Three found dead at remote Rocky Mountain campsite were trying to escape society, stepsister says

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 249 points – Three found dead at remote Rocky Mountain campsite were trying to escape society, stepsister says
apnews.com

The stepsister of a Colorado woman who was found dead along with her sister and teenage son at a remote Rocky Mountain campsite says the women fled into the wilderness after struggling to cope with societal changes in recent years, but they were unequipped to survive off the grid.

Exposed to several feet of snow, chills below zero and with no food found at their camp, Christine Vance, Rebecca Vance and Rebecca’s son likely died of malnutrition and hypothermia, according to the autopsies released this week. Authorities haven’t released the boy’s name.

Those reports contained another chilling detail that brought stepsister Trevala Jara to tears: The 14-year-old boy’s body was found with Jara’s favorite, blessed rosary that she gave the group before they left.

59

“God was with them,” said Jara

Well God could've fucking helped a little bit then, eh?

He was a little busy forgiving a child rapist praying over one of their dozen victims.

I always felt Wilson in the movie "Castaway" was the most realistic portrayal of God for survival situations.

Pretty much. They keep digging and talking to the few primitive groups left.

Some animals that are smart and social have funeral rites. Crows and elephants. Been known to visit locations where the dead were, leave items for their poor dead friend. A dead human and a living human are basically the same except something seems missing. We know now it is the arrangement but to our ancestors it was some component. Well if something is missing it must be out there somewhere.

Funeral sites are built. People go there and look at the little stone. Maybe the thing that is missing is in the stone. Leave items and gradually question why they are doing it. It must be transactional. Offerings develop. I give this cup of wine and you help me with my crops this year. Ancestor worship is still common around the world and why should it not be? Your parents always looked after you and you are still helping them.

The ancestor worship grew. Some ancestors were more important than others. Great warlords are still revered for centuries. Eventually morphing into a small god who protects the tribe. The small god is better than the small god of the other tribe. There must be a god greater than them all.

"We know now it is the arrangement"

Can you explain what you mean here?

Sure, it isn't like a human loses mass when they die. The difference between a dead human and a living one is how everything is hooked together. A rough analogy: take apart a Lego set, the bricks are still there but the structure is totally different.

However, to a person without this knowledge it looks like there was something taken away. Breath/soul is how Mediterranean cultures traditionally viewed it.

He doesn’t lift a finger when a child is sexually abused by his representatives, he ain’t gonna give a shit here either.

Any god is evil.

I don't think god even exists. At least not the kind these poor creatures dreamed of

Oh certainly not. If he existed as advertised, the whole Vatican would be brimstone and pillars of salt.

So you would rather God step in and make sure we only make good choices completely overriding our free will? Sounds kind of authoritarian.

Forcing people to worship an indifferent God under threat of eternal damnation sounds authoritarian too. Which flavor would you prefer for your sky daddy?

You'll be happy to know relatively few religious beliefs have a concept of eternal damnation.

Really just two.

The rosary suggests these people were catholic, so I am shitting on the catholic God, not religion as a whole.

If they were Catholic than they can be presumed to accept and understand Catholic teaching that God does not directly interfere with the world or it is a violation of Free Will.

God does not directly interfere in the world

Except all those times he did.

I'm not here to debate Catholic canon with you, merely to inform you of what Catholics believe, as a former Catholic.

3 more...

Yeah, well fuck them. Except the kid. Fuck them for bringing the kid. You want to escape society, fine. But bring the kid after you've figured out how to survive in the wilderness.

can you even imagine? in these situations the kid would be lucky if it died first. if not, the kid was kept alive by the adults long enough for it to watch the adults die, then the kid had to die alone in the tent while it waited in the cold just for nobody to come and help. poor thing. I'm terrified just writing this out.

People can't survive in the wilderness. At least without a decent size community to support them. There are folks who make it years alone with training and knowledge, but you are always just one mistake or circumstance away from death. Humans are not built to survive alone.

The only way a small number of people survive alone is by having money and a large group of people to buy things from and have those things brought to them by the large group... Oh wait... That's not alone... Right right. My bad.

"Mountain campsite says the women fled into the wilderness after struggling to cope with societal changes in recent years"

I can relate to this.

...found with Jara’s favorite, blessed rosary that she gave the group before they left.

“God was with them,” said Jara

Oh, no I can't. Huh.

I don't have all the details but this sounds like some very stupid campers.

I have done a lot of camping and I would be very cautious about camping "remote" in the Rockies. And no way in hell would I even dream About not taking food.

Sounds like they fucked around with nature and found out.

It also sounds like that boy was a victim of parental stupidity. I pity him.

yeah unless youre prepared to deal with the amount of snow that falls in the rockies and hunt/gather for food during that time its beyond reckless to try camping in those conditions. i knew someone that moved to alaska to do that with a buddy. they were way more prepared than these people and they came back within a year with their tails between their legs from mother nature kicking their ass.

Jara said she tried everything short of kidnapping to keep them from leaving, but nothing worked. Now, Jara wants to warn others about the risks of surviving in the wilderness.

“I do not wish this on anybody at all,” Jara said. “I can’t wait to get to the point where I’m happy and all I can think of is the memories.”

I feel so bad for the stepsister

Sometimes family members make stupid decisions. It's a fucking shame that the family went all in by going to the mountains instead of... I dunno, doing a test run in a tent in the backyard for a week?

It says it was updated today, but pretty sure this is old news. My concept of time is iffy though, could be weeks old story updated, could be months old story.

I remember another story a few months ago but thought it was just a mother and son? Maybe that’s why it’s so familiar.

I searched to confirm and it's weird that so many sites posted the story again super recently with what looks like no new info (except maybe the rosary in the son's hand), but this one explicitly says they were found in July. The one you posted I didn't see any date, which was why I was not 100%.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/3-bodies-found-colorado-campire-rocky-mountains-victims/73-154b444b-c039-4779-b8b2-c4a758aef4d4

Seems the sister didn't really care to go, but went to try to give them a better chance at surviving.

2 more...

I am tempted to do this as I have the training.

I also have type 1, which cuts my chances of doing it significantly.

I can make my own insulin, but that means boiling a lot of pancreas that are not mine. Turning me into a vampire like creature for others pancreatic juices...

Sorry, when you say you can do you mean you have, and used it?

I have a small amateur lab at home, yep.

Its really easy to make once you know how. Though it takes a lot of prep and animal pancreas.

I'd rather use pharma insulin though. I only learned for SHTF reasons.

Technically didn't that already make you a vampire... Just one that lives in a society where you pay money to a good of people to find and boil those pancreas for you?

Nah, insulin is produced by bacteria that have been edited to contain the genes to create insulin. No pancreas is harmed to make it.

Now-a-days it's not made from pancreas, but I'm not confident enough to edit yeast DNA yet.

Someone told them they were too stupid to live, and they said “hold my cheese whiz”

There are certainly easier and less unpleasant ways to end your life. I always feel bad for the kid in these situations. He didn't choose to have guardians so incompetent at life they couldn't look after him.