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

[Lexiintoronto]

Just seeing this description, can't see the story it's behind a paywall used up all my looks.

Without much thought, I went to- wife was trying to get help and the others had already succumbed.

A kind poster made an accessible link: CA - Jonathan Gerrish, Ellen Chung, daughter, 1 & dog, suspicious death remote hiking area, Aug 2021

 

[Speculaytor]

From the link
“You come on scene and everyone is deceased. There’s no bullet holes, no bottle of medicine, not one clue,” Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said from his office in town on Friday. “It’s a big mystery.”

@RickshawFan a pic of the article is posted up thread

109 degrees, in the sun, middle of trail, sounds like heat stroke.

 

[carbuff]

I'm still sticking with heat exhaustion.

 

[Peppery]

I want to know if the baby was still strapped in the carrier or if it appeared like Gerrish was holding her. I can’t imagine leaving her in it unless she was sleeping and the parents died before her. Imo

 

[Satchie]

AFAIK this trail is not part of the Hites Cove Trail, and is indeed strenuous. Look at the terrain, the steep gulch sides, and those switchbacks, all exposed. Coming up out of the gulch would not be something I'd consider fun or a medium romp.

I agree. Most hikes, you climb up in the am when it's cool and you're fresh. Gravity helps take you down at the end.

But doing the reverse is many times harder than going down or walking flat. You can't just stagger along, putting one foot in front of the other. You have to exert great energy to fight gravity with each step.

With heat exhaustion, that is the symptom: exhaustion. So, you stop to rest. But unless you cool off, you'll just get worse.

The heat in a canyon IMO would be much worse than that measurement of 109F. It reflects off rocks and will just build up, with no hint of a breeze to cool you by evaporating sweat.

I wonder whether Ellen had the car keys: IMO that would indicate she was trying to go alone and get help

The toxic algae headlines are mostly fear-mongering, IMO.

All JMO

 

[Lexiintoronto]

109 degrees, in the sun, middle of trail, sounds like heat stroke.

I agree, especially looking at the suspected loop they did. (I think the father may have been carrying the baby plus a possibly ill dog—my speculation only.)


Map source (paywalled): 'Not one clue': The mystery is only deepening around the family found dead on a Sierra trail

 

[Speculaytor]

If no one has posted already, here is the Hite Cove Trail where bodies were found. They were found in the middle of the trail after the switchbacks, it says.

Hite Cove Trail

 

[NSamuelle]

I would guess it would be something odorless/tasteless in the water source they brought as the preliminary autopsy looked for puncture marks (needle) and certainly stomach contents would include pills casings?

Some pills (especially benzos) are small and quick to absorb so they wouldn’t leave a casing, but generally I agree. I don’t think they’d have any motive to hide needle marks (between toes, hairline, etc.), so I agree that probably would’ve shown on autopsy as well. Heatstroke shows up in organs sometimes and they found them (relatively) quickly so they should have been able to rule on that, if obvious, as well as CO. Troponin should still be present if they had MIs and that’s quick bloodwork. I’m honestly baffled that the autopsy showed *nothing* and think they’re keeping some information confidential at the moment.

 

[RickshawFan]

Benadryl isn’t a reliable suicide agent. People can have paradoxical effects (hyperactivity), and you would have to take such a large dose that you’d vomit before ingesting enough to die. You’d have very painful cramps if a high number of pills were ingested and that effect would show up in body positioning - Jonathan would not be seated. Fast-acting barbiturates combined with opioids, a potassium injection, or Fentanyl would be the way to go. Cyanide capsules are very hard to come by.

I don't mean Benadryl as suicide agent. I mean for purposeful sedation. Sedation in those conditions on that trail would have been deadly. That may have been the point.
I'm thinking of the case maybe a year or two ago where Benadryl was used to sedate the occupants of a car before the mom drove it off a cliff.
Hart mothers drugged, killed children by driving off cliff, jury rules

Sure, Benadryl can have paradoxical effects, but family members would know from experience if they were susceptible to that.

 

[Knox]

Occam’s razor leads me to murder-suicide, possibly with both adults as willing participants, and poison. If it was not intentional, they showed very bad judgment hiking with a 1-year old in a backpack on a 100+ degree day, and I’m not trying to victim-shame but obviously that was not a good strategy and people should avoid unnecessary risks when traveling with infants. This was not a recreational trail; they couldn’t even remove the bodies except via helicopter.

I doubt heatstroke unless they were consciously attempting to preserve water, since they still had water left and any mother would have given it to the baby to save her of heat was an issue. I also doubt exposure to algae; why drink bad water when they had fresh water left.

CO poisoning in a open space is so unlikely and deputies slept near the bodies that night (what a weird, awful experience that must have been). There would be findings on autopsy. Some toxicology takes weeks, testing for CO in blood takes hours.

So that leads me to some dark speculation. If I’ve located the correct LinkedIn profile, Ellen had a background in pharmacy, which makes me wonder about poisoning. They were both very smart individuals who made an inexplicably poor decision - it makes more sense to me that it was intentional than thinking that two intelligent people had such innocent but terrible judgment.

I'm starting to lean in this same direction. The Sheriff stated he requested expedited toxicology results, hopefully that happens.

 

[OldProtozoan]

Speculation. Seated as in a lotus position and then slumped over? How does on sit on the trail? A rock or tree as a backrest? Seated means a lot. Child and dog beside him. As if they died first and were placed or posed positions?

 

[GrimonTV]

Isn't this the same place where Cary Stayner murdered his victims?

 

[katydid23]

were there any witnesses on the trail who saw them? not sure i've seen it anywhere but then half the reports are unavailable to EU so may have missed those

I don't think anyone else was hiking that area in August. It is not advisable.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

IMO the known evidence points toward this is heat-related.
They left early, when it was much cooler.
Had one bladder of water, so they didn't intend to be out that many hours in the heat.
A small amount of water was left, tells me they were rationing, even to the end.

People hike with babies all the time, and that's normal to me. I think they intended to be back much sooner, so like many cases on WS and as some have already speculated: Something just went wrong.

 

[cuffem]

I'm still sticking with heat exhaustion.

Agreed, simplest explanation is the best.

 

[katydid23]

I'd wager everything I had on suicide or murder suicide and it's not even close

I see zero evidence for that. They had a beautiful new baby, beautiful new home, lots of money in the bank, happy marriage, fulfilling career for him....lots of friends and family, both healthy....

I'd say heat stroke is way more plausible. JMO

 

[SophieRose]

I agree. Most hikes, you climb up in the am when it's cool and you're fresh. Gravity helps take you down at the end.

But doing the reverse is many times harder than going down or walking flat. You can't just stagger along, putting one foot in front of the other. You have to exert great energy to fight gravity with each step.

With heat exhaustion, that is the symptom: exhaustion. So, you stop to rest. But unless you cool off, you'll just get worse.

The heat in a canyon IMO would be much worse than that measurement of 109F. It reflects off rocks and will just build up, with no hint of a breeze to cool you by evaporating sweat.

I wonder whether Ellen had the car keys: IMO that would indicate she was trying to go alone and get help

The toxic algae headlines are mostly fear-mongering, IMO.

All JMO

The town of Mariposa shows 99 degrees for that day and the nearby community of Jerseydale shows 97. I wonder if the 107-109 is the "feels like" temperature. It might explain why they didn't realize it would be as hot as it was, but 97 is plenty hot for a baby, and most adults.

 

[Knox]

I agree. Most hikes, you climb up in the am when it's cool and you're fresh. Gravity helps take you down at the end.
I wonder whether Ellen had the car keys: IMO that would indicate she was trying to go alone and get help

The toxic algae headlines are mostly fear-mongering, IMO.
All JMO

Good thought, also nothing has been mentioned about cell phones, were they found with them on the trail? Had they taken pictures on the hike, tried to call out, send a text message? That might sound strange, but if one of them was in distress and the others started failing I could see trying to leave a clue even though there was no signal. But if overtaken quickly, I guess there would be no time or clarity of thinking.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

Isn't this the same place where Cary Stayner murdered his victims?

Yes. That’s why one local described it as a beautiful, happy place but with a dark side.
The Yosemite Murders

 

[NSamuelle]

If it’s heatstroke, there should be hints of that on autopsy: “Conclusion: Typical autopsy findings following classical heat stroke in children include diffuse petechiae and hemorrhages and lung involvement. These findings are similar to those reported in adults that had died following exertional heat stroke—a very different mechanism of heat accumulation.” Fatal heat stroke in children found in parked cars: autopsy findings - PubMed

Findings in dogs: “Body hyperthermia initiates a myriad of inflammatory, hemostatic and tissue damage processes of varying severity and progression rate in dogs. Activation of the inflammatory and hemostasis cascades initiates a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), often progressing to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).37,65-68 Combination of the direct heat insult, severe hypovolemic, distributive shock, metabolic acidosis, neurologic dysfunction, endotoxemia and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) result in decreased organ perfusion, tissue necrosis and hemorrhagic diathesis, as recorded at necropsy in fatal cases of naturally occurring heatstroke in dogs.” Pathophysiology of heatstroke in dogs – revisited