The dead family who hiked in Mariposa County [Archive]

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iris lilies

8-29-21, 8:25pm

https://www.the-sun.com/news/3529537/brit-dead-wife-dog-california-dad-cops-investigation/

A family and their dog were found dead hiking on a trail in California. There’s no obvious cause of their death.

There are less sensational type articles around, it’s just that any of the good ones require subscriptions. I would like to see what the Washington post says about it but can’t read the article.

The most recent information seems to be put out around August 20, and they are eliminating weapons and outside environmental resources as cause of death.

This is a weird situation. I wonder if the toxicology reports that come in within the next few weeks will be able to show what happened.

catherine

8-29-21, 8:28pm

I read about that and found it very strange. Thanks for posting--if anyone finds any follow-up or update on this case, I'd be interested in hearing about it

Teacher Terry

8-29-21, 8:46pm

I read about it too. It’s very weird that everyone died including the dog.

jp1

8-29-21, 9:33pm

iris lilies

8-29-21, 9:37pm

Wasn’t there a similar situation in California recently? Maybe two weeks ago it crossed my google news feed and since I’m a hiker I I cared enough to look up the trail on AllTrails.com. Now I can’t find anything about it.
If you find it, bring it back here.

I don’t normally pay attention to dead hikers on trails since there seems to be quite a lot of them. This was a rather spectacular death event.

bae

8-29-21, 9:39pm

It is very odd, and I'm waiting for the conclusion.

Jane v2.0

8-29-21, 10:23pm

There are a lot of mysterious deaths and disappearances in the wilderness, but this is one of the strangest. If it was a deadly algae bloom, why aren't there animal carcasses strewn around?

jp1

8-29-21, 10:57pm

https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEA3IEU0iNsAW2rl4_Fbi1wAqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowodqFCz DDhYMDMOeRiAY?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Found an update about the California family. The earlier reports didn’t mention the heat so as sad as it would be if that killed them it is at least plausible.

GeorgeParker

8-30-21, 1:04am

The earlier reports didn’t mention the heat so as sad as it would be if that killed them it is at least plausible.I find it odd that the dog was found with them if they died from the heat. The 1-year old was probably in a carrier, and if her parents collapsed because of the heat, she probably would have stayed with them until she died too, simply because she wouldn't have known what else to do and she would have been crying and trying to wake them up.

A dog, on the other hand would probably have been walking, and when it got overheated it would have been smart enough to stop, look for any bit of shade available, a refuse to move until it had rested and cooled down. Dogs are smarter than people about some things. So unless it was a small dog that one of the grownups could pick up and carry, the family would have had to stop walking and wait for the dog to cool off.

Of course they might have picked it up and carried it, or they may have stupidly sat down in the sun when the dog refused to walk any farther and after the humans died sitting there the dog died too. Anything is possible. But I strongly favor some kind of poison, probably in the water all 4 of them would have drunk. Arsenic perhaps, since there was an old mine nearby.

ApatheticNoMore

8-30-21, 2:13am

Wasn’t there a similar situation in California recently?

I thought so too. I guess that was Mariposa not Maricopa. :|( Maybe there's more ...

Teacher Terry

8-30-21, 12:18pm

There’s no shade at all on that trail. I read the dog was big and on a leash. From what I read there’s a short trail and a long one and they might have gotten confused and took the 8 mile one. There’s also been a lot of dangerous algae in the water this year if they all drank it. But hikers usually carry a special filter if they think they will need to drink the water. These people weren’t new to hiking.

Tybee

8-30-21, 1:50pm

If the dog was attached to a human by a leash and they were both in dangerously hot conditions, they probably all just sat down and died.

How horribly sad.

catherine

8-30-21, 1:56pm

If the dog was attached to a human by a leash and they were both in dangerously hot conditions, they probably all just sat down and died.

How horribly sad.

It truly is.

iris lilies

8-30-21, 2:16pm

It is always sad when the leader’s hutzpah, his sense of invincibility, takes down not only him but everyone who depends on him for good leader ship.

Yppej

8-30-21, 2:27pm

This story has been in my local news:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/arizona/articles/2021-08-30/death-of-woman-after-phoenix-mountain-hike-ruled-accidental

The man was a first responder and police officer yet let the woman go down the mountain by herself with no water. Local opinions of him are not kind.

jp1

8-30-21, 5:26pm

Why on earth would someone go hiking in Arizona in July without water???

JaneV2.0

8-30-21, 5:56pm

Why on earth would someone go hiking in Arizona in July without water???

And take a baby!

Teacher Terry

8-30-21, 7:30pm

iris lilies

8-31-21, 10:20pm

Wasn’t there a similar situation in California recently? Maybe two weeks ago it crossed my google news feed and since I’m a hiker I I cared enough to look up the trail on AllTrails.com. Now I can’t find anything about it.
You are right, this was Mariposa Co.

And now they have closed that area, today, due to unexplained hazards. Although also fire closings taking place near there.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article253868828.html

rosarugosa

9-1-21, 6:43am

The one Yppej posted was a internet date and she lived in a different state. Turned out he was married with 2 kids. Her friends raised a bunch of money on go fund me for a funeral. I would use it to hire a PI. Sounds suspicious to me.

I think this woman was actually from my town. Don't people usually meet up for coffee as a first date?

JaneV2.0

9-1-21, 6:58pm

I think this woman was actually from my town. Don't people usually meet up for coffee as a first date?

And she supposedly gets tired so he basically says "See ya!" and walks off in the other direction. Great first date, great guy. I think there's more to this.

GeorgeParker

9-1-21, 7:21pm

And she supposedly gets tired so he basically says "See ya!" and walks off in the other direction. Great first date, great guy. I think there's more to this.I think the strange part of this is she supposedly gets over heated and asks him to go on up to the top and take photos for her while she walks back down. Yeah, whatever really happened, there's something very suspicious about this whole thing.

Here's another one where we'll never know if the death was an accident or something else:

https://www.fox10tv.com/news/mobile_county/local-high-school-coach-killed-in-wreck-faced-charges-of-raping-student/article_6cf29d6c-f667-11eb-bdee-b70f6c8c4006.html

Was it an accident? Suicide? Accidental death because he was so preoccupied by needing to turn himself in that he made a dumb driving mistake?

Teacher Terry

9-1-21, 9:21pm

Witnesses that saw them on the trail said they appeared to be arguing.

Rogar

10-21-21, 9:40pm

iris lilies

10-21-21, 9:55pm

NPR had a feature on this today and they are saying they "mostly likely" died of heat stress and dehydration, per the coroner's report. I could be suspcious and think they couldn't find anything else and that was the most obvious, but that might be the end of story.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/21/1041997332/northern-california-family-hiking-died-heat-exposure

You know, I can see the dog dying from heat if it was hot because people are very stupid about their dogs. Very very stupid. But all 4 of them?

In the end Roger you’re probably right this is all we will ever know. It wasn’t some big mystery or a strange poisoning, they just overdid it, got overheated, and died. Banal.