CA CA - Bill Ewasko, 66, Joshua Tree National Park, June 2010

[Gardener1850]

In June 2010, Bill Ewasko traveled alone from his home in suburban Atlanta to Joshua Tree National Park, where he planned to hike for several days. Ewasko, 66, was an avid jogger, a Vietnam vet and a longtime fan of the desert West. A family photo of Ewasko standing at the summit of Mount San Jacinto, another popular hiking destination in Southern California, shows a cheerful man with a salt-and-pepper mustache, looking fit, prepared and perfectly comfortable in the outdoors.

Ewasko left a rough itinerary behind with his girlfriend, Mary Winston, featuring multiple destinations, both inside and outside the park. His first hike, on Thursday, June 24, was meant to be a loop out and back from a remote historic site known as Carey’s Castle, an old miner’s hut built into the rocks. Carey’s Castle is so archaeologically fragile that, to discourage visitors, the National Park Service does not include it on official maps. Winston, a retired mortgage broker, was worried about that particular hike. From what she had read, the site sounded too remote, too isolated. She so thoroughly pestered Ewasko about his safety that, when he arrived in California, he bought a can of pepper spray as a kind of reassuring joke. Don’t worry, Ewasko told her. He would be all right.

The plan was that after he finished the hike, probably no later than 5 p.m., he would call Winston to check in, then grab dinner in nearby Pioneertown. But 5 p.m. rolled around, and Ewasko hadn’t called. Winston tried his cellphone several times, and it went directly to voice mail. She knew he might still be in a region of the park with limited cellular access, but the thought was hardly reassuring. As night fell on the West Coast with no word from Ewasko, Winston tried to call someone at the park, but by then Joshua Tree headquarters had closed for the day. Her only option was to wait.

The next morning at a little before 8 a.m., Winston finally got through to park rangers to explain her situation: Her boyfriend was missing, a solo hiker presumably lost somewhere in the precipitous terrain surrounding Carey’s Castle. Rangers went immediately to the trail head, but Ewasko’s rental car, a white 2007 Chrysler Sebring, was nowhere to be seen. What’s more, the trail appeared to have had no visitors for at least a week. Ewasko had apparently changed plans.

It was not until the afternoon of Saturday, June 26, nearly two full days after Ewasko failed to call Mary Winston, that a California Highway Patrol helicopter finally spotted Ewasko’s car at the Juniper Flats trail head, nearly a 90-minute drive from the Carey’s Castle trail head. By this time, he would have been exposed to late June temperatures hovering in the mid-90s, probably with little food or water. Locating the car did indicate that Ewasko was — or had at one point been — inside the park, and the rapidly expanding search effort immediately shifted to Juniper Flats.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/22/magazine/voyages-joshua-tree-lost-hiker.html

 

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Search Continues For Man Who Went Missing In Joshua Tree 8 Years Ago[/h]

A feature article by Geoff Manaugh, which is published in the latest edition of the New York Times Magazine, details the case of another experienced hiker who went missing in the park. Bill Ewasko disappeared eight years ago and has never been found.

Manaugh joins Midday Edition Wednesday to talk about how the search for Ewasko continues.

Radio program audio at link: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/mar/28/case-man-missing-joshua-tree-proves-its-still-poss/

 

[Gardener1850]

Website set up for Bill: http://billewasko.homestead.com/

 

[Gardener1850]

William Michael Ewasko is a Vietnam Veteran who was last seen on June 24, 2010 when he left for a solo hike in the Joshua Tree National Park in California. William Michael Ewasko is from Marietta, Georgia and visited California with his girlfriend. William Michael Ewasko was considered an experienced hiker and had hiked the Joshua Tree National Park several times before. His plan was to call his girlfriend at 5 PM on the day of his hike to check-in, but he never made the call. She reported him missing the following day. A California Highway Patrol helicopter crew located William Michael Ewasko’s white 2007 Chrysler Sebring (Rental Car) at Key’s View in the National Park.

Read more: http://www.missingveterans.com/2010/william-michael-ewasko/

 

[sk999]

Good article, with new info about search and rescue that I hadn't been aware of.

We don't even know for sure where Bill was headed, but the best guess is Quail Mountain. We do know that his cell phone pinged a tower 3 days after he disappeared, and it placed him North of Quail, which would be the opposite direction of his car. Out of curiosity (and and excuse to get out of town), I flew out there last week (just like Bill did), parked at the same trailhead where Bill's car was found, and hiked up Quail. The last 1.5 miles is off-trail but overall not too difficult. In fact, after returning, I had time to visit Keys View and Lost Horse Mine, two other possible (but unlikely) destinations for Bill.

What did I learn? First, if he climbed Quail, there was no way he would travel North from there, given his time constraints. The terrain is rough. It would take a lot of energy and be slow-going. Second, it is easy to see how someone could go astray following a trail. The soil is basically sand. If the trail crosses or joins with a wash, which happens a lot, it would be easy to continue along the wash rather than turn off once the trail leaves it.

I did not see any signs of Bill (or even other people - it's remote) and I have no good idea where he ended up.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Human bones found in Joshua Tree National Park

http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_3727f120-5253-11e8-a9f1-377a2cf986c1.html

Hikers found human bones in the Stubbe Springs Loop area of Joshua Tree National Park Thursday, spokesman George Land said.

Investigators from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department went to the scene with park rangers and collected the remains and other evidence for testing and analysis by forensic specialists.

The identity of the person is unknown.

At the coroner’s facility in Indio, the bones will undergo a series of forensic tests, Sgt. N. Rissi said.

 

[Gardener1850]

Human bones found in Joshua Tree National Park

http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_3727f120-5253-11e8-a9f1-377a2cf986c1.html

2 miles from where they found his car. I hope this is Bill so his family can finally have closure.

 

[sk999]

Human bones found in Joshua Tree National Park

http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_3727f120-5253-11e8-a9f1-377a2cf986c1.html

Very interesting. Hopefully some more details will be forthcoming, such as how far off the trail the bones were found. This area was searched at the time Ewasko disappeared, with nothing found other than skeletons of bighorn sheep, presumably killed by mountain lions. The ping from his cell phone, which was received while the original search was in progress, supposedly placed him miles away, which makes one wonder if the data were valid.

 

[Gardener1850]

More remains found in Joshua Tree in a different location:

<SNIP>
"Due to the suspicious circumstances regarding this incident, the Central Homicide Unit assumed the investigation," said Sgt. Ben Ramirez.

The remains have not been identified, he said.
Big Horn Pass Road, which runs between Park Road and Queen Valley Road, was closed for an indefinite period of time while authorities conduct the death investigation, park officials said.

This marks the second time in a month that human remains are found in the park. On May 3, hikers found human bones in the Stubbe Springs Loop area.

Human Remains Found in Joshua Tree

 

[DaisyChains]

More remains found in Joshua Tree in a different location:

Human Remains Found in Joshua Tree

Is there a separate thread for these remains?

Very worried about this being a homicide. I know of 2 women off the top of my head who disappeared from here in the high desert (one Myself and a few sales clerks saw, but won’t speak about here). I guess the remains are not very old? So strange to leave a body in the park. You have to go by a ranger station. Might be another Erin Corwin situation - brought into the park and killed in the park. I live pretty much in Joshua Tree and it’s just strange to leave bodies in the park as there’s so many open and unincorporated areas in the desert here where no one is and leaving a body would be more secure for the perp. Joshua Tree park is tourist central. Tons of foot traffic.

This could get interesting... tons of folks from all over god’s green earth traverse that area.

 

[Gardener1850]

Is there a separate thread for these remains?

Very worried about this being a homicide. I know of 2 women off the top of my head who disappeared from here in the high desert (one Myself and a few sales clerks saw, but won’t speak about here). I guess the remains are not very old? So strange to leave a body in the park. You have to go by a ranger station. Might be another Erin Corwin situation - brought into the park and killed in the park. I live pretty much in Joshua Tree and it’s just strange to leave bodies in the park as there’s so many open and unincorporated areas in the desert here where no one is and leaving a body would be more secure for the perp. Joshua Tree park is tourist central. Tons of foot traffic.

This could get interesting... tons of folks from all over god’s green earth traverse that area.

I didn't see one, so I created one: CA - Ca - Partially Buried Remains In Joshua Tree National Park, Near Big Horn Pass Rd, June 2018

Not seeing any new updates on either set of remains this morning.

 

[Gardener1850]

Human bones found in Joshua Tree National Park

Human bones found in Joshua Tree National Park

Not seeing any update on these remains. Started a UID thread: CA - Ca - Skeletal Remains In Joshua Tree National Park, Near Stubbe Springs Loop, May 2018

 

[cybervampira]

Don' t know if this NY Times article about Bill Ewasko has been posted here yet. WS is mentioned.
Tragically Lost in Joshua Tree’s Wild Interior

A loose group of sleuths with no personal connection to the Ewasko family — backcountry hikers, outdoors enthusiasts, online obsessives — has joined the hunt, refusing to give up on a man they never knew. As it happens, we live in something of a golden age for amateur investigations. Armchair detectives have at their disposal an array of internet resources, like WebSleuths, a forum with more than 140,000 registered users dedicated to examining unsolved crimes, including missing-persons reports.

 

[lilythistle]

It would be really wonderful (inasmuch as it's wonderful to find a body, but you know what I mean) if one of these sets of remains turns out to be Bill Ewasko. People have spent a lot of time searching for him. I've been rather fascinated with the searchers and searches; there's a lot of interesting reading at Searching for Bill Ewasko.

I hope that whoever they are, the remains can be identified quickly to give their families closure.

 

[foxbluff]

2 miles from where they found his car. I hope this is Bill so his family can finally have closure.

What a pity that he didn't let his girlfriend know about his change in plans of where he would hike that day!

Had he notified her, it's possible that his story would have had a better ending. Moo

 

[Otterly]

It would be really wonderful (inasmuch as it's wonderful to find a body, but you know what I mean) if one of these sets of remains turns out to be Bill Ewasko. People have spent a lot of time searching for him. I've been rather fascinated with the searchers and searches; there's a lot of interesting reading at Searching for Bill Ewasko.

I hope that whoever they are, the remains can be identified quickly to give their families closure.

Tim Mahood's work has been incredible. He's the same guy who found the Germans who had been missing in Death Valley NP since 1996. The search for Bill Ewasko seemed to have really stumped him, he's been looking for him since Bill first went missing. I really hope one of the sets of remains is Bill as well. His family definitely deserves closure.

 

[iulia]

NamUs page Missing Person Case

 

[Suglo]

Bumping for Bill!

 

[Perry2]

Here's a map of publicly-known searches:
Bill Ewasko Searches & Relevant Orbeso/Nguyen Searches
To render faster, disable labels in the Config menu. The map layers are in the upper right. Using only 1 map layer may also speed up rendering time.

And an analysis of the Orbeso pings which may give an idea of the accuracy (lack of) of the Ewasko ping:
Ping Radii Error Estimation
Orbeso had ATT. Ewasko had Verizon. The southernmost tower gave me and a friend cell service when we had line-of-site (both of us have ATT) and the Ping2 radius matching the car is consistent with early reports that the ping was near the parking lot. The direction from tower was probably calculated using the three 120-degree segment strengths and obviously not very accurate. So my opinion is that the Ewasko ping could be off by 20% or more. Others disagree.

 

[j_in_c]

Haven't looked at maps to determine where this is exactly, but Bill Ewasko always comes to mind (now that Paul miller has been located):
Human skeletal remains found in Joshua Tree National Park