Man found dead in truck after 70 days in remote USA

[Qwerty]

A 68-year-old man died in a sleeping bag in his truck after he got stuck in the snow while camping in February and kept a log of nearly 70 days spent apparently stranded in east Linn County's high country, authorities said today.

A U.S. Forest Service crew surveying roads discovered the body of Jerry William McDonald on Thursday in the back of his 1997 GMC pickup with a canopy. The truck was on Forest Service Road 517, about three miles from Oregon 22 and about four miles from Marion Forks.

McDonald's truck registration listed an address in Unity, but he had no permanent home, Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller said in a news release. He was estranged from his family and hadn't been reported missing.

A homemade calendar in the truck indicates McDonald arrived in the remote mountain area on Feb. 7, probably to camp, sheriff's officials said. A later entry says: "Trapped, snowed in on 14th." His final entry came April 15 -- 68 days since the first entry -- and said only how long he'd been there.

Snow would have made the mountain spot impassable, Mueller said.

It appears McDonald tried to get his truck unstuck by using a jack and placing rocks under the tires for traction, he said. The truck had a quarter tank of gas, chains on all four tires and was drivable.

McDonald had built a small fire, had warm clothing, water collected in buckets and extra fuel for the pickup, but no food in the truck, a cell phone or a GPS, sheriff's officials said.

Detectives found no indication that McDonald tried to walk out of the area. They found $5,000 in the truck and no signs of foul play.

The preliminary investigation and autopsy indicate that McDonald died of starvation and/or hypothermia.

source

What a sad story. The poor guy, if only he had a few more bits and pieces he could have made it.

 

[sandbender]

He was sixty eight years old but may have been in good physical shape. The nearest main road was about three miles away, the track leading to it may have been impassable for his truck but perhaps he could have made his way down (but without snow shoes he may have had to crawl most of that).

There could have been an element of bloody mindedness here, his truck was (and contained) everything he owned so he probably wasn't too willing to give that up. Sad story.

Map of the area here.

More on the story here.

 

[Hoodoo]

Sad story.

 

[santaman2000]

Sad indeed. So many things went wrong (or planned poorly) done to cause this though:
1. If he had told someome where he was going 1st a search party might have found him
2. If he had taken a cb or similar he could maybe have contacted someone on the road only 3 miles away.
3. If he had a map or gps to let him know that there was a road 3 miles away (maybe but then again it seems he was a local and might have known already)
4. If he had taken more food (maybe but it seems he was there for camping and thus had brought food but had simply exhausted it; after all 68 days is a long time)

Still point #1 sums it all up; always leave a trip plan with someone reliable.

 

[rik_uk3]

Very very sad.

 

[Wayne]

Lonely way to go very sad.

 

[Tengu]

Notice your always told to stay with the vehicle

 

[forestwalker]

Notice your always told to stay with the vehicle

Yes, because in 99.9...% of the cases that is the proper thing to do. The vehicle is easer to find, walking out is often unsafe for most people (no bush skills), and a walking person is harder to find.

Those who knows what they are doing could have in his circumstances:

1. improvised a pair of snowshoes and walked out
2. used one of the mirrors to signal any passing aircraft
3. hunted or trapped animals for food (non-trivial, but possible)
4. set up signal fires (any pilot seing three fires in a triangle *should* have notified the authorities)
5. known better than to go out without some form of backup transporation

 

[FGYT]

Or he could have slipped away dripling into his soup and low wage illegal wiping his backside stuck in a care home

ATB
Duncan
from tapatalk phone

 

[oxygen sniffer]

Perhaps he was missing the one truly vital ingredient - the will to live?

 

[santaman2000]

Yes, because in 99.9...% of the cases that is the proper thing to do. The vehicle is easer to find, walking out is often unsafe for most people (no bush skills), and a walking person is harder to find.

Those who knows what they are doing could have in his circumstances:

1. improvised a pair of snowshoes and walked out
2. used one of the mirrors to signal any passing aircraft
3. hunted or trapped animals for food (non-trivial, but possible)
4. set up signal fires (any pilot seing three fires in a triangle *should* have notified the authorities)...

REPLY: I was taught similar distress signalling in the Boy Scouts but had forgotten it and oddly it wasn't part of my pilot training. I think technology (EPIRBs) have made it obsolete for pilots/aircrew. No one monitors morse signals anymore either outside the ham bands and even then it's not required for getting a license.

 

[T1Viper]

Its such a sad story.

If he had only alerted somewhere as to where he was going and when he was due back things could have ended differently.

 

[forestwalker]

4. set up signal fires (any pilot seing three fires in a triangle *should* have notified the authorities)...

REPLY: I was taught similar distress signalling in the Boy Scouts but had forgotten it and oddly it wasn't part of my pilot training. I think technology (EPIRBs) have made it obsolete for pilots/aircrew. No one monitors morse signals anymore either outside the ham bands and even then it's not required for getting a license.

But even if not generally known it is so strange that someone may notice and wonder. One would hope.

 

[rik_uk3]

Just a thought, maybe he went there to end his days?

 

[santaman2000]

Maybe, but it's hard to imagine choosing starvation as the method.