What happened to this California family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the linked Update article says a witness saw them that day on the trail.

I wonder about the accuracy of the reporting. The article also said that they told friends and family that they were going on this hike. If that were true, why didn't any of them report the missing sooner?

People don't always check in with family and friends every single day. It was about 1 day later that they were reported missing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the linked Update article says a witness saw them that day on the trail.

I wonder about the accuracy of the reporting. The article also said that they told friends and family that they were going on this hike. If that were true, why didn't any of them report the missing sooner?

Many of us aren't in touch with friends and family every day and wouldn't think anything of it if we called or texted and didn't hear back right away. I would only be concerned if I had plans with the other people and they didn't show up and didn't call or text. And, even it that happened, I would necessarily think-oh I should call the police.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the linked Update article says a witness saw them that day on the trail.

I wonder about the accuracy of the reporting. The article also said that they told friends and family that they were going on this hike. If that were true, why didn't any of them report the missing sooner?

I wish one of them expressed concern about taking the baby out in the heat and urge them to rethink their decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the branches, biker, rock slides, cougar poster. Get with the program. No visible signs of trauma.

Get with the program yourself. I've known from before page 1 there were no signs of trauma. The environment contributes to stress, exertion, and exhaustion. Tripping over rocks, twisting ankles, stepping over fallen trees, fear of mountain lions, all can take a toll and not be visible.

I feel like everyone is discounting the potential for mountain lion involvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the linked Update article says a witness saw them that day on the trail.

I wonder about the accuracy of the reporting. The article also said that they told friends and family that they were going on this hike. If that were true, why didn't any of them report the missing sooner?

People don't always check in with family and friends every single day. It was about 1 day later that they were reported missing.

They were reported missing by the nanny as soon as she came into work on Monday and she contacted family members throughout the day when they didn't return.

These two lived in the middle of nowhere, if they were going to disappear that's what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the branches, biker, rock slides, cougar poster. Get with the program. No visible signs of trauma.

Get with the program yourself. I've known from before page 1 there were no signs of trauma. The environment contributes to stress, exertion, and exhaustion. Tripping over rocks, twisting ankles, stepping over fallen trees, fear of mountain lions, all can take a toll and not be visible.

I feel like everyone is discounting the potential for mountain lion involvement.

There was no sign of trauma. Stop with the mountain lions already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the branches, biker, rock slides, cougar poster. Get with the program. No visible signs of trauma.

Get with the program yourself. I've known from before page 1 there were no signs of trauma. The environment contributes to stress, exertion, and exhaustion. Tripping over rocks, twisting ankles, stepping over fallen trees, fear of mountain lions, all can take a toll and not be visible.

I feel like everyone is discounting the potential for mountain lion involvement.

There was no sign of trauma. Stop with the mountain lions already.

Plus you wouldn't ordinarily see them out in the middle of the day. Maybe morning or dusk. They also know to keep cool during the day, you won't see them out in the open heat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheriff said the husband was found sitting upright. That seems so odd to me. If there aren’t any trees to brace himself on and he’s done this long hike in extreme heat, what’s propping him up? How would he find the strength to sit upright? Wouldn’t he topple over in death? It takes an effort to be sitting upright when you’re feeling ill. I would have imagine he would lie down. Just so strange..

One theory is the frame hiking baby carrier held him up.

The reports indicate that the baby was beside him, though. I have assumed the baby was still in the carrier but maybe that’s not true. On websleuths someone speculated that the portion of the switchback they were on was so steep that you could rest against the bottom part of the next bend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheriff said the husband was found sitting upright. That seems so odd to me. If there aren’t any trees to brace himself on and he’s done this long hike in extreme heat, what’s propping him up? How would he find the strength to sit upright? Wouldn’t he topple over in death? It takes an effort to be sitting upright when you’re feeling ill. I would have imagine he would lie down. Just so strange..

One theory is the frame hiking baby carrier held him up.

The reports indicate that the baby was beside him, though. I have assumed the baby was still in the carrier but maybe that’s not true. On websleuths someone speculated that the portion of the switchback they were on was so steep that you could rest against the bottom part of the next bend.

I suppose he could have been leaning against the carrier in a sitting up position. What's the relevance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheriff said the husband was found sitting upright. That seems so odd to me. If there aren’t any trees to brace himself on and he’s done this long hike in extreme heat, what’s propping him up? How would he find the strength to sit upright? Wouldn’t he topple over in death? It takes an effort to be sitting upright when you’re feeling ill. I would have imagine he would lie down. Just so strange..

One theory is the frame hiking baby carrier held him up.

The reports indicate that the baby was beside him, though. I have assumed the baby was still in the carrier but maybe that’s not true. On websleuths someone speculated that the portion of the switchback they were on was so steep that you could rest against the bottom part of the next bend.

I suppose he could have been leaning against the carrier in a sitting up position. What's the relevance?

The crazies commenting think it indicates something nefarious and use it as a reason to argue against heat exhaustion. It is just more ridiculousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the branches, biker, rock slides, cougar poster. Get with the program. No visible signs of trauma.

Get with the program yourself. I've known from before page 1 there were no signs of trauma. The environment contributes to stress, exertion, and exhaustion. Tripping over rocks, twisting ankles, stepping over fallen trees, fear of mountain lions, all can take a toll and not be visible.

I feel like everyone is discounting the potential for mountain lion involvement.

There was no sign of trauma. Stop with the mountain lions already.

Plus you wouldn't ordinarily see them out in the middle of the day. Maybe morning or dusk. They also know to keep cool during the day, you won't see them out in the open heat.

Plus it would be one heck of a mountain lion that could take out three people and a dog. Would have to be a ravening pack of pumas!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheriff said the husband was found sitting upright. That seems so odd to me. If there aren’t any trees to brace himself on and he’s done this long hike in extreme heat, what’s propping him up? How would he find the strength to sit upright? Wouldn’t he topple over in death? It takes an effort to be sitting upright when you’re feeling ill. I would have imagine he would lie down. Just so strange..

One theory is the frame hiking baby carrier held him up.

The reports indicate that the baby was beside him, though. I have assumed the baby was still in the carrier but maybe that’s not true. On websleuths someone speculated that the portion of the switchback they were on was so steep that you could rest against the bottom part of the next bend.

I suppose he could have been leaning against the carrier in a sitting up position. What's the relevance?

The crazies commenting think it indicates something nefarious and use it as a reason to argue against heat exhaustion. It is just more ridiculousness.

You know best.

The rest of us think that it is unusual for someone to die of heat stroke sitting up. The police thought so, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the branches, biker, rock slides, cougar poster. Get with the program. No visible signs of trauma.

Get with the program yourself. I've known from before page 1 there were no signs of trauma. The environment contributes to stress, exertion, and exhaustion. Tripping over rocks, twisting ankles, stepping over fallen trees, fear of mountain lions, all can take a toll and not be visible.

I feel like everyone is discounting the potential for mountain lion involvement.

We should ask Bobcat Girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cops aren’t gonna say it was heat stroke until they have the toxicology results. They ran tox for a reason and this wouldn’t be a 60 page thread if the cause of death were obvious. I think I was likely heat-related but clearly something about the scene led the cops to suspect there might be more to the story. Could be undisclosed details or could just be the fact that all 4 of them died in the same area and same loose timeframe. I don’t think that’s weird but clearly lots of people do.

The initial reports point to the proximity of the bodies:

“Coming across a scene where everyone involved, including the family dog that is deceased, that is not a typical thing that we have seen or other agencies have seen," Kristie Mitchell previously told the Fresno Bee. "That is why we're treating it as a hazmat situation. We just don't know."

I think there probably had been a lot of discussion in the public safety community there about what warning level to provide re the toxic algae blooms. I gather that what they went with at the time was just a “Caution” saying not to touch them or let dogs drink water near them, when they could have gone with a warning telling people not to swim in that part of the river. Likely a swim or at least a close-up view of the river (which is apparently beautiful) was one of the only reasons LE could think of for the family to be out on that steep and desolate trail on such a brutally hot day.

It seems likely to me that heatstroke is the culprit, but that’s based on information released after several days of investigation. When investigators first found the bodies, they likely didn’t know how long the family had been on the trail before dying or what path they took. I’m sure it was a shocking sight.

Hopefully the toxicology reports come back soon.

The Fresno Bee's homepage was a warning to stay out of/away from Millerton Lake, a very popular summer day trip destination for the whole area, because of toxic algae, so it's definitely something that would have been on everybody's mind. Like the adage about hoofbeats, if you just read your newspaper talking about zebras, that might be your first thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sheriff said the husband was found sitting upright. That seems so odd to me. If there aren’t any trees to brace himself on and he’s done this long hike in extreme heat, what’s propping him up? How would he find the strength to sit upright? Wouldn’t he topple over in death? It takes an effort to be sitting upright when you’re feeling ill. I would have imagine he would lie down. Just so strange..

One theory is the frame hiking baby carrier held him up.

The reports indicate that the baby was beside him, though. I have assumed the baby was still in the carrier but maybe that’s not true. On websleuths someone speculated that the portion of the switchback they were on was so steep that you could rest against the bottom part of the next bend.

I suppose he could have been leaning against the carrier in a sitting up position. What's the relevance?

The crazies commenting think it indicates something nefarious and use it as a reason to argue against heat exhaustion. It is just more ridiculousness.

You know best.

The rest of us think that it is unusual for someone to die of heat stroke sitting up. The police thought so, too.

I passed out in the doctor's office once while sitting up. I remained sitting up. I was leaning against a wall.