What happened to this California family?
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Anonymous
Well we know almost nothing about this case and we can only speculate at this point but it seems very very strange if they carried dead baby in a hiking carrier and hiked almost 8 miles in the 90F heat… |
Anonymous
A witness reported seeing the family/vehicle traveling towards the trail. I’m trying to consider if something precipitated a very poor decision. |
Anonymous
I’m not clear how far they hiked. Once, to my knowledge, it was said they hiked 8.5. Later, it seemed the sheriff backed off from this. The entire event is very very strange, right? I’ve seen cases where a child has drowned, died in a hot car, ran in front of a car and a parent freezes, failing to call 911, resorting to other measures. I certainly don’t know what happened. My brain tells me ALL environmental factors including the extreme heat are off the table. As someone posted upthread, tox’ analysis take a long time and can’t be rushed. If a drug is found, new tests must determine the amount in each person. Mandatory info for the death report as well as CDC records. Another big thing is the lab requires a comparison sample to conduct said tests. A Columbus, OH lab once had to get carfentanil from a zoo to use as a clean sample. |
Anonymous
NP. It would be very strange (and awful) if they did this. but a far fetched idea is what if there was some tragic accident at home and baby died and parents got worried that they’d be implicated or get in trouble for baby’s death and/or they were so distraught about baby’s death and their own possible involvement in her death that they then came up w a suicide pact to kill the rest of them and try to make it look like heat stroke? I know this sounds totally bizarre and I don’t even think it’s that likely but it’s something I hadn’t considered before. A scenario like they were home and each parent thought the other was watching baby but neither was and she somehow got into something she shouldn’t have and ingested something that killed her? Or she accidentally suffocated somehow. It would have to be something like that for this scenario to be true—if she had fallen or otherwise gotten injured at home there would’ve been physical signs of that. I can certainly see how distraught parents who had just lost (or even accidentally or negligently caused) their only child’s death would be so upset that they would want to kill themselves. But they wouldn’t want their families or friends to know the truth so they’d try to make it look like they all accidentally died doing something they loved to perhaps help their families process the loss? |
Anonymous
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This is from the LA medical examiner.
Due to the thoroughness and quality of our lab testing, toxicology testing can be a lengthy process. Since 2019, 98% of our toxicology reports have been completed within 90 days. |
Anonymous
This. It is like a THING in SF for tech bros and such to go to burning man no, so much so that some of the long time burner community whines about burning man being too corporate. The city is super quiet during that week/weekend, and people chat about burning man plans in professional work environments. I don't go, but many many normal people go. It means nothing, except it aligns with the tech guy + yoga wife + "want to get out of the city" vibe. I have no idea what caused their death, but there is no public external evidence to support the idea that they were crazed / depressed druggies. |
Anonymous
| The way you guys are calling them John and Ellen is straight up creepy and disturbing and really honestly effed up. You're doing it to convey some type of personal connection that you either don't have, or if you do, shouldn't be posting about. |
Anonymous
This is what I’m saying. What if the baby drowned, got attacked by the dog, fell off the porch or God forbid was even ran over in the driveway by a parent. A one year old can be pretty busy as we know. Yes she’d have physical signs that would be noted in autopsy. This is probably not what happened, just a thought I had. All I’ve heard is John was having a wonderful time with her at the museum on Friday, explaining exhibits to her. Saturday someone used John’s phone to research trails, did the family stay home all day? No one has publicly mentioned seeing them Saturday afaik. |
Anonymous
How do you suggest we reference them? Mr. & Ms? |
Anonymous
Not really. The reason why this case is getting so much publicity is that they are so relatable to many people and the circumstances are so tragic and mysterious. I don’t know them personally but feel like I could have been friends if we lived in the same area. My family is also super outdoorsy, also biracial, also similar SES. I don’t have an Insta, but if I did, I would have had similar photos and destinations. It’s scary because it could have been my family complete with dog and (many years ago) baby in hiking carrier. |
Anonymous
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After Trump coined his Covid moniker, Asians live in a toxic environment.
Wonder if this family really did dislike this world and feared what it held for their baby? |
Anonymous
Sorry... what's WS? |
Anonymous
Websleuths |
Anonymous
Same here. Idk how else we can refer to them. Every forum is using John and Ellen. |
Anonymous
I think there are ways to use their names that don't invoke that weird sense of familiarity and it is not a hard line. But I would refer to them as mom/dad, as gerrish/chung, as John Gerrish and Ellen Chung. But weird posts waxing about how much John loved his baby and took her to the museum or how Ellen was really struggling with her TBI are creepy AF |