Inchworms Journal during 26 days lost...newest report

Geraldine Largay, "Inchworm" an experienced hiker, who had already conquered almost 1000 miles of trail including the very difficult white mountains. She was a nurse who served in the USAF. Her body with the exception of her hands and arms are discovered this past October more then two years after she went missing. Authorities at the time of the discovery of her remains conclude that Inchworm had died from exposure. More recently after the Medical Examinars report concluded she died in her tent in her sleeping bag 2,100' off of the AT. Not the 3,100 yards that was earlier reported. So the new conclusion is that she starved to death. Inchworm had the cognitive ability to make camp including a bedding made of pine branches she pitched her tent on. However, she apparently made no attempt to make herself more visible by getting her red coat some where it would become visible to air craft, or attempt to build a smokey fire that would have made her more visible. Does not Warren Doyle teach these things in the class that she attended? Starvation takes some time, and would of happened after weeks of searching had been concluded. So it is reasonable to believe she was already dead, or severely ill or she would of made herself visible to SAR. Perhaps her appendix ruptured. Perhaps she simply died in her sleep, like my father did, poison mushrooms, any number of things. What I find troubeling is that the authorities when the body was discovered knowing that she was found in her sleeping system, chose to conclude she died of exposure. Now after the information about her being found in her sleeping system the conclusion is starvation, while it could of been an array of other things. Why the reporting of 3,100 yards when it turns out that she was within a distance of just 2,100'? Our parents would call us home, from longer distances in our childhoods. Why were her hands and arms not found by k9? If there was evidence of foul play, defensive wounds might be found on her hands and arms. I do not recall hikers taking the energy, and negatively impacting the enviorenment by using pine branches for bedding.

Duplicate message deleted

The ME report does not list the cause of death as starvation it says the cause of death was inanition (the exhausted state that results from a lack of food and water). She was lost for 2.75 days before the search even started (Monday mid day until Thursday morning). How long does it take to become very weak and debilitated from a lack of water? The ME report mentions a plausible reason for the missing bones.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Son Driven

Our parents would call us home, from longer distances in our childhoods. .

---

Thats the truth. My parents had a big bell on a post in the back yard. When they rang the bell, it was time to hightail it home. We could hear that bell a mile away in the woods.

2100 ft is 0.4 miles.
An 8 minute walk. Like to get water from a shelter where its a little farther than average.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexasBob

How long does it take to become very weak and debilitated from a lack of water? The ME report mentions a plausible reason for the missing bones.

---

She was found near a stream the report said.

What is a "tote road"?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pringles

What is a "tote road"?

---

An unpaved woods road, more often just a wide path, used to haul ("tote") gear to a hunting, fishing, or logging camp. Once they're unused, they get overgrown pretty quickly with brush and such.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard

An unpaved woods road, more often just a wide path, used to haul ("tote") gear to a hunting, fishing, or logging camp. Once they're unused, they get overgrown pretty quickly with brush and such.

---

A lot of times, they become used for snowmobile trails or, more recently, four wheeler trails. If they are not used, within 15 to 20 years, they are gone.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexasBob

The ME report does not list the cause of death as starvation it says the cause of death was inanition (the exhausted state that results from a lack of food and water). She was lost for 2.75 days before the search even started (Monday mid day until Thursday morning). How long does it take to become very weak and debilitated from a lack of water? The ME report mentions a plausible reason for the missing bones.

---

People have lived many weeks without food. A quick Google search found a record of a British prisoner who went on a hunger strike for 72 days and survived.

Depending on the heat and level of physical activity a person could maybe live a week without water. However Gerry camped within sight of a stream.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Son Driven

My father went to bed one night and did not wake up the next day. This is probably more likely what happend to Inchworm rather then dyeing from exposure, or starvation. What I find suspicious is the need for the authorities to conclude. In October when she was found, head line reads "died of exposure". Ok not many exposure deaths happen in July, especially with trained, experienced hikers, who have a full set of gear, and at one time a USAF nurse. Then more recently when the medical examiners report comes out that she died in her sleeping bag in her tent the conclusion is that she died of starvation. Ok now that would of happened well after weeks of intensive searching. Her remains are found just 2,100 feet off of the AT. She had the cognitive ability to build up a bed made from pine branches to put her tent on, however no signal fire, her red jacket was not placed some where search planes might spot it. A logical conclusion to this is that she was either captured, or dead during the search. I find it odd that her arms and hands are missing, if their was evidence of foul play defensive wounds would show up on her hands and arms.

---

Interesting you say the victim likely "died like my father after he went to bed and never work up", then discount exposure due to the month of the year, and by the end of the paragraph you conclude was obviously captured. Speculations can go all over the place, but in this instance they serve little purpose unless one is a conspiracy buff or part of the BFRO.

To the point. Many people discount exposure and its impact on the body. Exposure is a serious issue and kills people during all calendar months of the year. An average of over 600 people die annually in the US due to exposure related issues during the warm weather months (defined as April - October) according to the CDC. That number grows for deaths during cold weather months.

Hypothermia (inability to maintain body temperature above minimum necessary for survival) and hyperthermia (inability to maintain body temperature below the maximum necessary for survival) are very dangerous exposure conditions that can incapacitate the victim quickly, usually without their awareness. Recognizing symptoms in someone in early stages of exposure is easier than recognizing symptoms in yourself due to the impact exposure has in thought processes. This is what makes exposure so dangerous for the lone hiker.

Hypothermia and hyperthermia symptoms can appear in temperatures of 70 degrees. A good example of hypothermia is being dressed in shorts and tee on a 75 degree day, standing in a cloud being pushed by a 20 mph wind (common in the mountains), hypothermia development is only a matter of time unless something is done to trap heat and reduce vapor contact and evaporation from the skin in relatively "warm" weather. Conversely, if working hard in that same cloud, at that level of humidity, your skin may not be able to evaporate enough water to cool your body and hyperthermia can easily develop.

Even the most experienced hikers/mountaineers can be impacted by this due to the loss of reasoning skills exposure commonly steals. It is common for people not to eat because they don't feel hunger or are nauseous and decline food. They will not drink due to not feeling thirsty or are experiencing nausea, compounding the effects of exposure and advancing the condition to the point the body can no longer function and starts to shut down. This is known medically inanition.

The Medical Examiner report did not list the cause of death as starvation. The official determination was inanition due to prolonged environmental exposure. Simply stated, inanition is a state of exhaustion due to lack of nutrition in combination with exposure to the elements. I don't say this to criticize your post but to increase your (and perhaps others) awareness of the complexity of exposure and how quickly it can develop in any one of us.

I understand how "odd" all this may appear and discounting hypothermia given the month of the year certainly is understandable without more information. One of the reasons this unfortunate circumstance is discussed at such great lengths is the victim was experienced and could have been most any one of us. Discussion of the facts adds to the body of knowledge regarding lone hiking and exposure related issues and hopefully helps prevents another from occurring.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Don H

.................. However Gerry camped within sight of a stream.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MuddyWaters

......She was found near a stream the report said.

---

Help me out here and tell me what report says she was near a stream or within sight of a stream? People have said this but I don't remember reading it in any reports. One poster said that the map shows a stream not too far away but thats all I recall about a stream.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Traveler

The official determination was inanition due to prolonged environmental exposure.

---

how are prolonged and exposure defined? is 2 days in a sleeping bag in a tent "prolonged environmental exposure"? did her period of "environmental exposure" begin as soon as she set foot outside wherever she had spent the night in rangeley? people used to live outdoors. were they perpetually in a state of environmental exposure then?

again, reading all of this at face value and taking the ME's word as truth and not speculation in absence of some other explanation, the idea that she was sitting there zipped up in her tent from the day she went missing until she eventually died of "prolonged environmental exposure" just does not seem logical.

I missed the plausible reason for the missing bones. It would be intresting to know what distances parts of remains can end up within 27 months of time. For what ever reason they ended up beyond the scent of the K9.

Logic does not always apply when in a Hypo/hyperthermic state. Looking from the outside it looks illogical.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dzierzak

Logic does not always apply when in a Hypo/hyperthermic state. Looking from the outside it looks illogical.

---

i'm not talking about the logic or lack there of of the person who is allegedly hypothermic.

she did not get into her tent and sleeping bag on the day she first went missing and then sit there until she died of "inanition due to prolonged environmental exposure" that is what i'm saying is not logical.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexasBob

I think rickb meant "with respect to" but it was a little confusing, I thought he was referring to some organisation or piece of equipment that could detect cellphone signals. Thanks for everybody's help.

---

Yes, "with respect to". Sorry that I was confusing.

After the most recent terrorist shootings in California there were articles in the news showing an airplane used by the NSA (I guess there are 10 in this country) that they sent up to capture cell phone signals that could be a help to thier investigation.

I also recall stories of local police departments using technology to directly intercept the cell signals of suspected criminals.

Those news stories got me to thinking that technology might be used in lost persons cases like this one, where all that stands between tragedy and a happy ending is a cell tower -- or its proxy.

Just a thought.

Thank you 4eyedbuzzard.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rickb

Yes, "with respect to". Sorry that I was confusing.

After the most recent terrorist shootings in California there were articles in the news showing an airplane used by the NSA (I guess there are 10 in this country) that they sent up to capture cell phone signals that could be a help to thier investigation.

I also recall stories of local police departments using technology to directly intercept the cell signals of suspected criminals.

Those news stories got me to thinking that technology might be used in lost persons cases like this one, where all that stands between tragedy and a happy ending is a cell tower -- or its proxy.

Just a thought.

---

Yeah, it would be nice. But some of the issues would be that people usually aren't declared missing by virtue of not "showing up" for at least 24 hours or so, often more. And someone has to know and report that they are missing. The missing person's cell phone would have to be on and searching for a signal while the aircraft was airborne and in range, or they would have to be aware enough to know that it would be some time before such an aircraft was deployed AND figure out when to turn their phone on to have a chance at pinging it's antenna. Battery life serious limits this approach as a phone searching for a signal will drain it's battery quickly. Perhaps this is a place where an app could be developed that would search for service only once every 5 minutes or so to prolong battery life. Weather also can limit aircraft operations. And then there is the nagging old cost issue. There are very few cases like Gerry's, and we don't even know if such technology would have made a difference, so it's very difficult to justify. It's expensive to acquire, maintain, and operate such aircraft. It's one thing if there is one available that can be commandeered for such purpose. It's much harder to justify keeping even a small fleet of them and crews to service the many places cell service isn't available for emergency purposes. For someone who wants true peace of mind in this respect, a PLB is probably the best option, so again, it comes back to cost and risk analysis, this time on a personal rather than public basis. And even then, technology isn't foolproof. You have to be capable of activating the device, the signal has to get through, you have to survive the interim time before rescue, etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexasBob

Help me out here and tell me what report says she was near a stream or within sight of a stream? People have said this but I don't remember reading it in any reports. One poster said that the map shows a stream not too far away but thats all I recall about a stream.

---

"The scene is a campsite in a small clearing within a heavily wooded area. The site is positioned on a knoll about midway up a southwest-facing slope which rises fairly sharply away from a stream" page 2, Medical Examiner's Report.

Quote:

---

Help me out here and tell me what report says she was near a stream or within sight of a stream? People have said this but I don't remember reading it in any reports. One poster said that the map shows a stream not too far away but thats all I recall about a stream.

---

The exact wording was

Quote:

---

the site is positioned on a knoll about mid-way up a southwest-facing slope, which rises fairly sharply away from a stream

---

So it does not specify by distance the proximity to water.

It also mentions that she had collapsed lumbar vertebrae consistent with her medical history. If she had a major sciatic nerve flare-up it is conceivable that she was not able to continue hiking due to extreme pain and decided to hole up until she was found.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tdoczi

i'm not talking about the logic or lack there of of the person who is allegedly hypothermic.

she did not get into her tent and sleeping bag on the day she first went missing and then sit there until she died of "inanition due to prolonged environmental exposure" that is what i'm saying is not logical.

---

I get that. The problem is, we don't know what we don't know about her actions that day or subsequent days, nor do we know the state of her health in the days preceding her going off the trail. I too doubt she would set up a campsite using pine boughs and then get into the tent and sleeping bag a few hours after getting off the trail. However, all we have is speculation of what she may have, could have, or should have done. Without those answers a lot of this will be illogical when trying to process it.

We do know how exposure can affect people however, with people who have moved into stages of exposure that were dangerous and survived it have said they lost appetite, lost track of time, forgot very basic things like how a zipper worked, focused on very small tasks like tying boot laces for long periods of time (or perhaps bedding for a tent?), didn't drink much water or had too much water i the case of heat stress which is equally as bad, or could not sleep. The insidious symptom of exposure is its theft of reasoning.

In that environment, coupled with age, possible chronic medical issues that were treatable with medication (presuming it was remembered), being tired if not exhausted after coming off the Whites and into the Mahoosics, thats a lot of body stress. She could have been in early stages of exposure related trauma just by her body slowly losing its reserves from the effort. Not eating well with loss of appetite and/or not drinking would complicate things very quickly. We cannot know these things, making it a frustrating issue.