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Old vehicle wreckage poses mystery |
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Friday, 04 January 2008 |
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By Darcy Ellis
Editor 1-3-2008
Inyo County investigators have a bit of a mystery on their hands, following a grisly discovery over the weekend in Death Valley.
It was pilots from Edwards Air Force Base on Friday who spotted the wreckage of a 2002 Jeep Cherokee in a steep ravine near Father Crowley Vista Point and eventually led authorities to the remains of the individual believed to be the driver.
Had the airmen not noticed the hunk of metal in the unforgiving desert canyon, there’s no telling how long the wreckage would have gone undetected – despite its proximity to one of Death Valley’s most highly visited attractions.
“Based on where the vehicle was located, you couldn’t see it from Father Crowley Point,” said Sheriff’s Investigator Andrew Marsh. The vista point, located just to the north of State Route 190 about 41 miles east of Lone Pine, not only receives a fair amount of foot traffic, but is passed by hundreds of eastbound and westbound vehicles daily.
Marsh said investigators estimate the Jeep Cherokee could have been at the bottom of the ravine since August.
According to Marsh, local authorities were made aware of the possible crash site Friday about 1:13 p.m., when personnel from Edwards AFB contacted the Bishop office of the California Highway Patrol about what the pilots had seen.
CHP officers, Death Valley parkrangers and personnel with the Sheriff’s Department met up at Father Crowley Vista Point, where rangers descended the risky 100 yards down to the Cherokee, Marsh reported. The rangers determined the wreckage was old and there were no known survivors. “Skeletal remains” were found at the scene, Marsh said, including a femur, an upper jaw, pelvis and part of a spinal column.
Marsh noted that the remains appear to be from a single adult and are “somewhat aged and weathered from the elements.”
Inyo County Sheriff’s Department personnel were joined by the Coroner’s Office and technical Search and Rescue climbers the next day, Saturday, Dec. 29. The four SAR members were able to carefully descend the ravine – “It’s a dangerous hike,” Marsh said – and search the vehicle and surrounding area. In addition to human remains, they found personal items, such as letters addressed to the deceased as well as clothing.
Based on those personal items, including notes and documents discovered the day before by park rangers, investigators believe that whatever befell the driver happened sometime after Aug. 1.
The condition of the remains indicates it didn’t take place too long after that date.
The Inyo County Coroner’s Office now has possession of the remains, and will be jointly investigating the case with the Sheriff’s Department.
According to Marsh, identification was in the vehicle, and attempts at a positive ID are being made. Until then, and not before the victim’s next of kin has been notified, authorities will not release the name of the victim.
Finding out for sure who the driver was is one of many tasks facing investigators, who will also need to pinpoint a cause of death (which Marsh said will be “difficult” given the level of the remains’ decomposition) and determine how the vehicle ended at the bottom of the ravine (CHP will be helping here).
Investigators will also try to answer why, in four months, no one filed an overdue or missing persons report for the victim or a missing vehicle report for the Cherokee – something they discovered upon entering the Jeep’s license plate number into national databases without getting a single hit.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 22 February 2008 )
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