Found Deceased CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree Natl Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018 #2

[rosesfromangels]

FWIW...

https://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/upload/49sitemap.pdf

Snipped from the bottom of the first page of the above brochure...

A Note Of Caution Last year there were five helicopter rescues and eight carryouts from the 49 Palms Oasis Trail. Only one was because of injury. The remainder were due to medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart trouble. Please assess your fitness for this hike and if you have doubts, choose a less strenuous hike. If you have health issues, be certain to have proper medications with you and do not hike alone. While the oasis offers shade, this 1.5-mile trail does not, and you will need to travel it twice, climbing 300 feet each way! Be sure that you are carrying adequate water and wear sunscreen and a hat.

That pretty much says it all.
No mystery here IMO.

 

[zecats]

Interesting article, especially the comment section.

Paul Miller - Strange disappearances from U.S. national Parks

 

[MntnHiker]

What's interesting is that, on the NPS page, although they give the warning that was posted on the previous page, if you are planning out a hike and ONLY go to the hiking page, this trail is not listed as challenging, but rather as moderate (most likely due to the length not being super long and the elevation gain at 300 ft is not huge). As you can see from the link below, there is a caution to avoid the trail when hot. But I wonder if Paul only navigated to the hiking page of the NPS site (and of course it's possible he didn't visit the site at all prior to his hike), saw the warning but figured he'd be out there in the morning, had hiked plenty before, and thought he would be OK.

Hiking - Joshua Tree National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

 

[carbuff]

That's the kind of logic that often gets a hiker in trouble from underestimating difficult terrain or conditions...

 

[Hatfield]

Something that has always bothered me about the alleged witness sighting that we had here on WS is the person claimed to have seen him mid-trail if I remember it right.

And yet, the official statements about a witness claim it was at the trailhead. My understanding of a trailhead is that is right at the beginning.

Im a stickler for details and these two things do not jive to me. Either the WS witness is a 2nd witness or the officials are mistaken and have never corrected their version.

It bugs me to no end.

"Park Superintendent David Smith said that "We have a witness who saw (Miller) at the trailhead that morning, but that’s all.” "

Paul Miller - Strange disappearances from U.S. national Parks

 

[zecats]

Something that has always bothered me about the alleged witness sighting that we had here on WS is the person claimed to have seen him mid-trail if I remember it right.

And yet, the official statements about a witness claim it was at the trailhead. My understanding of a trailhead is that is right at the beginning.

Im a stickler for details and these two things do not jive to me. Either the WS witness is a 2nd witness or the officials are mistaken and have never corrected their version.

It bugs me to no end.

"Park Superintendent David Smith said that "We have a witness who saw (Miller) at the trailhead that morning, but that’s all.” "

Paul Miller - Strange disappearances from U.S. national Parks

This did come up way earlier in this mystery. Sounds confusing I know, but what I remember is that statement about a witness at the trailhead (yes this is the beginning of the trail in the parking lot) was issued the day they searched which was immediately after and the same day Paul went missing. The second witness, Neil, whose statement is on WS, didn't report until later when he realized there was a missing person and that he may have seen him.

 

[zecats]

Bumping - Link to Neil's witness account

CA - CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018

 

[Hatfield]

This did come up way earlier in this mystery. Sounds confusing I know, but what I remember is that statement about a witness at the trailhead (yes this is the beginning of the trail in the parking lot) was issued the day they searched which was immediately after and the same day Paul went missing. The second witness, Neil, whose statement is on WS, didn't report until later when he realized there was a missing person and that he may have seen him.

Ok...thanks and maybe we did discuss this. Then the official statments need to begin talking about this 2nd witness and correct their versions to be more accurate IMO. They still are saying only one witness at the trailhead and that is not correct then.

"thats all" in that article is definitely not all then. A 2nd witness that saw him mid-trail is critical information that needs to be put out with any and all updates about the case. That 2nd witness may be the key to solving this case if its an accurate witness.

 

[zecats]

Ok...thanks and maybe we did discuss this. Then the official statments need to begin talking about this 2nd witness and correct their versions to be more accurate IMO. They still are saying only one witness at the trailhead and that is not correct then.

"and thats all" in that article is definitely not all then. A 2nd witness that saw him mid-trail is critical information that needs to be put out with any and all updates about the case. That 2nd witness may be the key to solving this case if its an accurate witness.

Yep. 100% agree. I have wondered myself why that was never discussed more.

 

[carbuff]

Assuming the person who came in and said that and then didn't come back was indeed telling the truth. I am...skeptical.

 

[zecats]

Assuming the person who came in and said that and then didn't come back was indeed telling the truth. I am...skeptical.

I'm not. I believed Neil thought at least that he saw Paul. In fact, I believe that he DID see Paul. Who else could it have been? It was posted earlier that Neil is from the UK and also that he took a bit of negativity (don't know why actually) for these statements. Seems he went back to England and left it with what he had already stated. jmo

 

[Hatfield]

Bumping - Link to Neil's witness account

CA - CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018

This confirms the WS witness said he saw him about 1/2 the way through the trail because it was near the ridge and the ridge is half way according to him.

This is huge information, if accurate, and I really think all official accounts should reflect his sighting and along with the trailhead sighting.

If he did report it to them as he states.

All JMO of course.

 

[zecats]

This confirms the WS witness said he saw him right about 1/2 the way through the trail because it was near the ridge and the ridge is half way according to him.

This is huge information, if accurate, and I really think all official accounts should reflect his sighting and along with the trailhead sighting.

If he did report it to them as he states.

All JMO of course.

It's pretty strange that this witness account seemed to just fade away. So it seems.

 

[Hatfield]

It's pretty strange that this witness account seemed to just fade away. So it seems.

Yes, he seemed upset with posters from other social media sites before he even came here from what i could tell. He left before much followup questions could be asked by any of us.

The big question I wanted to ask him was about the person he saw....did he have on all black clothes and a black/dark hat?

 

[Gulliver]

I questioned Neil early on. I don’t think I can post what I found on social media.
I spent a lot of time reading posts and came away feeling sure that Neil was real. (Then I felt guilty. )

Facebook posts sleuthing.
This post can be deleted if I’m out of bounds.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

I don’t know how I completely missed reading that there was a second sighting of him and they even said hi!
“Paul came round the bend from the ridge and down the trail towards me. I had him in sight for maybe 10 or 20 seconds. As he went past me I said Hi, he said Hi, and he carried straight on.”
That gives a new starting point from when he was last seen!
This has not be mentioned in any news? I’m not sure that his sister that went on the hike searching for him after he was missing was aware of the second sighting(when she was searching?)
'Desperate for answers:' Sister of missing Canadian Paul Miller in Joshua Tree, retracing his steps

 

[MntnHiker]

From the article linked above, it also says this:
“We knew he was in a rush that morning” and had a small window of opportunity to hike, Robinson said.

He looked at the map and found a short hike he could do and get back to the hotel within a couple of hours."

Which also supports what we said upthread that he probably didn't look into this a whole lot and read all the warnings put out by the NPS on their site. He probably just wanted a shorter trail, maybe read about the sheep sightings that might happen here, saw it was pretty short and went ahead with it. A 3 mile hike is typically a pretty fast hike if you are in decent hiking shape, but how sad that he probably didn't see any of the warnings to not hike this trail in the summer heat. If he just looked at a map, it may have just given distances and no explanations/warnings about the trail.

I also agree about the second witness sighting on the trail--that should narrow down the areas where something could have happened to Paul--be it injury, illness, a fall, foul play or whatever.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Neil: if you are still auditing this thread, please come back. We need your help in narrowing down the exact location you last saw Paul.

Thank you so much.
We really need to get Paul back home to rest properly.

 

[carbuff]

We have had other incidents (and yes, I fell for more than one) where someone comes on and either posts about their personal knowledge or some insight they had, or about somebody who contacted them with inside information, etc. They post in detail, maybe answer a few questions, and then when the pot is stirred up, you never hear from them again. It's a form of trolling.

Yes, there are legitimate people with the same story, who have legitimate reasons for not coming back. This Neil might well be one of them. I'm approaching it with caution, is all.

 

[tarabull]

WAIT!!!!!

Am I understanding correctly??

Back to reading!

:thud: