Identified! CA - Skeletal, leather belt/shoes, Mt Tyndall & Mt Williamson, 7 Oct 2019 - Giichi Matsumura

[Gardener1850]

APNewsBreak: Skeleton unearthed beneath California peak

Oct. 16, 2019

LOS ANGELES — The climbers were closing in on the top of California’s second-highest peak when they came upon the grisly discovery of what looked like a bone buried in a boulder field.

Closer inspection revealed a fractured human skull. Tyler Hofer and his climbing partner moved rocks aside and discovered an entire skeleton. It appeared to have been there long enough that all that remained were bones, a leather belt and a pair of leather shoes.

[...]

The Inyo County Sheriff’s Department doesn’t have any of those answers yet. But it retrieved the remains Wednesday in the hopes of finding the identity and what happened. There’s no evidence to suggest foul play, spokeswoman Carma Roper said.

“This is a huge mystery for us,” Roper said.

The body was discovered Oct. 7 near a lake in the remote rock-filled bowl between the towering peaks of Mount Tyndall and Williamson, which rises to 14,374 feet (4,381 meters). The behemoth of a mountain looms large over the Owens Valley below and overshadows the former World War II Japanese internment camp at Manzanar.

[...]

Because the body was so decomposed, investigators believe it’s possibly been there for decades.

They have ruled out that it’s 1st Lt. Matthew Kraft, a Marine from Connecticut who vanished in February during a nearly 200-mile (320-kilometer) ski trek through the Sierra. Derr also doubts it’s Matthew Greene, a Pennsylvania climber last seen in the Mammoth Lakes area — nearly 70 miles (112 kilometers) north — in 2013.

Investigators have gone back through decades of reports of people missing in the Inyo National Forest and come up empty, Derr said. Neighboring Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks also don’t have reports of anyone missing in that area.

[...]

Hofer, a church pastor in San Diego, said it appeared to him the body was intentionally buried. The skeleton was laid out on its back.

“It wasn’t in a position of distress or curled up,” Hofer said. “It was definitely a burial because it was very strategically covered with rocks. It’s a mystery.”

The death could have occurred in the days before helicopters were used to fly out bodies, Derr said. It’s possible, he said that the person perished on the mountain and was buried by a climbing partner.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...6ec632-f075-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html

BBM.

 

[Gardener1850]

Threads for the two hikers reportedly ruled out:

Deceased/Not Found - CA - 1st Lt. Matthew Kraft, adult, didn't return from skiing trip, Kearsarge Pass, 23 Feb 2019

CA - CA - Matthew Greene, 39, Mammoth Lakes, 16 July 2013

 

[JerseyGirl]

Two hikers climbing the second highest peak in California last week ventured off the beaten path on their Oct. 7 ascent of Mount Williamson when they first caught sight of a fractured human skull among a boulder field.

The remains were fully revealed — along with a pair of leather shoes and a belt— when they moved aside some rocks.

The skeleton was laid out on its back with its arms crossed over the chest.

Investigators plan to use DNA to try to identify the remains, which they believe could be decades old because of their condition.

Based on the skeleton’s placement, police believe the remains were placed there intentionally. They also believe the person was a rock climber based on the leather shoes.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/17/california-hikers-stumble-on-mystery-human-skeleton-remains/

 

[cinbad]

The Deputy Who Disappeared Los Angeles Magazine

 

[kemo]

There does not appear to be any remains of clothing except his boots and belt. This is a very cold dry environment that results in very slow decomposition. These remains probably go back many years, perhaps 50 or more. From the boots, they will have a pretty good idea of the time period they were made. Other tests, that will take longer to complete, might provide more information.

The body was found in an area that was not along any established route to the Williamson summit or other peaks. The only reason it was found is the people who found it were a bit lost and had strayed from their planned route. Still, it was in an area that would see anywhere from 3 to 10 groups of climbers in a day during the snow free months. To get to that area, climbers must first hike about 9 miles of steep trail up to the 12,000 ft level and then traverse another 3 miles to whatever peak they want to climb. The normal routes do not require any specialized equipment or rock climbing skills. It does require hiking or scrambling over rough rocky surfaces that can be treacherous. Going alone would always be risky but, if you stuck to established routes, someone would probably come along if you got injured. If you were alone and off any established routes and you suffered a serious injury, you would be in real trouble. That is likely what happened to this guy.

In the last 70 years or so, there has been a pretty good Search and Rescue system in place, a serious effort would be made to find a missing climber and there would certainly be a good record of all unsuccessful searches. The problem is that not everyone who ventures into the High Sierra alone tells someone exactly where they are going. If someone in some California city told friends and family that he was going hiking “ in the mountains” and he never returned, there wouldn’t be much of a search effort because no one would know where to start. It is not so certain that someone missing under those circumstances would ever find there way onto a missing person database.

There was a time in the more distant past where there were no resources available to search for a missing hiker and if someone were to die in the wilderness, his body would be left there because there would have been no practical way to do it.

 

[Laughing]

Bob Harrod?

CA - CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #19

One decade, at least.

 

[Gardener1850]

The Deputy Who Disappeared Los Angeles Magazine

Linking to Jonathan Aujay's thread: CA - CA-Jonathan Aujay, 38, Angeles National Forest, 11 June 1998

Map for reference: Google Maps

 

[kemo]

The Deputy Who Disappeared Los Angeles Magazine

Totally different area 200 miles apart. Not likely.

 

[Gardener1850]

Totally different area 200 miles apart. Not likely.

You're right. I wasn't aware when I posted the map above in post #7 but apparently there are two Mt Williamson's in California. These remains were found near the northern one closer to Mt Tyndall: Google Maps

That's good to know. Thanks.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Tyler Hofer and his climbing partner spotted the remains Oct. 7 beneath a boulder on the far side of the Williamson Bowl. Hofer, a dedicated climber for eight years, said he noticed something white popping out from the gray rocks. He assumed it was a bone, possibly belonging to some sort of animal. But when the two hikers moved the rocks aside, the entirety of a human skeleton, including a skull, appeared buried beneath.

“The entire skeleton was laying there intact,” he said. “The only thing remaining were the shoes and the leather belt around it.”

Hofer said the shoes could have been rock climbing shoes, raising questions about how the person landed in the area in the first place, because it’s not considered a typical rock climbing destination.

Human Skeleton Discovered Near Inyo County’s Mount Williamson May Have Been There for Decades

 

[SandyQLS]

Much more of the story at link.

Bones Found on CA’s 2nd-Highest Peak May Be Remains of Man Who Vanished From WWII Internment Camp

"October 23, 2019

A skeleton recently found on California’s second-highest mountain could be the remains of a Japanese-American man who disappeared from an internment camp [Manzanar] during the waning days of World War II.

The Inyo County sheriff’s office told The Associated Press it is investigating the possibility the bones are those of Giichi Matsumura, who separated from a group of men who left the Manzanar camp and hiked into the mountains to fish. Matsumura, an artist, left them to paint and was caught in a freak summer snowstorm in 1945. ...

...His body was found a month later by hikers and buried in a ceremony on the mountain weeks after the war ended. The gravesite wasn’t mapped... lost once and found twice..."

 

[carole]

Hikers in California's Sierra Nevada found the remains of a Japanese internee from World War II - CNN

 

[Melt71]

RIP Giichi-san. Photo of Mr Matsumara and of his memorial at the internment camp in 1945. From the CNN article which will eventually disappear from visibility.

 

[Melt71]