✌

 

[Simply Southern]

@whirrledpeas

So happy you have joined WS. Wishing you a warm welcome and looking forward to your great knowledge.

 

[SophieRose]

News story in this morning's WASHINGTON POST. Not much new to add, except for this.

'When they lived in San Francisco, the couple enjoyed DJing and going to clubs, Jeffe said. But since they moved to Mariposa — about a three-hour drive east of the city and a 40-mile drive to Yosemite — they became “avid outdoor people.”'

Steven Jeffe is a "close family friend." So if the Gerrish-Chung's moved to Mariposa a year ago, then it doesn't sound like they are the experienced hiker/outdoors people we thought them to be. At least not from what Jeffe says. This also means they were not necessarily experienced in the various conditions of this area after living there only a year. Where did the idea surface that they were experienced?

It's probably behind a paywall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/23/mariposa-family-death-mystery/

Gerrish joined AllTrails in 2016 and mapped numerous hikes he had done.

 

[woods]

The couple’s house sits near the head of Hites Cove Trail, and hours after the family was reported missing at about 11 p.m., the trailhead is where police started looking. A sheriff’s deputy found the couple’s truck parked near the trail’s entrance around 2 a.m., the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Nine hours later and 1.5 miles from the truck, in an area known as Devil’s Gulch, a search-and-rescue team found Gerrish, Chung, their daughter, Miju, and the dog.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/23/mariposa-family-death-mystery/

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Gerrish joined AllTrails in 2016 and mapped numerous hikes he had done.

Do you know how strenuous the hikes are and where they are located? Are they in this area? Is AllTrails a serious hiker site or a recreationalist site? When I looked at his AllTrails it appeared more research and saved hikes than actual hikes. But I'd appreciate more evidence of his serious hiking experience or what you learned from it, @SophieRose.

 

[Officer Dibble]

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.

How terrible. And yet my two under tens abroad in May in an early European 'heatwave' only one of the succumbed to heat exaustion/stroke - we were seeing sites in a city walking around on our last day of our holiday and each carried a large bottle of water (with me having given OTT instructions about heatstroke, water consumption bla bla). He went downhill very quickly, was very disoriantated and couldn't stand up, he kept collapsing to the floor and wanted to be sick (but wasn't) and was very very dizzy and he didnt make sense. I knew what it was and it turned out he had carried his water but not drunk from it at all, despite what I'd said before we started. Myself and the other child were fine. I managed to get him to a bathroom and get water on him then get water and pour it slowly over his neck and wrists then get him to an air conditioned place where he recovered in about 2 hours time.

 

[Officer Dibble]

I am going to suggest something a little far-fetched that no one seems to have suggested so far. Homicide and not murder-suicide. I think I read somewhere that they had household help and a nanny. Who was the household help and did they live with the family? If so, why did they not alert anyone until Monday that the family was missing?
The photo of the baby carrier at 6.45 am or so indicates they were up early - so no reason to think they didn't leave around 7 am or so for the hike planning to be back well before it got really hot. It was not a long hike so shouldn't have taken them more than 2-3 hours.
They were experienced hikers and had water with them when found and were generally "well prepared for the hike" based on various reports. They also had hiked this trail before being that it was right at their doorstep. So unlikely to have got lost and wandering about in the intense heat that afternoon. This rules out heat stroke to me.
But if someone who had access to their food, drink and their normal routine wanted to do away with them for whatever reason, they could have added something to their food/drink/water knowing that they were going to head out to that long hike and would eventually succumb after consuming that at some point. And everyone would assume it was a heat stroke (especially after all the recent news about Philip Kreycik).

Maybe Nanny didn't work again until Monday? Not all Nannies work 7 days a week. JMO MOO.

 

[TailSpin]

How long does it take to get the data from the phone(s) so we can confirm where they were and when? I think once we have this info that it should paint a clearer picture of what transpired that day. If it is true that infants that young have difficulty regulating their internal temperature, the scenario where the baby died first is definitely a possibility. I can only imagine the guilt, pain and anguish the parents would have experienced and it may impaired their ability to think clearly.

 

[woods]

The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office ruled out poisonous gases from nearby mines as a potential factor in their deaths.

Initial autopsies failed to yield any conclusive results and without any visible body trauma, investigators are still searching for other possible causes.

Sherrif Briese: “There was nothing around in the base basically besides the ground. There are other possibilities of, you know, just the natural elements of heat, and dehydration (or the hydration?), and the aggressiveness of this hike, but right now we don’t have any of those answers.

Sheriff Briese: “I’ve been here 20 years I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen an incident like this where there’s zero explanation.”

Toxicology reports are expected back within 2-3 weeks.

But officials are going to continue to methodically comb this scene and they warn, this will probably be a long and tedious investigation.