CA - Jonathan Gerrish, Ellen Chung, daughter, 1 & dog, suspicious death hiking area, Aug 2021 #3

[Auntie Cipation]

Well, the afternoon idea, as I remember it, was phrased by a journalist, not a direct quote from LE. My best guess is that he or she mangled whatever LE said—

Unfortunately, that is entirely possible.

 

[woods]

I wonder exactly where they were seen driving at 7:45am? I don't think that's been made public, has it?

Aug. 15: 7:45 am - Witness sees the Gerrish/Chung family traveling in their vehicle toward the trailhead, down Hites Cove Road north of Jerseydale in Mariposa County.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253776303.html

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Aug. 15: 7:45 am - Witness sees the Gerrish/Chung family traveling in their vehicle toward the trailhead, down Hites Cove Road north of Jerseydale in Mariposa County.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253776303.html

Thanks!

Now a different question -- I just scrolled along Carleton Road in google maps. There are ponds here and there -- does anyone know if those ponds would be likely to have the toxic algae? It's hard for me to imagine that still water wouldn't have more of an algae problem than moving water, but I'm really not familiar with the algae. And obviously it's not relevant to the case other than it might suggest that local residents would be more familiar with the algae issues if it's in all the water features in the vicinity.

 

[woods]

And the Darrah Park is apparently pretty much around the corner from their home...That would have been a more appropriate place for a walk on that horribly hot (and apparently also humid) day, IMO....

I’d also like to mention that their house sits in the middle of this beautiful and expansive forest- some of which features creeks, rocks, flowers, a bridge, couple of birds, deers, and lots of room to walk.

 

[SophieRose]

I've been wondering this too. Since they were found in the switchbacky section of the trail, mom being 100ft away might mean within view of the others, or might mean around a corner out of view. I wish we knew which.

Oh, I completely agree. But there keep being reports of midmorning and even afternoon, and the afternoon comment was attributed to LE, which makes me give it some credibility, until they retract or correct.

Do we know their address? I've been assuming they live in the Jerseydale area or even farther upslope. Per google maps, there is nothing but maybe a Bed and Breakfast in the area, with quite a drive down to the town of Mariposa. Moving to that kind of remoteness is dramatically different IMO from moving to a small town but in town. One can only assume that they chose that level of remoteness intentionally.

It does take a while, in my experience, to get the habits in place, for example, to get your groceries only once a week and better not forget anything because if you do it's an hour's drive back to town. Or forgetting to get gas as your last errand each and every time you go to town.

If we know their actual address could someone please remind me?

Thank you and MOO

They do have a decent sized grocery store in Mariposa, you can see it from 140. But I imagine for better prices people drive to Merced, go to Costco or Walmart.

 

[JustReading01]

Has anyone else noticed inconsistencies between maps indicating “where they were found”? I’ll try to post images but it’s hard to post and credit 3 images per the TOS on my iPhone. Searching “Chung Gerrish map” and navigating to images should show you what I mean.

Those maps are not made by law enforcement. MOO, I would go from the LE description of switchbacks going up.

 

[Deleted member 292879]

If we go with LE’s comment that they were found approx 1.5 miles from their truck, that would put them about here, assuming they parked exactly at the fork of Hite Cove OHV Trail and Savage-Lundy:

gmap-pedometer.com

MOO

 

[mickey2942]

Incredibly sad. 1.5 miles from their truck!

 

[RickshawFan]

Thanks -- if they lived on Carleton Rd that's quite far from where I imagined.

But even so, if they access the trail by cutting across Triangle Road to Darrah and then up, I still don't see any commercial area, stores or gas stations etc.

So any morning errands either would have been back home or to another home, or quite a detour into Mariposa or another town for anything commercial. MOO

Now I wonder exactly where they were seen driving at 7:45am? I don't think that's been made public, has it?

Maybe they were driving to a different trail when they were seen? Or if they chatted with the person who saw them (how would that person even know they were going to a trail?), maybe they changed their mind about which trail. I wish they'd chosen a nature trail.....

 

[RickshawFan]

Those maps are not made by law enforcement. MOO, I would go from the LE description of switchbacks going up.

At this point, I don't trust anything regarding maps and route (or pretty much anything else) from journalists citing LE. It's too easy to make a mistake or extrapolate. And I doubt any of them have actually been on that trail. I really think we have to wait for a "from the horse's mouth" statement from LE/SAR.
We'd pretty much need a GPS location for precision.

IMO the area has been closed to keep journalists and "clue" finders out of there, not just because there may be a crime scene, but because almost certainly someone else will have a heat-related accident.
All of this can be very nicely subsumed under natural "hazards".

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Incredibly sad. 1.5 miles from their truck!

But at a much lower elevation, I think that was a huge factor in addition to the heat. Had the last 1.5 miles been flat or downhill likely would have been a different outcome. Devil's Gulch is quite deep.

 

[Rocky Mountain Hi]

Someone posted, that they went hiking every weekend. I wonder where they hiked on the previous weekend, which would have still been in high temps, yet they survived. Must have been an easier route.

 

[NSamuelle]

They had lived in Mariposa for some time - Ellen’s IG on January 27, 2017 shows a snowy scene at the edge of a forest described as “our backyard” in “Mariposa.” So I imagine they were familiar with local trails and the 2018 fire that stripped the SL trail of shade. This was their 5th summer in Mariposa, so they must have been familiar with the climate and high summer temps as well.

 

[annpats]

They lived in Carleton Rd from what I see. It’s a 21 minute drive from their home to the trail.

Well, that's much further than I imagined. I had presumed by other people's comments it was closer, like a 21 minute walk or a 5 minute drive.

 

[Rocky Mountain Hi]

They had lived in Mariposa for some time - Ellen’s IG on January 27, 2017 shows a snowy scene at the edge of a forest described as “our backyard” in “Mariposa.” So I imagine they were familiar with local trails and the 2018 fire that stripped the SL trail of shade. This was their 5th summer in Mariposa, so they must have been familiar with the climate and high summer temps as well.

This is an important correction to the initial info that came out about them. For some reason, it was reported that they'd moved from SF to Mariposa roughly a year ago or year-and-a-half ago.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

This is an important correction to the initial info that came out about them. For some reason, it was reported that they'd moved from SF to Mariposa roughly a year ago or year-and-a-half ago.

Sorry, which post are you referring to?

 

[NSamuelle]

This is an important correction to the initial info that came out about them. For some reason, it was reported that they'd moved from SF to Mariposa roughly a year ago or year-and-a-half ago.

There’s another post in “Mariposa” in March 2018 in a hot tub with the same type of trees in the background as the 2017 post; I assume that’s their home. Looks lovely!

 

[EndoraXplorer]

Sorry, which post are you referring to?

It was actually in numerous articles, including the Washington Post article from 8/23/21. If you do a Google Search for "Gerrish Mariposa Pandemic," the preview will come up as: "Gerrish and Chung moved to Mariposa from San Francisco in March 2020, Jeffe said." Link (paywall) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/23/mariposa-family-death-mystery/

From the Fresno Bee (not paywalled) - https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253574829.html - "The family had moved from San Francisco to Mariposa County during the pandemic."

I think they owned property in Mariposa going back to 2017 (or earlier) and were working on renovations, but did not live there full time. If you look at EC's IG post from 8/10/18 (Login • Instagram), she refers having some "downtime" in the country. In a comment, she talks about renos and installing HVAC.

 

[NSamuelle]

It was actually in numerous articles, including the Washington Post article from 8/23/21. If you do a Google Search for "Gerrish Mariposa Pandemic," the preview will come up as: "Gerrish and Chung moved to Mariposa from San Francisco in March 2020, Jeffe said." Link (paywall) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/23/mariposa-family-death-mystery/

From the Fresno Bee (not paywalled) - https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253574829.html - "The family had moved from San Francisco to Mariposa County during the pandemic."

I think they owned property in Mariposa going back to 2017 (or earlier) and were working on renovations, but did not live there full time. If you look at EC's IG post from 8/10/18 (Login • Instagram), she refers having some "downtime" in the country. In a comment, she talks about renos and installing HVAC.

And that “downtime” post in their Mariposa home is from August 2018, so they had spent time there in the summer. I don’t think they were as unfamiliar with the climate as we’ve assumed.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

This is an important correction to the initial info that came out about them. For some reason, it was reported that they'd moved from SF to Mariposa roughly a year ago or year-and-a-half ago.

Yes -- I think it's important to remember that we're inclined to extrapolate from the few specifics that have been made public. It would be good for us to be on guard against that.

For example:

Knowing when he/they bought various houses, and knowing when they physically moved there, does NOT mean that they were unfamiliar with the area before those dates.

They may have visited the area multiple times per year for several years before buying homes there, for all we know. Etc.

MOO