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

[lotus777]

<modsnip>

Hiking up sunny, rocky trails in Cloverdale, CA in 100 degree morning weather and spending the day’s 106-108 degree heat playing and jumping into swimming holes in the Russian River, finding shade under random scrub and digging in the mud. Backpacking as a 7 and 8 year old at 8000 feet elevation up blazing hot switchbacks and trails in the Sierra Nevada in the full summer sun to arrive at a secluded lake 5 miles in by late afternoon, with our 2 Siberian Huskies (yes, the full coated sled dog) happily trekking along and snooping out marmot dens. Taking long hikes when temps were in the 90s with our huskies in Death Valley, exploring almost every canyon there. <modsnip>


They (NPS) want families being active and enjoying the outdoors. And they have advice and guidelines about how to hike in extreme temperatures (not limited to age or infancy) and do it safely.

<modsnip>

As a young child (and I’m sure as a baby), I did what these people did. A hot summer hike to a cold river was the BEST. To be sweating and hot and looking out for rattlesnakes and just about to start being miserable, and then finally being able to plunge into cold water! For some people, that’s the stuff of life.

I don’t judge my parents badly for those experiences. I never felt unsafe, and we and the dogs always had plenty of water. There were certainly times on hot switchbacks carrying a backpack on my tiny legs that I complained, even cried, asking “When are we there!?” But I learned that struggle is just part of life and can actually be very gratifying, and the rewards are so worth it.

I’m forever grateful to my parents for getting me out there, often in what might be termed extreme conditions, safely and with love.

Respectfully, I don't think you did quite what this family did. In the 106-108 temps you were cooling off in the water, and you hiked switchbacks at high elevation, where it was a lot cooler than their low elevation. The conditions aren't the same. That said, your outdoor experiences sound wonderful and I see why they're so meaningful to you.

 

[lotus777]

MOO

After watching the briefing from Sheriff Briese, I’ve scratched toxic algae completely off the list of remotely possible factors in this case. He didn’t recall the name of the toxin . It can’t be a high priority for him.

Seems to confirm for me that in the course of the investigation they got data that is not material to the case, but that is required to be reported to the public for purposes of water quality disclosures.

MOO

I don't think it means much that he forgot the name. He had a lot of ground to cover in the briefing.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

One of her IG posts on trekking the Himalayas mentions how the altitude started to get to her but she pressed on. There doesn't seem to be any indication on her IG of close calls related to heat.

There is another post about heat.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

Manifestations of Lightning Deaths and Injuries - National Lightning Safety Institute

And a quote from the above link:
)I don’t see how this could have been missed in autopsy. Heat might not be the answer, but lightning is definitely not, in my opinion.)

1. Some Manifestations in the Human Body. According to Shockley (6.5) lightning damage runs a wide range from burns to multi-organ disruption.Therefore it is convenient to discuss manifestations system by system:
   • Skin Effects. Burns are described as linear, punctuate, full-thickness burns, feathering or flowering (Lichtenberg figures), thermal burns from ignited clothing or heated metal, or combinations (6.2). Animals should be shaved to investigate keraunographic markings. Wetli (6.6) also describes epidermis separating from the papillary dermis, nuclear streaming (palisading) and in volar skin the keratin often containing vacuoles. Clothing melting into the skin has been noted. Hair burning and skin lacerations also are characteristic of lightning. Steam burns secondary to lightning are caused by vaporization of sweat or rainwater on the victim's skin, according to Cooper et al (6.2). Geddes (6.10) describes lightning victims giving off a particular odor like burning sulphur or ozone or nitrous fumes or dilute sulphuric acid or ammonia. He cites earlier reports (Jex-Blake, 1913) of lightning having amputated legs, arms and fingers.
   • Vascular Effects. Shockley (6.5) reported electrical injuries to blood vessels causing disruption of the endothelium as well as disintegration of the media producing considerable hemorrhage or thrombosis. Hematologic abnormalities indicated by Cooper et al (6.2) include disseminated intravascular coagulation, transiently positive Coombs' test, and DiGuglielmo's syndrome, a type of erythroleukemia characterized by erythroblastosis, thrombocytopenia, and hepatosplenomegaly. Close analysis of causation by lightning or by high voltage electricity is suggested here.
   • Musculoskeletal Effects. Mechanical blunt force injury may be the result of falls or of spontaneous nerve excitation. One unusual eye-witnesss case is that of a lightning-induced muscle spasms ejecting a young adult male fifteen feet off a chair into a brick wall, with a broken back and a broken collar bone resulting (6.9). Muscle cells exposed to extreme heat create pores in the cell membrances in a process called electroporation: cell rupture and myonecrosis may result from either (6.5). Brumback (6.13) writes that lightning's electricity often is associated with rhabdomyolysis, evident from massively elevated serum creatine (CK) levels. Wetli (6.6) notes that while lightning tends to travel along outer surfaces (skin effect), observed cases of morphologically evident cardiovascular damage (pericardial and aortic tears and myocardial contusion) indicate this is not always the case.
   • Cardiac Effects. Aortic evidence include tearing of a portion of the media and extravasated blood in the aortic adventitia. Further evidence is seen in torn posterior pericardium, subepicardial blood distribution over the distal third of the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery, broad transmural hemorrhagic areas noted in the left ventrical myocardium, subepicardial blood in the apex , massive suffision of blood in the interventricluar septum as well as the anterior and posterior left ventriclar free wall, and myocardial contusions confirmed microscopically (6.6). Shockley (6.5) describes how deaths from electrical accidents usually are due to cardiac arrhythmias. They occur when current travels across the thorax. He notes AC current usually is associated with ventricular fibrillation and DC current with asystole. In some cases arrhythmias are delayed for up to 12 hours however.
   • Neurologic Effects. Cherington et al (6.1) lists useful tables of neurologic complications as well as an extensive literature review of lightning neurologic sequelae. The reader is directed to this citation for a most comprehensive discussion of CNS complications to lightning victims. Neuropathologic findings include focal petechial hemorrhages and chromatolysis of pyramidial cells, Purkinje's cells of the cerebellum, and anterior horn cells. Often seen is as a leading indicator is localized ballooning of myelin sheaths. MRI and CT Scans provide investigators with conclusive results here. Lesions of the brain should be investigated, especially processes involving cerebral infarction, hypoxic encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest, basal ganglial degeneration and intracranial hematomas. Less often seen are myelopathies and cerebellar lesions.
   • Pulmonary Effects. In domestic animals lightning evidence may be found in cellular damage to the respiratory and cardiac centers in the fourth ventrical as well as with damage to the anterior surface of the brainstem (6.2).
   • Renal Effects. In 5%-22% of cases observed, Shockley (6.5) reports electrical injury to kidneys. This is due to massive tissue destruction as a result of related rhabdomyolysis and myoglobinuria. Hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, hyperglycemia, and acidosis are associated with renal injury.
   • Abdominal and GI Effects. Shockley (6.5) reports the potential for such problems as hemorrhagicnecrosis of the intestines and gallbladder, liver failure, gastrointestinal hemorrhage from stomach and duodenal ulcers, curling ulcers, acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, small bowel perforation, slenic injuries, and mesenteric abdominal trauma. He suggests always looking for occult abdominal trauma since electrical injuries/deaths often are followed by falls.
   • Eye Effect. Cooper et al (6.2) propose that 55% of lightning victims suffer ocular effects due to thermal or electrical damage, intense heat, contusion from the thunder shock wave or combinations of these factors. Cataracts typically develop within a few days, although cases have been seen where they occurred as late as two years afterwards. Cataracts may be the typical anterior midperipheral type, posterior subcapsular opacities and vacuolization seem to occur more often with lightning victims. Corneal lesions, hyphema, uveitis, iridocyclitis, and vitreos hemorrhage also have been observed. Diplopia, loss of accommodation, and decreased color sense also have been reported.
   • Ear Effects. High pressure shock waves from thunder, measuring up to ten atmospheres (6.7), may crate blast effects leading to ruptured tympanic membranes. Tympanic abnormalities should be a standard investigation criterion. Wetli (6.6) reported 81% of investigated cases showed causation here and recommends ontological inspection with temporal bone dissection. Cooper et al (6.2) discuss sensorineural hearing loss from the intense noise and shock wave accompanying thunder, with 30% - 50% of cases reporting otologic damage. CSF otorrhea or hemotympanum, and disruption of the ossicles and mastoid have been reported. Nystagmus, vertigo, tinnitus, and ataxia may follow otologic damage. The reader is directed to Ogren (6.12) for a comprehensive presentation of neuro-otologic findings.
   • Other Effects. Cooper (6.8) noted that two thirds of lightning survivors had some degree of lower extremity paralysis. Often they appeared cold, clammy, mottled, insensate, and pulseless. Atrophic spinal paralysis was reported. Also cataloged were paresis, paresthesias, incoordination, delayed and acute cerebellar ataxia, hemiplagia and aphasia. Wetli (6.6) suggests investigation of the brain for injuries beneath direct lightning strikes with attention to white matter tears and location of hemorrhagic foci. Readers are directed to Kleinschmidt-DeMasters (6.14) for a Table of Neuropathologic Findings of seventeen lightning-related autopsies.
   • 
     

 

[Auntie Cipation]

@StarryStarryNight I think the question is are these effects highly likely to not only occur but be noticeable in autopsy when the bodies were out in the heat and elements for roughly 48 hours afterwards before being found?

If the chances of no impacts being identifiable are very low, then I agree with you, but previously an article was posted asserting how possible it is for lightning victims to have no visible burn marks. MOO

 

[lotus777]

There is another post about heat.

Which one? I looked at the posts about their hot weather hikes.

 

[Rocky Mountain Hi]

There is another post about heat.

Yes, LIAM, please share. What does it say? Thanks.

 

[gitana1]

Right, it’s 01:25 UTC, which is 6:25pm PDT on August 15th. The red strike was at 4:38pm PDT August 15 and recorded in the vicinity of Triple Divide Peak, Yosemite.

So around 60 miles away? Would it show if there were any strikes in Mariposa or does it just pick up what it picks up?

 

[gitana1]

I posted this theory on page 5 of this thread with multiple links, including pesticide runoff and contamination as well as recent murders in Mariposa that involved one of said grows. I've done a lot of research. I live in California. There are several counties known for Illegal grows and Mariposa county is definitely one of them. There is a current round of crackdowns taking place in California against Illigal marijuana grows. They've been popping up in the news quite regularly.

There could be something here. It's certainly worth considering.

MOO.

But if they were found on the face of a trail going up, that would not be by any grows. Illicit grows are typically in canyons but in areas not too close to hiking/biking trails. They’re hidden.

Also, I think LE was fairly clear that this does not appear to be a homicide? Gangs would simply shoot someone. Not do something that would leave no marks or signs.

 

[gitana1]

OK, I've been doing some more digging into illegal marijuana grow-ops for this case. The fact that this is such widespread illegal activity in CA will be no surprise to you. But the widespread use of CARBOFURAN may be.

1. Could this family have inadvertently come across or been exposed to Carbofuran - a pesticide lethal to animals?

2. Could it have been Carbofuran exposure to Oski or any family member that started the catastrophic cascade?

3. Could that explain the use of HazMat suits by LE when they first investigated the scene (per MSM)?

4. Could this explain the recent precautions taken by local LE citing potential "hazard(s)" found on/near the trail?

This Brutal Pesticide Creates a 'Circle of Death.' So Why Is It Making a Comeback?

"Wanting to see the sites for himself, Gabriel accompanied an armed officer and two other researchers to a location known as Mill Creek on the Hoopa Valley Reservation. Winding along the banks of a salmon stream—deep in a gorge where Gabriel had once radio-collared gray foxes—they came upon a denuded patch of forest where 130-year-old tanoaks once stood. The growers had felled the trees and planted thousands of pot plants up to the creek’s edge. Now that police had confiscated the marijuana, all that was left was barren land littered with irrigation lines and refuse. The group found food, sleeping bags, tents, sprayers, trash pits, and stashes of toxicants—including rat poison and a bottle of carbofuran.

“It was a witches’ brew,” Gabriel says. “We were like, ‘Wow, this isn’t some little foray,’ like back in the day when a guy would hike down the trail, water his plants, and leave. People were living down here. Then we walked another trail and found another plot, and another. We didn’t even cover half of it all that day. There are hundreds of these sites.”

To document the problem, Gabriel and his colleagues now work side by side with officers as they raid plots guarded by armed growers. The scientists dress in camouflage and wear face paint; Gabriel carries a gun. “This isn’t bravado,” he says. “We want to go home at the end of the day.”

Often the teams encounter Gatorade bottles filled with carbofuran and tuna tins stuffed with carbofuran-tainted meat. The labels on jugs of chemical are frequently in Spanish, indicating they were smuggled from Mexico. Gabriel questions the growers on site, after they’ve been arrested, and some have admitted to using carbofuran to keep animals from rampaging their camps because, they say, it worked great for getting rid of jaguars preying on livestock back home in Mexico.

The scientists’ bold field work is paying off, if only to document a compounding problem. In 2013 they discovered carbofuran at 20 percent of the raided sites. Just six years later it’s been found at more than 80 percent of them. Gabriel suspects the growers are increasingly using carbofuran not just because of its potency with animals, but also with law enforcement: Media outlets have reported officers exposed to the chemical being hospitalized for nausea, blurry vision, and migraines."

Sheriff’s sergeant Nathan Trujillo, a member of the Trinity County Crimes Unit who has been working with Gabriel’s team for about seven years, has had some close calls on the raids. In 2015, for instance, he and his K9 Johnny were going into an area where a forester had reported an illegal grow site. “We kept seeing pink tuna cans along the trail,” he says. “In the camp, we found a bottle of carbofuran, open and empty.” After splashing through some water, Johnny seized up, started foaming at the mouth, and then vomiting. Trujillo rushed the dog to the vet. “I don’t know how they saved him, but they did,” he says. “You used to worry about getting shot or breaking a leg in a canyon. Now you have to worry about this almost invisible weapon these guys have.”

But that’s for LE who explore deep in canyons and forests looking for these grows. What reason would this family have to go far enough off the trail and wander through a grow site, coming in close contact with pesticides?

 

[gitana1]

“Is toxicology results back?"
Sheriff Briese: “For the individuals, some are, yes, but we still do not have an exact cause of death yet.”

Is anyone else confused by this response?

Maybe not yet for the dog?

 

[lotus777]

Yes, LIAM, please share. What does it say? Thanks.

Her IG is set to private now, but now I remember a post where she mentioned having to rest a lot while hiking uphill in the "blazing hot sun." But I don't see that as pointing to a close call or trouble with heat--taking breaks to rest is just standard MO for hiking uphill in the sun (actually could be argued that for most people it's standard for hiking uphill). Have done it plenty of times myself.

 

[RedHaus]

Regarding them being close together perhaps they were so overtaken by grief when the dog or baby perished that they couldn’t function. Crying, being devastated I imagine would further dehydrate and exhaust them on top of the heat. Perhaps the two grieved together until maybe the father began failing- mom then tore herself away to try and get help but the prolonged time of grieving made her unable to make it far. I hope they didn’t suffer long.

Tragically, @Sunshine95, I have imagined this scenario over and over. It just breaks my heart to think this may have happened, IMO. Of course we are still left wondering a) why were they where they were and b) what precipitated that possible cascade?

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

I think they wanted to go on a nearby hike and he liked to see mines, I think that is why they were on that particular loop. I don't think the heat seemed to factor in, for whatever reason. MOO.

 

[SpideySense]

Respectfully, I don't think you did quite what this family did. In the 106-108 temps you were cooling off in the water, and you hiked switchbacks at high elevation, where it was a lot cooler than their low elevation. The conditions aren't the same. That said, your outdoor experiences sound wonderful and I see why they're so meaningful to you.

We don’t know that they weren’t doing the exact same thing I did as a child in Cloverdale: spending the hottest part of the day cooling off in the river and the shade alongside it. One-third of their route was literally walking along the South Fork Merced, with multiple access points as they went.

 

[Coquette]

Sorry to quote my own post, but I did a bit of sleuthing about illegal marijuana grow operations in Mariposa county. It appears common knowledge from fellow posters who know the area that this activity is prevalent. And I believe it is common knowledge that any form of illegal drug trade is rife with violence associated with protecting those criminal interests.

Anyhow, not that I think this a top theory contender, I wonder if LE is trying / has tried to connect any dots between the fate of this family and any grow-ops in the area. I found two articles that may be of interest... One is about a 7/11/2021 fatal shooting associated with a grow-ops 18 miles from Hites Cove Road. Was there aggrivated friction within Mariposa County grow-ops this summer?

The other is about a major bust in Mariposa County in 2016. Clearly that Sheriff's department is very busy!

I personally would be terrified to stumble across an illegal grow... the outcome could be indiscriminately lethal. I won't belabor this for the good of the order. But I do want to bring some attention to a remote scenario. See the quote of my post for an idea.

Men identified in illegal marijuana grow shooting in Mariposa County

Ten Arrests in Mariposa County for Marijuana Cultivation

I posted this theory earlier in this thread with multiple links, including pesticide runoff and contamination as well as recent murders in Mariposa that involved one of said grows. I live in California. There are several counties known for Illegal grows and Mariposa county is definitely one of them. There is a current round of crackdowns taking place in California against Illigal marijuana grows. They've been popping up in the news quite regularly.

There could be something here. It's certainly worth considering.

MOO.

Thank you @Coquette for reminding me of your initial post on this topic. I knew I wasn't the first to consider this. But given my preliminary research - clearly you've been studying this much longer and deeper - I am starting to wonder too.

I appreciate your insight very much and I'm grateful for any information you find and share.

I'm really stuck on the use of deadly chemicals for these illegal grows, and how they can seep into water sources.

 

[Runswithdogs]

Anyone know when they might have necropsy results on the dog back? Surely that will indicate what the dog succumbed to (algae toxins, heat etc)? Hard to think that in this age and time they still don’t have any results back 3 weeks after the tragic incident!

I don’t know the exact answer to this, but they generally take several weeks. However, the veterinary world (nationally) has been in a steady state of impending chaos for several/many years that for some reason the pandemic caused to burst. Things are insanely busy everywhere so turnarounds for even routine lab work & radiology reviews has been excessively delayed. It wouldn’t surprise me if it took up to 6weeks.

I still don’t think they’re dog could’ve made it past half an hour in those temps, even if they were going downhill. I don’t get this case at all.

You would be surprised what dogs can push themselves through.. in cases of hike-induced (exertional) heatstroke, it is often due to being coaxed along by someone they love & wish to please until they physically cannot
I don’t believe the dog would’ve dropped dead from the heat 30 min into this hike. But I do think after 30 min he would be in dire need of getting to somewhere that he could cool off. MPO is that should have been back to the car & AC. It seems that others would have sought reprieve pushing on towards the river… with known reported algae risks.

If cooling off at the river & hanging out all day was their goal from the get go… why oh why did they decide to go to one with reported algae risks? Dogs cannot swim without ingesting some water, whereas us people can do a little better with that. This is why there are more reported cases in dogs than in people. Why would you set your dog up for that risk knowing there’s a possibility he could get instant death or very ill requiring medical treatment?

@Runswithdogs can Anatoxin-A be found in necropsy of a dog? I’ve been looking and mostly what I’m getting is that stomach contents can be analyzed but it’s complicated? Mostly I’m seeing that diagnosis usually comes from neurological symptoms observations before death and then testing of the water source they were in? That sure doesn’t help us here…

You’ve probably seen @Curious_in_NC ‘s post (below) which is right on the money. It’s complicated. You might get lucky with detection from toxicology on stomach contents, but again some toxins are going to be susceptible to degradation via heat/time/gastric juices/etc.
It’s probably more commonly diagnosed in the non-academic world by testing the water source combined with the clinical presentation of the dog. In private practice the owners would be the one footing the bill for toxicology on their dogs stomach contents, so in cases we’ve suspected, it’s usually not tested & I believe my manager will report location to the county (I just have to assume they go test the water, but I’ve never followed up).

My question is.. have they released results for the water tested from their bladder? Is there any reason to think that 1 of the samples coming back testing positive is from their bladder?

I was intrigued by the chemistry of Anatoxin-A, as I did research on somewhat related tropane-like muscarinic receptor drugs a number of years ago. Anatoxin-A is highly selective for the nicotinic receptor and reacts irreversibly with it causing its neurotoxic effects.

Detecting it in tox tests is not straightforward. There don't appear to be reference standards or standard methods readily available. More importantly, it is not easily distinguishable from phenylalanine, which has the same molecular weight and similar chromatographic properties. What this means is that to confirm its presence, more sophisticated analytical instruments, like LC/tandem mass spectrometry, are needed than would be used in standard tox screening.

These two references concern detecting it in dogs but I think the same would also apply to people. They detected it in the stomach contents. I would presume that was done because it's reactivity makes it undetectable in blood samples. JMOO

Fatal Neurotoxicosis in Dogs Associated with Tychoplanktic, Anatoxin-a Producing Tychonema sp. in Mesotrophic Lake Tegel, Berlin
SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

 

[SpideySense]

So around 60 miles away? Would it show if there were any strikes in Mariposa or does it just pick up what it picks up?

Triple Divide Peak is not 60 miles away. It’s about 25 miles from their route as the crow flies.

 

[lotus777]

We don’t know that they weren’t doing the exact same thing I did as a child in Cloverdale: spending the hottest part of the day cooling off in the river and the shade alongside it. One-third of their route was literally walking along the South Fork Merced, with multiple access points as they went.

That doesn't take into account the intense conditions and extra exertion of their climb up Savage Lundy Trail.

 

[RedHaus]

But that’s for LE who explore deep in canyons and forests looking for these grows. What reason would this family have to go far enough off the trail and wander through a grow site, coming in close contact with pesticides?

Exploring a mine(s) in the area? As discussed previously there are several old mines near the trails and JG had publicly posted an interest in mines.