Boy, 11, dies after being stranded five days

[Kat]

Here's an update:

The boy was 11, his mom is 28.

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_13014891

Thank you for the update oh_gal.

snipped from the article that oh_gal provided:

...The Las Vegas boy who died of heat exposure after he and his mother were stranded several days in the desert has been identified as 11-year-old Carlos Sanchez....

...Carlos appears to have died Wednesday, a day before a National Park Service ranger found them. His mother is being treated at a Nevada hospital for dehydration...

Rest in Peace Carlos.

 

[Kat]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h8B3QtNKD974PokDDXFIEUlpGIcwD99U79R00

More details:

...Their car was found Thursday at the southwest corner of Death Valley National Park after Las Vegas police reported the pair missing. The mother told her rescuers her son had died the day before. The family's dachshund also survived and was being cared for by sheriff's deputies...

...The pair had no maps and quickly consumed the 24 16-oz. bottles of water, Pop Tarts and cheese sandwiches they had packed...

...The severely dehydrated mother was airlifted to Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas. Her condition was not immediately known...

...An autopsy on the boy is scheduled for next week

 

[amandab]

How did the dog survive?

 

[Boyz_Mum]

I hope LE investigates the situation further. The first article reported the mother was okay, the second says she was severly dehydrated, I'd hate to be suspicious of her as it could be a tragic accident. (Children dehydrate quicker than adults, don't they?) I'm not sure about dogs.

RIP Carlos.

(Praying that any other inexperienced campers in the dessert and any campers remember this story and have more than adequate supplies on hand. raying

 

[bogeygal]

I hope LE investigates the situation further. The first article reported the mother was okay, the second says she was severly dehydrated, I'd hate to be suspicious of her as it could be a tragic accident. (Children dehydrate quicker than adults, don't they?) I'm not sure about dogs.

RIP Carlos.

(Praying that any other inexperienced campers in the dessert and any campers remember this story and have more than adequate supplies on hand. raying

I'm not sure about dogs either, but can't help but be reminded of the thread here we have about the two young girls who died of carbon monoxide poisoning when mom left the car running in her garage. The mom and the dog lived. ????

 

[chloes1]

What a horrible way for carlos to go!

I just keeping keep thinking what would I have done, and well a few things that bug me about what she has said....

I would have brought my cell phone, why didn't she?

If my car got stuck in the sand, and the cell wasn't able to connect to anyone I would have walked for help. If need be I'd carry or drag my son. At 11, Carlos would have been able to keep up fairly well for the first day at any rate.

Why did she pack so few supplies? I always overpack for car trips. Sodas and water and juice and until my little guy was 18 mos or so, powdered formula. (We live about 50 miles from town and I do pack supplies in the winter in case we get stuck. Blankets and food and water etc...) Did she really NOT understand that Death Valley gets HOT in August??!

Having said all that, please let this be a case of a foolish woman who will have to live with an unimaginable load of guilt and grief for the rest of her life.

RIP Carlos.

 

[Boyz_Mum]

Is Death Valley a National Park? Do the National Parks have sign in papers that specify "how long are you staying", etc...?

 

[believe09]

OK here is an odd statement from me, but I feel slightly better if Mom really was severely dehydrated, but I am still confused...

 

[eleven]

OK here is an odd statement from me, but I feel slightly better if Mom really was severely dehydrated, but I am still confused...

TOTALLY agree.

 

[PMLsmom]

Sounds hinky to me...I, being my son's mother, KNOW that my son dehydrates easily...He is 11. We live in Bakersfield, where the temp. last week was 111, and he is still alive, even after playing outside most of the day. The 24 bottles of water would keep my son hydrated at least six days...I don't believe it. Also, I agree with chloes - cell phone...But if I am wrong, I will eat crow. God has ANOTHER angel...RIP Carlos

 

[Kat]

Is Death Valley a National Park? Do the National Parks have sign in papers that specify "how long are you staying", etc...?

I did a quick search for Death Valley national park camping.

(I've never been to that desert myself).

http://www.death.valley.national-park.com/camping.htm

A quick summary:

There are two kinds of camping: 1. At one of the campgrounds 2. Backcountry camping.

The campground areas look as though they require a reservation and there is a fee.

...Free voluntary permits for backcountry camping may be obtained at the visitor center or any ranger station. Solo hikers can fill out a Backcountry Hiking Form to provide detailed information in case a search is requested by a family member or friend...

It looks to be that backcounty camping is used by hikers that wish to camp during their hike.

There are two types of areas that are prohibited for camping. There is an entrance fee to the park. There are fee free weekends but none for the time they went missing.
http://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm

Thanks for asking those questions. It just gives me a better feel for the area and also helps me to educate myself now that we live in the Chihuahuan desert and intend to take day hikes.

 

[raindrops300]

What a horrible way for carlos to go!

I just keeping keep thinking what would I have done, and well a few things that bug me about what she has said....

I would have brought my cell phone, why didn't she?

If my car got stuck in the sand, and the cell wasn't able to connect to anyone I would have walked for help. If need be I'd carry or drag my son. At 11, Carlos would have been able to keep up fairly well for the first day at any rate.

Why did she pack so few supplies? I always overpack for car trips. Sodas and water and juice and until my little guy was 18 mos or so, powdered formula. (We live about 50 miles from town and I do pack supplies in the winter in case we get stuck. Blankets and food and water etc...) Did she really NOT understand that Death Valley gets HOT in August??!

Having said all that, please let this be a case of a foolish woman who will have to live with an unimaginable load of guilt and grief for the rest of her life.

RIP Carlos.

Article says Mom did hike to hill top to try to get cell phone service.
So sad.
Maybe a single mom trying to give her son a fun camping trip, but not prepared very well.
I agree she will live with guilt the rest of her life.
RIP Carlos...

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

I'm wondering if it could only be a character thing: this Las Vegas mom was only 16 when she gave birth to her son. Did she put his need for provisions above hers? Or did he suffer because she consumed his share?

Then again, is the mom a known desert camper? What would give her the idea to go camping alone with her young son in a dangerous desert without a backup plan?

i'm a young mother myself and am having a little trouble trying to figure out what her age has to do with it? time and time again we see grown people older people do things like this. but yet now we're saying she was ONLY 16 when she gave birth to him? I agree it sounds a little off, but i'm more willing to say she's a horrible person IF this was a purposeful act, not because she was young.

 

[Openmind]

By all accounts, no one reported them missing until Wednesday.
"We got multiple calls about 5 p.m. on Wednesday from family members concerned that they hadn't heard from her," Pennington said. "They said they received a text message Aug. 1 that said she was out in the desert changing a flat tire."

I'm not blaming the family but when she called and told then she had a flat tire, why didn't they alert the park? It might PO my daughter to interfere but I would just suffer her wrath after the fact.

Pennington said an air and ground search was launched at dawn Thursday, and the woman and her son's body were found about 11 a.m.
He said a park ranger followed tire tracks on a dirt road into the desert, and at one point passed an abandoned tire and rim and water bottle.
The ranger found Sanchez waving for help outside the vehicle, which Pennington said apparently hit an underground animal den and became badly stuck in the sand. The boy's body was inside the Jeep.

Poor little boy. This is not an easy way to die.

Pennington said cellular service is spotty and global positioning satellite directions can be unreliable on unmaintained roads and open desert in and around Death Valley.
"A GPS does not replace a map, a compass, checking in at the visitor center and letting people know where you're going to be," Pennington said.

Why do people put so much trust in gadgets that don't always work in the best of conditions?

The chief ranger said family members in the Midwest described Alicia Sanchez as a nurse who recently moved to Las Vegas and was working at a Las Vegas hospital. He said she had been due to work Wednesday evening.

She didn't know the desert. Educated but uniformed.

When we hiked 1/4 of the way into the Grand Canyon, they said we needed a gallon of water for each person for the two hour walk, and it sure wasn't as hot as this desert.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538323,00.html?test=latestnews

 

[Julessleuther]

Thank you! The desert in the summer is SOOO dangerous and she should have known better. FWIW, I would have gone without water to make certain my little one had--there is something very wrong with this.

GONG GONG GONG!!! thats the sound of my hinky meter going off

who would go camping in death valley in august? with a child?

dont work for me....

 

[Julessleuther]

The doxie lived but not the kid??? Hmmmmm

How did the dog survive?

 

[Julessleuther]

Ok, so she did not entirely know the desert, but Las Vegas gets HOT, so you would think that she would realize that DEATH valley, with its reputation, gets even more hot. She is a nurse, she knows about heat stroke, dehydration etc. Why couldn't she go in the fall or winter?

 

[Kat]

I'm not blaming the family but when she called and told then she had a flat tire, why didn't they alert the park? It might PO my daughter to interfere but I would just suffer her wrath after the fact.

Openmind I'm wondering if she had cell reception to text them where she was "in the desert" and then lost reception after the tire was changed and she moved. If all she said was that she was changing a tire "in the desert", Las Vegas itself is in the middle of the desert and Death Valley is desert.



She didn't know the desert. Educated but uniformed.
That is the most likely scenario. Although educated she may have lived in the midwest prior to moving to Las Vegas and there is absolutely no way for a midwesterner (an eastener, northerner or even southerner) to anticipate how different living in a desert and camping in a desert can be.

When we hiked a 1/4 of the way into the Grand Canyon, they said we needed a gallon of water for each person for the two hour walk, and it sure wasn't as hot as this desert.

We are still acclimating to living in the desert, and it's not as hot as that one. We are going through approximately 24 gallons of drinking water a week. That is to just stay hydrated while inside the house.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538323,00.html?test=latestnews

I still want to know what the autopsy says, and why she chose to go camping during the hottest part of the summer.

 

[daisy7]

It was reported that Carlos' body was in the jeep. I can't imagine that it could have been running for 5 days straight with AC. I would imagine that being in the car would just exacerbate the heat?

RIP little boy.

 

[MarleneM]

12 bottles of water could not sustain a 6 year old boy for 5 days in Death Valley. It couldn't even sustain him for 2 days.

But the boy reportedly did make it for five days, and his mother lives to tell.