What happened to this California family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no reason for them to take a baby out in that heat. That itself was negligent. Who takes a baby out for an hours long hike with no shade, when they know the temperature would be over 100 degrees?

That is poor parenting.

Do we know they intended an “hours long hike”?

It's impossible to do 8.5 miles with a 25-pound weight strapped to your back in under an hour. Impossible. And the local law enforcement said they'd completed nearly the entire trail.

Is that what they intended to do?

It's what they did. LEOs said they nearly completed the trail and the baby was 8 months (an avg weight for a female infant that age is 20 pounds) plus the hiking backpack he was wearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no reason for them to take a baby out in that heat. That itself was negligent. Who takes a baby out for an hours long hike with no shade, when they know the temperature would be over 100 degrees?

That is poor parenting.

Do we know they intended an “hours long hike”?

It's impossible to do 8.5 miles with a 25-pound weight strapped to your back in under an hour. Impossible. And the local law enforcement said they'd completed nearly the entire trail.

Is that what they intended to do?

It's what they did. LEOs said they nearly completed the trail and the baby was 8 months (an avg weight for a female infant that age is 20 pounds) plus the hiking backpack he was wearing.

But, as of now, we don’t know their intentions.

So chill TF out with your premature, baseless judging.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I’m following this super closely too, as I know many of you are.

The analysis and commentary on the web sleuths page is much higher quality than here:

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-jonathan-gerrish-ellen-chung-daughter-1-dog-suspicious-death-hiking-area-aug-2021-2.583886/page-42

The people on that site are much more informed so there’s less nonsense or posts that are way behind on the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, I’m following this super closely too, as I know many of you are.

The analysis and commentary on the web sleuths page is much higher quality than here:

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-jonathan-gerrish-ellen-chung-daughter-1-dog-suspicious-death-hiking-area-aug-2021-2.583886/page-42

The people on that site are much more informed so there’s less nonsense or posts that are way behind on the facts.

What? No boulders, chloroform, or Hallmark movies?

Where’s the fun in that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no reason for them to take a baby out in that heat. That itself was negligent. Who takes a baby out for an hours long hike with no shade, when they know the temperature would be over 100 degrees?

That is poor parenting.

Do we know they intended an “hours long hike”?

It's impossible to do 8.5 miles with a 25-pound weight strapped to your back in under an hour. Impossible. And the local law enforcement said they'd completed nearly the entire trail.

Is that what they intended to do?

It's what they did. LEOs said they nearly completed the trail and the baby was 8 months (an avg weight for a female infant that age is 20 pounds) plus the hiking backpack he was wearing.

But, as of now, we don’t know their intentions.

So chill TF out with your premature, baseless judging.

Oh please. Maybe they were held at gunpoint to walk out of their house and hike for 8 miles in a circle the entire time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it was a heat-related death, why wouldn’t the medical examiner have picked up on that? Seems like that would be fairly obvious if the organs shut down due to heat exhaustion.

Unless you have a poorly trained ME.

I've followed this thread closely and I also am not clear on this. Unless the ME wants to wait for check the box and allow toxicology results to clear before making an announcement?

It's been covered here before, indeed, you have perhaps not followed as closely as you thought. Pages 67 and 72, for example.

I think the authorities could be wondering whether they tried to cool off in the river (maybe they had signs of being in the river? like mud on clothes) and want to make sure it wasn't an ADDITIONAL factor that EXACERBATED their difficulties withstanding the conditions (e.g., if they swam in the river, the dog drank water and got ill). Because if there was any toxic algae, the authorities would want to know, and be sure, so they can post warnings accordingly.

Could be that authorities are exploring the possibility that any of them went in the river and were ALSO affected by the toxic algae, e.g., that it contributed to their distress. Or, they could be exploring the possibility that something else sped up their illness. Maybe finding all 4 in such a position might have seemed a little eerie and unusual, before they'd thought through all the potential scenarios, so they wanted just to rule out anything that hadn't occurred to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey, I’m following this super closely too, as I know many of you are.

The analysis and commentary on the web sleuths page is much higher quality than here:

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-jonathan-gerrish-ellen-chung-daughter-1-dog-suspicious-death-hiking-area-aug-2021-2.583886/page-42

The people on that site are much more informed so there’s less nonsense or posts that are way behind on the facts.

What? No boulders, chloroform, or Hallmark movies?

Where’s the fun in that?

DP. It's actually so rational, I don't have much to add. And it's amazing the difference it makes to have a forum where people have to comment with their usernames, etc. [The only thing is that they're using a bunch of new (to me) acronyms]... I think this means I can move forward with outlets for my mental energy and detoxify my mind from this addictive DCUM thread.

[Anonymous]

I live in the SW, in an area that is seeing highs in the range of 103-108 (like the day they went hiking). I think the piece of this i STILL cannot understand, is why they were on this hike or what they were doing.

Yes, I know people die all the time of heat stroke. But they KNEW this area, it’s not like many of the cases listed here where it was tourists. I know they’d only lived there a year but that’s plenty of time to be familiar enough with the heat.

Also, living in this desert climate….it’s not like DC. It’s not like the weather is a surprise to anyone. They would have known the forecast for the day. There’s simply no way they didn’t know how hot it was and what was coming. It’s really really hot, every day, for months.

Even assuming that they got a later start than they planned or just somehow didn’t fully realize the heat, there’s no way they wouldn’t have realized soon into their hike that it is REALLY hot out and only getting hotter and there’s no shade. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have anticipated that things were going south. Not in an OMG we are gonna die kind of way. But just in a “this isn’t goood for the baby and really sucks” kind of way. You don’t need to be an expert hiker to discern those things. Why didn’t they turn back sooner into the hike?

Also….1 year olds don’t like to be in hiking carriers for hours. They just don’t. The baby had turned 1 in august.

The whole trip was weirdly conceived.

Now keep a few things in mind….

1. They went somewhere that they likely knew would have no foot traffic
2. They told no one where they were going
3. according to some reports, they did not bring very much water
4. They knew the conditions of the area and where they were going in advance (not clueless tourists)

I go back and forth between FA and heat stroke, but the hike was so ill conceived, and they stuck to it. It strikes me as just not adding up to an accidental hike gone wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in the SW, in an area that is seeing highs in the range of 103-108 (like the day they went hiking). I think the piece of this i STILL cannot understand, is why they were on this hike or what they were doing.

Yes, I know people die all the time of heat stroke. But they KNEW this area, it’s not like many of the cases listed here where it was tourists. I know they’d only lived there a year but that’s plenty of time to be familiar enough with the heat.

Also, living in this desert climate….it’s not like DC. It’s not like the weather is a surprise to anyone. They would have known the forecast for the day. There’s simply no way they didn’t know how hot it was and what was coming. It’s really really hot, every day, for months.

Even assuming that they got a later start than they planned or just somehow didn’t fully realize the heat, there’s no way they wouldn’t have realized soon into their hike that it is REALLY hot out and only getting hotter and there’s no shade. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have anticipated that things were going south. Not in an OMG we are gonna die kind of way. But just in a “this isn’t goood for the baby and really sucks” kind of way. You don’t need to be an expert hiker to discern those things. Why didn’t they turn back sooner into the hike?

Also….1 year olds don’t like to be in hiking carriers for hours. They just don’t. The baby had turned 1 in august.

The whole trip was weirdly conceived.

Now keep a few things in mind….

1. They went somewhere that they likely knew would have no foot traffic
2. They told no one where they were going
3. according to some reports, they did not bring very much water
4. They knew the conditions of the area and where they were going in advance (not clueless tourists)

I go back and forth between FA and heat stroke, but the hike was so ill conceived, and they stuck to it. It strikes me as just not adding up to an accidental hike gone wrong.

What is FA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in the SW, in an area that is seeing highs in the range of 103-108 (like the day they went hiking). I think the piece of this i STILL cannot understand, is why they were on this hike or what they were doing.

Yes, I know people die all the time of heat stroke. But they KNEW this area, it’s not like many of the cases listed here where it was tourists. I know they’d only lived there a year but that’s plenty of time to be familiar enough with the heat.

Also, living in this desert climate….it’s not like DC. It’s not like the weather is a surprise to anyone. They would have known the forecast for the day. There’s simply no way they didn’t know how hot it was and what was coming. It’s really really hot, every day, for months.

Even assuming that they got a later start than they planned or just somehow didn’t fully realize the heat, there’s no way they wouldn’t have realized soon into their hike that it is REALLY hot out and only getting hotter and there’s no shade. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have anticipated that things were going south. Not in an OMG we are gonna die kind of way. But just in a “this isn’t goood for the baby and really sucks” kind of way. You don’t need to be an expert hiker to discern those things. Why didn’t they turn back sooner into the hike?

Also….1 year olds don’t like to be in hiking carriers for hours. They just don’t. The baby had turned 1 in august.

The whole trip was weirdly conceived.

Now keep a few things in mind….

1. They went somewhere that they likely knew would have no foot traffic
2. They told no one where they were going
3. according to some reports, they did not bring very much water
4. They knew the conditions of the area and where they were going in advance (not clueless tourists)

I go back and forth between FA and heat stroke, but the hike was so ill conceived, and they stuck to it. It strikes me as just not adding up to an accidental hike gone wrong.

They went on a 10-day hike of the Gobi Desert....for fun. Gobi can get up to 113F and is a b**ch to get to. A minimum of 3 flights from the U.S. mainland and another 5-hour drive once you arrive at the nearest airport.

They sound like adventure seekers who got over their head and didn't realize that both their new responsibility (the baby) and the extra weight they brought along to care for the baby would be detrimental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What is FA?

Family annihilation. The PP thinks one of the parents wanted to kill the other one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in the SW, in an area that is seeing highs in the range of 103-108 (like the day they went hiking). I think the piece of this i STILL cannot understand, is why they were on this hike or what they were doing.

Yes, I know people die all the time of heat stroke. But they KNEW this area, it’s not like many of the cases listed here where it was tourists. I know they’d only lived there a year but that’s plenty of time to be familiar enough with the heat.

Also, living in this desert climate….it’s not like DC. It’s not like the weather is a surprise to anyone. They would have known the forecast for the day. There’s simply no way they didn’t know how hot it was and what was coming. It’s really really hot, every day, for months.

Even assuming that they got a later start than they planned or just somehow didn’t fully realize the heat, there’s no way they wouldn’t have realized soon into their hike that it is REALLY hot out and only getting hotter and there’s no shade. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have anticipated that things were going south. Not in an OMG we are gonna die kind of way. But just in a “this isn’t goood for the baby and really sucks” kind of way. You don’t need to be an expert hiker to discern those things. Why didn’t they turn back sooner into the hike?

Also….1 year olds don’t like to be in hiking carriers for hours. They just don’t. The baby had turned 1 in august.

The whole trip was weirdly conceived.

Now keep a few things in mind….

1. They went somewhere that they likely knew would have no foot traffic
2. They told no one where they were going
3. according to some reports, they did not bring very much water
4. They knew the conditions of the area and where they were going in advance (not clueless tourists)

I go back and forth between FA and heat stroke, but the hike was so ill conceived, and they stuck to it. It strikes me as just not adding up to an accidental hike gone wrong.

They went on a 10-day hike of the Gobi Desert....for fun. Gobi can get up to 113F and is a b**ch to get to. A minimum of 3 flights from the U.S. mainland and another 5-hour drive once you arrive at the nearest airport.

They sound like adventure seekers who got over their head and didn't realize that both their new responsibility (the baby) and the extra weight they brought along to care for the baby would be detrimental.

Yes, adventure seekers. i don't give them a lot of credit for Gobi, it seemed to be part of a multi week (multi month?) travel adventure, so it isn't like they took 3 flights + drive JUST for that. (The trip looked pretty epic though!) It was almost surely guided/tourism - and not some strenuous grueling hike. It is very different to go on a tourist hike than to hike in your own area without someone to carry your things, have water for you, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely no reason for them to take a baby out in that heat. That itself was negligent. Who takes a baby out for an hours long hike with no shade, when they know the temperature would be over 100 degrees?

That is poor parenting.

Do we know they intended an “hours long hike”?

It's impossible to do 8.5 miles with a 25-pound weight strapped to your back in under an hour. Impossible. And the local law enforcement said they'd completed nearly the entire trail.

Is that what they intended to do?

It's what they did. LEOs said they nearly completed the trail and the baby was 8 months (an avg weight for a female infant that age is 20 pounds) plus the hiking backpack he was wearing.

But, as of now, we don’t know their intentions.

So chill TF out with your premature, baseless judging.

Oh please. Maybe they were held at gunpoint to walk out of their house and hike for 8 miles in a circle the entire time?

What? You can’t wait to hear the facts before you smear these dead parents? You insist on sh1tting on them based on speculation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in the SW, in an area that is seeing highs in the range of 103-108 (like the day they went hiking). I think the piece of this i STILL cannot understand, is why they were on this hike or what they were doing.

Yes, I know people die all the time of heat stroke. But they KNEW this area, it’s not like many of the cases listed here where it was tourists. I know they’d only lived there a year but that’s plenty of time to be familiar enough with the heat.

Also, living in this desert climate….it’s not like DC. It’s not like the weather is a surprise to anyone. They would have known the forecast for the day. There’s simply no way they didn’t know how hot it was and what was coming. It’s really really hot, every day, for months.

Even assuming that they got a later start than they planned or just somehow didn’t fully realize the heat, there’s no way they wouldn’t have realized soon into their hike that it is REALLY hot out and only getting hotter and there’s no shade. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have anticipated that things were going south. Not in an OMG we are gonna die kind of way. But just in a “this isn’t goood for the baby and really sucks” kind of way. You don’t need to be an expert hiker to discern those things. Why didn’t they turn back sooner into the hike?

Also….1 year olds don’t like to be in hiking carriers for hours. They just don’t. The baby had turned 1 in august.

The whole trip was weirdly conceived.

Now keep a few things in mind….

1. They went somewhere that they likely knew would have no foot traffic
2. They told no one where they were going
3. according to some reports, they did not bring very much water
4. They knew the conditions of the area and where they were going in advance (not clueless tourists)

I go back and forth between FA and heat stroke, but the hike was so ill conceived, and they stuck to it. It strikes me as just not adding up to an accidental hike gone wrong.

Maybe the hike was ill-conceived, like the ultra marathoner mentioned up thread who went out for a run on a 105+ day with no water and died within hours. Or maybe they only intended to have a short hike, as the amount of water they brought indicated. I've heard nothing about food packed for lunch or snacks, so a day-long hike doesn't make sense.

The pieces don't seem to fit together.

[Anonymous]

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/bayarea/article/calif-family-death-sierra-yosemite-chemical-16414838.php