5 ms·

Young men don't die for 'no reason'. It's odd that they couldn't find some cause of death, I assumed that in 2020 we'd be able to make a rough estimate. If ther

by jariel 6y ago

Young men don't die for 'no reason'. It's odd that they couldn't find some cause of death, I assumed that in 2020 we'd be able to make a rough estimate. If there's no obvious foul play then statistically the obvious one would be suicide, but that should narrow only to a few specific things. How many ways are there for one to 'just die' while lying in a tent.

bastawhiz 6y ago
I'm not sure the article said...is it known how long he was dead for before the body was discovered? After enough time has passed, it becomes impossible to reliably determine whether certain factors played a role in the death. Underlying health issues and infection can be hidden by decomposition.
- TranquilAvocado 6y ago
  I don't think it was in the article, but I read somewhere that they believe, based upon the little external decomposition, that the body was found perhaps a day after he passed.
ThePadawan 6y ago
"Young men dying for no reason" is not totally uncommon. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis#Epidemiology.
victor9000 6y ago
The article says he weighed 86 lbs, so it sounds like he died of starvation or malnutrition.
- ColanR 6y ago
  Which again is strange, since he was found with $3500 on him.
  - manicorganic 6y ago
    And there was food nearby. On the other hand, on the show Alone a few seasons back the medical staff had to pull someone who had weeks worth of smoked fish saved up yet was risking serious organ damaging due to malnutrition. Even though he had plenty of food he was simply rationing too strictly and had lost over 20% of his bodyweight in a matter of weeks. Point being, it's possible to put oneself in danger despite having the resources to avoid the risks.
    - milesvp 6y ago
      Alone was fascinating to binge on netflix. The winner of the season I watched had a whole elk to eat and was still losing dangerous amounts of weight over the course of the season. I would have never guessed that he would have struggled so much with such bounty.
  - Herodotus38 6y ago
    https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=94010 https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=94010 I wonder if he was fasting or starving himself and ran into unexpected trouble. For example pg 17 has some detailed nutritional data on something, maybe an idea for a protein bar?.
    - Certified 6y ago
      It looks like he was developing some sort of nutritional "wafer." I remember when Rob Rhinehart was in the early days of developing soylent, he commented that some of the raw nutritional powders he was sourcing for the mixture could be quite harmful if taken in the wrong dosage. Maybe he made himself sick with a bad batch of wafers?
Jtsummers 6y ago
Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.
- asphyxiac 6y ago
  Aneurism would show up in the autopsy, right? And snake bite in the toxo report? Not sure about stroke.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    Well, I'm not a doctor or medical professional of any sort so I honestly don't know. I was just presenting things that could lead to an apparently healthy young-ish man suddenly dropping dead for no apparent reason. I didn't pick them totally randomly, though. I had a rationale: He seemed emaciated, which suggests something left him immobile for an extended period since he had food at hand. This made me think of strokes and snake/spider bites. The former could leave you permanently immobile, but alive. Without assistance he'd have died within a few days. The latter, depending on the sort, could leave you immobile and in great pain for a day or so, with a chance to recover and survive. But if he'd already become sufficiently dehydrated he may not have had the energy or wherewithal to care for himself. There are other conditions which could lead to a similar outcome. Heat exhaustion, for instance, may not kill outright. But could leave you in a state where you need assistance and can't recover on your own. Whether they'd show up on an autopsy, I don't know. But also per the article it was a while before he was found. So given a sufficient level of decay, it's possible these conditions wouldn't show up or would be sufficiently hard to detect (remember, the sheriff's didn't even want to pay $5k for the DNA testing, he wasn't a crime victim so their budget wasn't paying for a lot of analysis).
  - pvaldes 6y ago
    Bothrops or Vipers distroy blood or tissues. Would made unmistakable swelling or extensive inner bleeding. Micrurus bites could be not so easy to detect but would not explain the weight loss. And liver and kidneys were clean
andromeduck 6y ago
It's rare but it does happen. Sometimes the heart can just stop beating such as in SADS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_arrhythmic_death_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_arrhythmic_death_syndro... https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17522-sudden-cardiac-death-sudden-cardiac-arrest https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17522-sudden-...
anonAndOn 6y ago
Foraging in the wild for food or water can have deadly consequences. For example, McCandless ate the wrong kind of berries.[0] Or the time when three campers scooped up more than just water in their coffee pot.[1] And don't underestimate the effects of Giardia.[2] That ubiquitous parasite could easily weaken and lead to the demise of a solo-hiker. [0]https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccandless-died https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccand... [1]http://www.realclear.com/discovery/2014/06/27/tiny_newt_poisoned_three_unsuspecting_campers_7640.html http://www.realclear.com/discovery/2014/06/27/tiny_newt_pois... [2]https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html
- pulse7 6y ago
  He had foot and $3500 in the tent...
  - jack_riminton 6y ago
    He’s getting back to nature, people don’t just eat wild food when their other food runs out

by jariel 6y ago

bastawhiz 6y ago

I'm not sure the article said...is it known how long he was dead for before the body was discovered? After enough time has passed, it becomes impossible to reliably determine whether certain factors played a role in the death. Underlying health issues and infection can be hidden by decomposition.

TranquilAvocado 6y ago
I don't think it was in the article, but I read somewhere that they believe, based upon the little external decomposition, that the body was found perhaps a day after he passed.

ThePadawan 6y ago

"Young men dying for no reason" is not totally uncommon. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis#Epidemiology.

victor9000 6y ago

The article says he weighed 86 lbs, so it sounds like he died of starvation or malnutrition.

ColanR 6y ago
Which again is strange, since he was found with $3500 on him.
- manicorganic 6y ago
  And there was food nearby. On the other hand, on the show Alone a few seasons back the medical staff had to pull someone who had weeks worth of smoked fish saved up yet was risking serious organ damaging due to malnutrition. Even though he had plenty of food he was simply rationing too strictly and had lost over 20% of his bodyweight in a matter of weeks. Point being, it's possible to put oneself in danger despite having the resources to avoid the risks.
  - milesvp 6y ago
    Alone was fascinating to binge on netflix. The winner of the season I watched had a whole elk to eat and was still losing dangerous amounts of weight over the course of the season. I would have never guessed that he would have struggled so much with such bounty.
- Herodotus38 6y ago
  https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=94010 https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=94010 I wonder if he was fasting or starving himself and ran into unexpected trouble. For example pg 17 has some detailed nutritional data on something, maybe an idea for a protein bar?.
  - Certified 6y ago
    It looks like he was developing some sort of nutritional "wafer." I remember when Rob Rhinehart was in the early days of developing soylent, he commented that some of the raw nutritional powders he was sourcing for the mixture could be quite harmful if taken in the wrong dosage. Maybe he made himself sick with a bad batch of wafers?

Jtsummers 6y ago

Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.

asphyxiac 6y ago
Aneurism would show up in the autopsy, right? And snake bite in the toxo report? Not sure about stroke.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  Well, I'm not a doctor or medical professional of any sort so I honestly don't know. I was just presenting things that could lead to an apparently healthy young-ish man suddenly dropping dead for no apparent reason. I didn't pick them totally randomly, though. I had a rationale: He seemed emaciated, which suggests something left him immobile for an extended period since he had food at hand. This made me think of strokes and snake/spider bites. The former could leave you permanently immobile, but alive. Without assistance he'd have died within a few days. The latter, depending on the sort, could leave you immobile and in great pain for a day or so, with a chance to recover and survive. But if he'd already become sufficiently dehydrated he may not have had the energy or wherewithal to care for himself. There are other conditions which could lead to a similar outcome. Heat exhaustion, for instance, may not kill outright. But could leave you in a state where you need assistance and can't recover on your own. Whether they'd show up on an autopsy, I don't know. But also per the article it was a while before he was found. So given a sufficient level of decay, it's possible these conditions wouldn't show up or would be sufficiently hard to detect (remember, the sheriff's didn't even want to pay $5k for the DNA testing, he wasn't a crime victim so their budget wasn't paying for a lot of analysis).
- pvaldes 6y ago
  Bothrops or Vipers distroy blood or tissues. Would made unmistakable swelling or extensive inner bleeding. Micrurus bites could be not so easy to detect but would not explain the weight loss. And liver and kidneys were clean

andromeduck 6y ago

It's rare but it does happen. Sometimes the heart can just stop beating such as in SADS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_arrhythmic_death_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_arrhythmic_death_syndro... https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17522-sudden-cardiac-death-sudden-cardiac-arrest https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17522-sudden-...

anonAndOn 6y ago

Foraging in the wild for food or water can have deadly consequences. For example, McCandless ate the wrong kind of berries.[0] Or the time when three campers scooped up more than just water in their coffee pot.[1] And don't underestimate the effects of Giardia.[2] That ubiquitous parasite could easily weaken and lead to the demise of a solo-hiker. [0]https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccandless-died https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccand... [1]http://www.realclear.com/discovery/2014/06/27/tiny_newt_poisoned_three_unsuspecting_campers_7640.html http://www.realclear.com/discovery/2014/06/27/tiny_newt_pois... [2]https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html

pulse7 6y ago
He had foot and $3500 in the tent...
- jack_riminton 6y ago
  He’s getting back to nature, people don’t just eat wild food when their other food runs out