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

[Parsnip]

Thanks to my fellow sleuths for all of the useful and informative posts! My heart aches for the loved ones of this family. Like many of you, I am leaning toward an explanation involving some combination of heat stroke/injury/series of tragic events.

I can imagine a scenario where the dog was off leash, scouting ahead of the family, reached the water, and took a drink and perhaps a swim. The family arrives and is immediately concerned, and the dog begins to show poisoning symptoms. The adults now have to carry an ailing dog, infant, water, and any other gear they may have back up the switchbacks. They are distressed and rushing while bearing additional weight and heat. One or both of the adults could even have suffered a minor injury like a sprained ankle. The father begins to show signs of heat distress. The dad sits down on the trail in the midst of heat stroke. The mom, familiar with the symptoms, goes to him, puts down her dog, and removes the child carrier. She tries to cool him down with some of the remaining water. Knowing she is just a mile and a half from the car, she leaves her family in the middle of the trail in the event other hikers may pass and begins to sprint to the car carrying only her keys and phone. But her distress, exhaustion, and possible injury (exposure to toxins from carrying the dog? sprain?) etc. catch up with her. She is unable to continue.

I can’t write out the rest.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

I can’t see the baby being left inside the carrier beside Jonathan if the baby dies first. If Jonathan was no longer able to make it back to the car he would have held the baby even if she had already died.

 

[whirrledpeas]

I can’t see the baby being left inside the carrier beside Jonathan if the baby dies first. If Jonathan was no longer able to make it back to the car he would have held the baby even if she had already died.

This is a very good point IMO.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

she leaves her family in the middle of the trail in the event other hikers may pass and begins to sprint to the car carrying only her keys and phone.

The phone was found with Jonathan.

 

[Parsnip]

I can’t see the baby being left inside the carrier beside Jonathan if the baby dies first. If Jonathan was no longer able to make it back to the car he would have held the baby even if she had already died.

I have such a hard time understanding why the baby was still in the pack! This is why I think her dad had heat stroke. Based upon others’ experiences with heat stroke recounted here, he wouldn’t have been able to hold her.

 

[GrimonTV]

Is there a website link to this? I appreciate the research.

No problem
This is the first place I tried, the weather station is actually on the trail so I thought it would give accurate info, unfortunately I couldn't find historical data so I went for the next nearest place which was the town about 6 miles up the road.

Hite Cove Trail, CA Weather Forecast - Local Weather Report

Hite Cove Trail, California Weather Archive

 

[annpats]

The couple’s house sat near the head of Hites Cove Trail, A sheriff’s deputy found the couple’s truck parked near the trail’s entrance around 2 a.m., the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Nine hours later and 1.5 miles from the family’s truck, in an area known as Devil’s Gulch, a search-and-rescue team found them.

Wow, 9 hours to find them! Yet they were on the trail, not off it? Is that not an excessive amount of time? Especially as they were only 1.5 miles from the truck AND on the path.....

 

[Deleted member 292879]

MOO

First, of the four family members, the baby and the dog were completely dependent on the adults. If the two adults succumbed to the elements, the baby and the dog would likely not save themselves. Therefore, it makes sense that if the two adults perish, all four perish.

Second, just because all four family members were found in the same general area, does not mean that they all became unresponsive at the same time. If the baby or the dog were the first to become unresponsive, the two adults may have carried them back towards their vehicle for some time. Additionally, with the mother leaving the rest of her family behind in the middle of the trail to try to get to the vehicle implies that the others were incapacitated.

Anyway, it’s all MOO.

[snipped]
Such good points here. My thinking given this is that Jonathan succumbed to heatstroke first, being older than Ellen and probably carrying the baby, and that the baby and dog might have actually been OK at the point he sat down with them to rest. It’s possible the dog stayed with him either tethered and out of loyalty and may have survived an hour or two longer. But you wonder about whether the dog, if still OK, would bark or otherwise do anything to alert people.

I don’t think this was a perfect storm of mishaps, given how short a time they were actually out on their hike. If they were gone overnight or longer, sure, we could expect to see injuries or other compounding issues. I think the simplest explanation is probably the right one: heat. JMO

 

[CocoChanel]

MOD REMINDERS

There have been a number of posts removed, so it is important to remember these TOS items in particular for this case:

- any QUOTES or SCREENSHOTS posted must include a link to the MSM source from which they came.
- the social media content of the victims is permitted, as is that from MSM and LE.
- comments found on any social media site may not be brought here.
- discussion of other similar cases should be limited. It confuses the thread to talk about other cases when all that is mentioned is something like “he was sitting by a tree” or “I saw the photos” when the referenced case is NOT this current one. Prolonged conversation about other cases is considered off topic.
- a good way to check your post is to make sure your focus is on the victims in THIS case before you click to reply.

THANKS a bunch for helping us keep this thread running smoothly. This tragedy is difficult to comprehend, and the loved ones of this family deserve some answers soon.

 

[spiritkiss]

Whatever it was acted fast on there systems. Do they have any issues with mobile labs making drugs in the woods in those areas? What is that drug that if even touched it can kill you? Police have been exposed at vehicle stops and the effects are quick. A mother is not going to leave a baby in a carrier sick, or dead. She's not going to leave her baby there to go to the car. She would bring her with her to find emed help for her child. Its as if they all were not thinking logically as if something caused there brain or thinking ability to not function properly. What's throwing me off is the mother leaving baby in a carrier and trying to leave without her. still leaving phone in husband's pocket.
The baby not taken out of the carrier. (at her age 1 year probably was a camping backpack loose fitting type) but just taken off his back and layed there not taking the 1 year old out. its as if they were not truly all there mentally.
Dog might have not been able to walk well and carried. Or if on leash the father being close to death would not still hold the leash for the dog to be dead next to him. ! year old are crawling and starting to walk at 1 year old. can wiggle out of a backpack carrier or would be crying and screaming. Mother would not leave that baby like that. Baby would be out of carrier and held if that sick and dying. They wouldn't leave the baby in a carrier to die alone.
What drug or poison effects your brain thinking, and behaviour like that and kills within 1 hour or less?

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Both adults had phones with them.

 

[happyday]

Whatever it was acted fast on there systems. Do they have any issues with mobile labs making drugs in the woods in those areas? What is that drug that if even touched it can kill you? Police have been exposed at vehicle stops and the effects are quick. A mother is not going to leave a baby in a carrier sick, or dead. She's not going to leave her baby there to go to the car. She would bring her with her to find emed help for her child. Its as if they all were not thinking logically as if something caused there brain or thinking ability to not function properly. What's throwing me off is the mother leaving baby in a carrier and trying to leave without her. still leaving phone in husband's pocket.
The baby not taken out of the carrier. (at her age 1 year probably was a camping backpack loose fitting type) but just taken off his back and layed there not taking the 1 year old out. its as if they were not truly all there mentally.
Dog might have not been able to walk well and carried. Or if on leash the father being close to death would not still hold the leash for the dog to be dead next to him. ! year old are crawling and starting to walk at 1 year old. can wiggle out of a backpack carrier or would be crying and screaming. Mother would not leave that baby like that. Baby would be out of carrier and held if that sick and dying. They wouldn't leave the baby in a carrier to die alone.
What drug or poison effects your brain thinking, and behaviour like that and kills within 1 hour or less?

There don’t seem to be any woods in that area—just exposed switchbacks—no cover. So I would have a hard time thinking there were any meth labs in that area, but I don’t know. You’re thinking of fentanyl I think for the super deadly drug.

I get what you’re saying that they seemed to be making some strange decisions, including going on a hike in the first place in the afternoon when the temps were in the 100’s. With a baby in a hot pack and a furry dog. I also wonder if there was something clouding their judgement, but it could have even been something that started at home. I don’t know if that makes sense & not entirely sure what I mean but I am so stuck on why they went on that hike in the conditions that they did.

Also I agree that normally a mother wouldn’t leave her baby alive or dead. We don’t really know if that was even what she was doing. Maybe she was just trying to get to the top of a hill to see how far away they were or where they even were if they were maybe lost. It’s all confusing.

 

[sfinkz]

A crucial tidbit being withheld is the direction of their hike, either; the loop clockwise—meaning they had already covered six miles, with a recent one-hour stroll along the river—or counterclockwise, thus at the beginning, 1.5 miles downhill. Surely, LE knows, as well as approximate start time, also yet to be disclosed.
The cellphone (phones?) should provide clues.

I can attest to the rugged chaparral landscape, fresh in springtime, however post-fire, mid-drought August day with 100+ temps, no surprise they lay up to 48 hours without being discovered.

One thing bothering me from outset: It has been determined last known contact @ 6:45 a.m. that fateful Sunday was photo sent out on social media of…an empty baby carrier?

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Wow, 9 hours to find them! Yet they were on the trail, not off it? Is that not an excessive amount of time? Especially as they were only 1.5 miles from the truck AND on the path.....

I don't think LE went down the trail that night. They put in a request for SAR and waited. I read they were found late the next morning.

 

[happyday]

One thing bothering me from outset: It has been determined last known contact @ 6:45 a.m. that fateful Sunday was photo sent out on social media of…an empty baby carrier?

It does sound foreboding, but it could have been a post like “Going to try out our new baby backpack today!” Context would matter here. But if they were up at 6:45, why wait til later in the day to go when it was in the 100’s? I don’t usually get hung up on things like that. As a runner and hiker, I KNOW we can and do some pretty risky things. I ran on a broken foot for weeks once because runners tend to push through the pain. I tend to run when it’s too hot, because I don’t like to get up early anymore. But still gonna run! Hikers do the same. Not taking enough water (too cumbersome) starting out later than recommended. I don’t usually question why when something goes wrong, but this case is different for me and I am totally stuck on the why. It doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[Satchie]

Wow, 9 hours to find them! Yet they were on the trail, not off it? Is that not an excessive amount of time? Especially as they were only 1.5 miles from the truck AND on the path.....

This isn't like an urban area where an ambulence is available 24/7 to rush people to hospital.

Firstly, it was pitch dark, no streetlights on the trail, there's no point in searching in the dark.

I think LE would have gone at first light to look for signs, before calling up a team, possibly Search and Rescue. It takes a bit of time to gather a team and the equipment they need to stay safe, and deal with whatever they find. Then, it appears they headed down the more popular Hites Cove Trail, but only found the bodies after coming up the other trail that closes the loop.

I find there's always good reasons for things, if you stop and think about the actual logistics.

 

[Parsnip]

It’s been a long time since I had a one-year-old, but I can remember trying to schedule things around nap schedules. I have two boys, and they were both walking around 10 months. Neither really liked being held or confined at that age, not even in a carseat. Maybe the parents waited for a regular nap time so that she would be more cooperative in the new gear? And they wanted to try it out on a known path close to home in the event she didn’t like it?

 

[GrimonTV]

Been thinking about reasons why they would go out in those conditions. From their social media posts it seems they used the walks as a way to de-stress as many of us do.
You can imagine after a stressful week, especially as new-ish parents and Jonathan having a new job, the need to get out on a trail may have been overwhelming.
As someone said earlier in the posts they could have planned to go out early before the heat set in, not realising it was already very hot and quickly became overwhelmed by the conditions, after all this was a trail they had done before, it should have been okay.
The answers that the family need are there, it might just take a while.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Been thinking about reasons why they would go out in those conditions. From their social media posts it seems they used the walks as a way to de-stress as many of us do.
You can imagine after a stressful week, especially as new-ish parents and Jonathan having a new job, the need to get out on a trail may have been overwhelming.
As someone said earlier in the posts they could have planned to go out early before the heat set in, not realising it was already very hot and quickly became overwhelmed by the conditions, after all this was a trail they had done before, it should have been okay.
The answers that the family need are there, it might just take a while.

Was this a trail they had done before with the baby?
Does their social media have pics of the family (including baby) on hikes midday in that area? Are any of their friends posting or talking about hikes the parents have been on recently? They also have a nanny that works Monday through Friday, so she would give the parents a break during the week.

 

[NSamuelle]

They may have succumbed to heat, but Ellen worked as a first aid instructor for the Red Cross and trained people in disaster preparedness - obviously something went very wrong, but it isn’t clear to me why someone with that background would choose to continue on a challenging hike with a susceptible infant in high temperatures. She grew up in Orange County - the microclimates of CA would not have been a mystery to her, and anyone can (and should) review a weather forecast before setting out.