Inchworm's remains have been found in Maine.

[Driver8]

Zooming in on the picture provided and spotting that on the ATC map, the spot is just about exactly 3500 ft east of the pond as reported. This puts her about 2200 ft from the trail.

Attachment 32341

Attachment 32342

Attachment 32343

This is substantially what I did. Differences I drew the line from where the railroad grade crosses the AT, which yielded 1.3 miles. If she took a relatively straightforward route up the railroad grade, shooting north east off of it along a beaten path to where she ended up, her walk would have been about 2 miles from the AT.

The key point raised by how far her remains were found from the trail is the question of whether the searchers should have combed over that area more thoroughly. I'm inclined to Believe that they did the best I could under the circumstances, given the resources and time pressures which prevailed.

[Mfrenchy]

This is so sad, I was holding out hope for her.

Questions I would like answers to:

1. Cause of death
2. How much food she had left
3. Was that area searched, if not, why

If I'm not mistaken, this is the general area we narrowed it down to when we were speculating a few years ago.

[Malto]

looking at the topo map on Postholers Google Map site shows a number of trails including what could be a old rerouted section of the AT in that area. I haven't hiked that section yet but at least on the map it looks likes a number of possible alternates that could have been taken in that area.
image.jpg

[GoldenBear]

> strangle someone and the skeleton wouldn't show it

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publicatio...aspx?ID=140062

The literature suggests that, in all types of strangulation, the thyroid is the most likely neck structure to be fractured. Fracture of the hyoid is most common in manual strangulations in which about 34 percent of all victims show a fractured hyoid, 34 percent fractured thyroid, and 1 percent fractured cricoid. In ligature strangulations, the frequency of hyoid fracture falls to about 11 percent compared to 32 percent thyroid and 9 percent cricoid

Strangle an elderly person and the odds are on the order of 40% that the skeleton will show something.

Unfortunately, the lack of any such fractures are not proof that an elderly person WASN'T strangled, so it won't be ruled out. I have little doubt but that the people who insist that she was murdered will state, "The lack of any evidence of foul play SUPPORTS my viewpoint!"

[Praha4]

I think that's a likely scenario. Lost, maybe injured or sick. I've taken a wrong turn before and I just pushed on until I came to some people who told me my current location, and it was a LONG way from the trail I had been on. If I were lost and maybe having a medical emergency, I might just go onto posted property hoping to be found.

I agree with you. I missed a turn on the AT/LT just north if Seth Warner shelter once in VT. Spent half a day hiking down a mud & gravel gully, after a while I just decided to push on, looking at my map....thinking I was going to end up in Bennington, looking at the angle of the afternoon sun, but I was off, and eventually ended up on County Rd, and ran into a local who showed me where I was on the map. Somehow I had actually done almost a 90 deg. turn and was heading west when I thought I was heading NNW. No compass on me either, which I know better. An emergency compass is a must have- along with a whistle.

Ended up just hiking down County Rd. and hitching into Bennington. In that case, I did not follow my #1 rule for not getting lost on the AT. If you don't see a white blaze after a half hour, you are probably off the trail, and I turn around and backtrack til I pick up a white blaze. It's easy to get off the AT in some sections of New England (and other regions to be honest), because it's not marked as well in some sections. Some sections you see a blaze every couple hundred yards or closer, some sections you can go for over a mile with no blazes. If she missed a blaze somehow, and wandered off the trail, no cell signal, she may have started to panic, increased B.P., adrenaline rush, possibility of cardiac event rises.

[WMR]

Forgive the novice, or if this has been answered already in this long thread:

On the satellite photo,what are the numerous white/pale bald spots or hash marks? Natural phenomena or some overlay on the photo?

[rocketsocks]

Forgive the novice, or if this has been answered already in this long thread:

On the satellite photo,what are the numerous white/pale bald spots or hash marks? Natural phenomena or some overlay on the photo?

Elevation markers.

[chknfngrs]

No tent, right? If she carried a lighter pack is it reasonable to believe that she was found in a sleeping bag only? This to me seems like she just got lost or turned around coinciding with medical duress.

[tdoczi]

looking at the topo map on Postholers Google Map site shows a number of trails including what could be a old rerouted section of the AT in that area. I haven't hiked that section yet but at least on the map it looks likes a number of possible alternates that could have been taken in that area.
image.jpg

google shows that weird fork in the AT too. dunno what that is. nearby mt redington is a 4Ker with no formal trail to the top and as such has multiple informal routes up it. i imagine (and others have seemingly confirmed) that there is at least 1 that leaves the railroad bed in that area.

[Water Rat]

No tent, right? If she carried a lighter pack is it reasonable to believe that she was found in a sleeping bag only? This to me seems like she just got lost or turned around coinciding with medical duress.

A lighter pack could simply mean less food, rather than ditching shelter and sleeping bag. Since she had spent the prior night in a shelter, that leads me to believe she at least had her sleeping bag with her.

[Heliotrope]

Is there any reason to leave the trail if you are suffering from cardiac symptoms or an injury of some kind when staying on trail is a more likely way to find help? Murder seems highly unlikely. I think she got lost first then the panic and stress induced a heart attack.

I got lost once on the AT in NY south of Bear Mt. I didn't realize I left the AT and followed another trail for hours. Then I heard s road and tried to make a beeline for it but got bogged down in dense vegetation. So I continued on the trail I was on and eventually found a quiet paved road. Flipped a coin as to which way to go. In the end I spent an entire day lost and ended up about 30 road miles from where I expected to be. During the entire day I never saw another soul. My point is it is possible to get disoriented even on a well marked path like the AT.


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[modiyooch]

I don't think hypothermia, if she had the presence of mind to put up her tent.
I don't think she needed medical attention, because the area was populated, and all she had to do was to stay put for awhile. (I hiked Saddleback the day prior)
If she was heading off the trail, why didn't she stay on the road?
If she got lost, and setup camp; I'm believe she would have written her thoughts on paper, or on her phone and time will tell.
It is a mystery.

[lightingguy]

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's unpossible to find you if you are dead and/or hiding. If you're kicking and presumably screaming, it's a whole lot easier.

This one I need to read. How the hell do you lose an airplane. They are supposed to follow flight plans and have radar signatures.

You lose an airplane when an inexperienced flight crew gets lost, makes mistakes in procedures for instrument flight landings, flies outside the suggested missed approach boundaries given local terrain, then flies into a mountain having again, not followed instructions for when and how low to start a decent. Boom into a mountain.

The mountain was the lower east slopes of Smarts Mt., which as BTW the AT goes right over, so maybe a 1/2 mile away. The plane crashed in winter in a blow down area, then got covered in snow, and it took a surveyor to find.

[tdoczi]

You lose an airplane when an inexperienced flight crew gets lost, makes mistakes in procedures for instrument flight landings, flies outside the suggested missed approach boundaries given local terrain, then flies into a mountain having again, not followed instructions for when and how low to start a decent. Boom into a mountain.

The mountain was the lower east slopes of Smarts Mt., which as BTW the AT goes right over, so maybe a 1/2 mile away. The plane crashed in winter in a blow down area, then got covered in snow, and it took a surveyor to find.

you either mean mt success or this has actually happened twice.

[4eyedbuzzard]

you either mean mt success or this has actually happened twice.

The Mt. Success crash was a DC3 in 1954. The one referenced above from my original post a few pages back was a LearJet crash in 1996 near Smarts Mountain. The only reason I bring the incident up occasionally is because people often don't realize how hard it can be to find things/people in the woods and mountains.

But I would submit that these multi-year searches where people and even pretty large things like aircraft go missing for years, is a lesson in why if you are injured or need help to NOT leave the trail. Bushwacking off trail makes people very hard to find.

[Starfly]

Thanks for mentioning the Learjet crash buzzard. Similar terrain, location, and quite frankly circumstances as Inchworm from a search perspective. That one reference, along with many others one could reference, is the trump card to any and all of the defeatist views to not search or stop searching. Just because 'professionals' have tried doesn't mean that a person(s) can't be found. I can be very difficult to find things lost in the wilderness. Never give up.

[Deacon]

For the remote areas of the AT, I strongly suggest hikers have available Guthook's AT Hiker app. (If they carry a smartphone). There is no cell signal required and can show exactly your location in relation to the AT.
It has saved my bacon twice.

[Madpaddy]

http://wkrn.com/2015/10/16/remains-o...ound-in-maine/

God bless her and her family

[SawnieRobertson]

The Mt. Success crash was a DC3 in 1954. The one referenced above from my original post a few pages back was a LearJet crash in 1996 near Smarts Mountain. The only reason I bring the incident up occasionally is because people often don't realize how hard it can be to find things/people in the woods and mountains.

But I would submit that these multi-year searches where people and even pretty large things like aircraft go missing for years, is a lesson in why if you are injured or need help to NOT leave the trail. Bushwacking off trail makes people very hard to find.

VERY good point. Educational.

[tridavis]

For the remote areas of the AT, I strongly suggest hikers have available Guthook's AT Hiker app. (If they carry a smartphone). There is no cell signal required and can show exactly your location in relation to the AT.
It has saved my bacon twice.

THIS!!! It has saved me twice now from heading down the wrong trail for more than a few hundred feet.