What killed family hiking on Mariposa County trail? Sheriff to address cause of death
The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office announced it will hold a news conference Thursday afternoon “regarding the cause of death” of a California family mysteriously found dead in August while hiking along a remote Sierra National Forest trail, located southwest of Yosemite National Park.
It will be the office’s “final investigative update” about the case, the sheriff’s office announced Wednesday, adding that “no interviews or information will be given prior.”
Few details about the investigation into the deaths of Jonathan Gerrish, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Aurelia “Miju” Chung-Gerrish, and dog, Oski, have emerged since they were found dead by a search and rescue team on Aug. 17 along the Savage-Lundy Trail in Devil’s Gulch near Hites Cove.
There is a known toxic algal bloom in the area. Water samples taken there showed high levels of anatoxin-a – sometimes called “very fast death factor” – but Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said last month that his agency was “not saying” that’s what killed the Mariposa family.
The sheriff’s office previously said the family was not killed by a gun “or any other type of weapon,” a lightning strike, suicide, or “chemical hazards” along a trail, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanide exposure, illegal drugs, or alcohol, and that all other causes of death remained possible.
“Many toxicology reports have been completed,” the sheriff’s office said Sept. 30, “however, we are still pending a few key results.”
Sierra National Forest previously closed large portions of its forest through Oct. 29, citing “unknown hazards found in and near the Savage Lundy Trail” where the family was found dead.
This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
