MI - Juanita Richardson, 43, dies in fall at Pictured Rock cliffs, 22 June 2006

hoppyfrog

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Woman dies in fall from U.P. cliff

From http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-30/1151217891216880.xml&coll=6

Juanita Richardson died when she plummeted nearly 200 feet from the Pictured Rocks cliffs in the Upper Peninsula, where she had been sightseeing with her husband of 21 years, Thomas Richardson.

The woman had been hiking near Miners Castle, a landmark rock formation, Thursday with her husband when they stopped, and the woman began eating a snack around 11 a.m.

The two had been vacationing in the U.P. and also had visited the Keweenaw Peninsula, according to police.

"He said he had stepped away and gone to the bathroom and, when he got back, she was nowhere to be found," Blank said. "He looked over the ledge and saw her."

The husband went to a park visitor center and reported his wife had fallen. Rangers discovered the body near the waterline. They also discovered what is believed to be her snack and drink containers, along with her flip-flop shoe stuck in a tree below the cliff.

(I have to wonder about her having 'fallen.' I suppose it's possible, but....??)
 
Why would a person be eating a snack so close to the edge of a cliff that they would go over? Sounds like they were taking a little break but why that close to the edge? I guess it could happen but I just have such a fear of heights that no one would ever believe that I got that close to the edge...especially if there was no guardrail. Can it ever be proven that she actually slipped over the edge?
 
Oh no. Will this turn out to be a troubled marraige and find out the husband did it? That has happened SO many times. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
A simiair story line was in a Dean Kootnz novel.

Rather then a cliff it was an Over look with a week rail.

I find it hard to imagine anyone woud be climbing close to a high unguarded edge ALONE..

WHile her hubby oh-so conveniently was using a restroom?
 
hoppyfrog said:
Woman dies in fall from U.P. cliff

From http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-30/1151217891216880.xml&coll=6

Juanita Richardson died when she plummeted nearly 200 feet from the Pictured Rocks cliffs in the Upper Peninsula, where she had been sightseeing with her husband of 21 years, Thomas Richardson.

The woman had been hiking near Miners Castle, a landmark rock formation, Thursday with her husband when they stopped, and the woman began eating a snack around 11 a.m.

The two had been vacationing in the U.P. and also had visited the Keweenaw Peninsula, according to police.

"He said he had stepped away and gone to the bathroom and, when he got back, she was nowhere to be found," Blank said. "He looked over the ledge and saw her."

The husband went to a park visitor center and reported his wife had fallen. Rangers discovered the body near the waterline. They also discovered what is believed to be her snack and drink containers, along with her flip-flop shoe stuck in a tree below the cliff.

(I have to wonder about her having 'fallen.' I suppose it's possible, but....??)
Have a few questions.
Is that the first place the husband looked for her?
If so, why would he look over the ledge first?
Also anyone have a picture of this place and ledge?

:waitasec:

Did some googling......
Click on Minors Castle and Miners Falls...

http://www.nps.gov/piro/dayhike.htm
 
15qexqd.jpg

15qf293.jpg

Source for photos: munising.com
 
I actually don't have suspicions about this one. If you've ever been to the Grand Canyon or any of the national parks of Utah, Wyoming or Colorado you see tourists do extremely careless things, including walking as close to a dangerous cliff edge while wearing flip-flop sandles.

When I was at the Grand Canyon as a kid my sister and I saw a guy sit on the very edge of the cliff-under the railing-to have his drink from the snack bar and he slipped and fell while drinking right in front of our eyes. Thankfully the guy was okay but he was really lucky the ledge below was big enough for him at that spot and that he landed there.
 
Cliff plunge hearing delayed


Wednesday, February 14, 2007

MUNISING -- A hearing has been postponed in the case of a man accused of killing his wife, who fell to her death at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore last summer. Thomas David Richardson, 44, of McBain, is charged with open murder and manslaughter. A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday to determine whether there was enough evidence to put Richardson on trial. Instead, it was postponed until Feb. 28. Juanita L. Richardson, 43, was found at the bottom of a 140-foot cliff at the national lakeshore June 22. Her husband says he had stepped away from the area briefly to use the bathroom and didn't see his wife fall.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1171468129201350.xml&coll=6
 
Several months missing here. When was he charged, and what did they find to rule it not an accident?
If he pushed her, wouldn't there be marks on her, like a handprint on her back?
I would assume there was no struggle if she went over with her snack, although he could have thrown those over after the fact. If that's the case, she may have defensive marks, but she may have screamed and someone heard her....
 
I would love to go there and see it but I wouldn't get close to the edge either. It does look beautiful.
 
I did find this published last week, seems this guy was just arrested on 2/1 -

http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=11199

Juanita Louise Richardson, 43, died June 22 after plummeting nearly 150 feet from a cliff ledge about a quarter-mile southwest of Miners Castle.

Her husband ran to a visitor center at the park to report the incident. Since that time, police have been investigating the death, making several trips downstate, using a search warrant to confiscate computers from the Richardson home in late July and interviewing dozens of potential witnesses.

Police said their investigation shifted from an accidental death to a homicide probe because of inconsistent accounts of the incident given to police by Thomas Richardson.

Richardson initially told police he did not see his wife fall, having left the place on the cliff the couple reportedly referred to as their “honeymoon spot” to go to the bathroom in the woods
 
I don't know whether this guy is guilty or not.

But it never ceases to amaze me what people will do to other people, particularly to the mother or father of their children.

And it never ceases to amaze me how afterward, they just can't shut up about it.
 
Yeah, I don't know. My brain says he did it, because it's too convenient that he was in the bathroom and his story has changed.


My heart wants to believe that there is no way he could murder his wife of 21 years and the mother of his children at their "Honeymoon Spot" of all places.

You better believe I would haunt the hell out of my husband.
 
My b/f and I have discussed getting married on Pictured Rocks.........
 
Dena said:
Yeah, I don't know. My brain says he did it, because it's too convenient that he was in the bathroom and his story has changed.

I'm sure you were just using a euphemism, but the dude wasn't "in" a bathroom. As I read the account, he was going in the woods.

I don't know how this works with heterosexuals. Personally, I wouldn't urinate on my partner's foot, but I don't have to go all that far away in the woods.
 
Amraann said:
A simiair story line was in a Dean Kootnz novel.

Rather then a cliff it was an Over look with a week rail.

I find it hard to imagine anyone woud be climbing close to a high unguarded edge ALONE..

WHile her hubby oh-so conveniently was using a restroom?


Amraann,

I just read that book, From the Corner of his Eye, last week! The story popped into my mind immediately when I heard this , too! OT, but wasn't that an awesome book?

I hope this guy didn't kill his wife. I feel bad suspecting it, but it turns out that way so often. Hinky that she fell just when he was answering nature's call.

Eve
 
Ever been to the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland? nutty people hang off those cliffs day in and day out, not realizing that one good updraft could pull them off of it. Even over on the Aran island of Inishmore, people sit or stand on the cliff edge at Dun Aengus fort. I've photographed people doing it... scary as all get out.


http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r30/elphaba_chronicles/aran3.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r30/elphaba_chronicles/aran4.jpg
Her falling off by accident is a viable conclusion, but with hubby giving inconsistent accounts, it does make it suspicious. Unfortunately we may have to chalk this up to another selfish person that overlooked the concept of something called "divorce".
 

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