Thank you for the information. In the later stories, the Sheriff said he doesn't think CMP is related but they are searching the area to rule it out (undisclosed mine location).
bbm
It wouldn’t necessarily need to be hard to trace. There really are too many unknowns to speculate at this point though. IMO
They were found outside and I believe I read it was several miles from the car, and in such a remote area that investigators had to hike out in order to get satellite service. I read that the family were avid hikers, but hiking that far into such a remote area with a 1 year old baby just seems strange to me.
Yeah, my mind is going to dark and speculative places as well. If it was poison, that should at least show up on autopsy unless they used potassium, which is easy, fatal, and hard to detect because bodies are naturally hyperkalemic post-mortem. I don’t have a strong theory as to what happened, I just hope we get answers soon and *especially* if it was a natural phenomenon that other hikers need to be warned about (or if people should be excluded from the area altogether).
Carbon monoxide poisoning frequently causes the skin to turn a cherry red. First responders can often identify this characteristic, however, depending on how long they were dead it might not have been visible. I'm still wondering about some other type of poisoning. Also, have they said whether the bodies were found next to each other? If so, it would seem to indicate they all died almost instantly.
The idea of CO2 poisoning outdoors seems unlikely to me too.Thanks for starting this thread, @dalsglen !
A puzzler for sure.
Rest in peace to this beautiful little family and I hope their grieving loved ones find out the truth, whatever that may be.
I find it hard to believe it was C02 poisoning, outdoors ?
But maybe ?
Possibly some other gases though. Something sulphuric, maybe?
Merced River drainage basinThanks for the info - does anyone know where the closest egress was to where they were found? I.e., if they were in trouble, was their truck the closest refuge or were there other, closer ways to reach civilization/get assistance?Merced River drainage basin
They were found in Devil's Gulch, in the South Fork, of the Merced River Basin in Mariposa Co.
Their car was parked at the trail head to the Hite Cove hiking trail.
Parking: Along highway 140 across the road from the trailhead.
Hite Cove Trail
Family Dies Mysteriously on Hike in Remote Mariposa County
Search-and-rescue personnel first identified the family vehicle, a Ford truck, on Tuesday near a gate leading to the Hites Cove trail.
Shortly thereafter, the searchers found John Gerrish, Ellen Chung, 1-year-old daughter Muji, and the family dog deceased near Devil’s Gulch in the Southfork of the Merced River drainage, Briese said.
I agree. The University in our area has a lake that seasonally has a toxic algae bloom. They put up signs and public notices about it and warn people not to swim in the lake or allow pets to swim. They note that the algae can cause illness and skin irritation, but to my knowledge no one has ever dropped dead or become seriously ill due to it.
They were found in Devil's Gulch, in the South Fork, of the Merced River Basin in Mariposa Co.
Their car was parked at the trail head to the Hite Cove hiking trail.
Parking: Along highway 140 across the road from the trailhead.
Hite Cove Trail
It’s so odd to me that they took the baby (and the dog) on a potentially dangerous trail in heat. That adds to my speculation that it could have been a murder-suicide, because I don’t understand why they would take that risk when there are cooler days and easier trails that take less time and have greater cell phone coverage and proximity to assistance.
And the beauty of that hiking trail is during the spring when thousands of wild poppies cover the hillsides. But in August, it is hot and rather bleak.
