Family who went "off the grid" in Colorado wilderness died of malnutrition, autopsy finds

Chris Remington@beehaw.org to U.S. News@beehaw.org – 62 points –
Family who went "off the grid" in Colorado wilderness died of malnutrition, autopsy finds
nbcnews.com
15

This is really sad. The boy was only 13 when they went out there.

I don't know if 'sad' is the right word.

These people chose their fate. They were just too stupid to realize the consequences. Hopefully their principles kept them warm until the end.

I don't think the 13 year old was in any position to make an informed choice. Many people grow up to hold very different beliefs to those of their parents.

I'm not buying the family's claim that there was no mental illness involved with the mother, either.

Tangential observation: if people weren't fast enough to dodge an out of control bus or not strong enough to escape an attacker, that doesn't somehow make it less tragic to most people. It's strange to me that it's somehow different when it comes to death stemming from low innate intelligence.

That's fair. It was definitely child abuse in that instance.

But for the others, definitely neither sad nor tragic. They did something stupid and won a stupid prize for it. This wasn't a case of people being too slow to dodge a train. It was people sitting on the tracks and just refusing to acknowledge it was coming.

Why are physical limitations not people's fault but mental limitations are their fault?

I'm not trying to change your mind, just always wondered why people think this.

I find it interesting you went out of your way to 'explain' to someone why three dead people isnt "sad"

If something bothers you you have every option to just keep scrolling, friend. Have a lovely day.

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary Two sisters and the teenage son of one of them who told family last year they would live "off the grid" died of hypothermia and malnutrition as they endured the elements in the Colorado wilderness, according to newly released autopsy reports.

The teenager, who was not named publicly because of his age, weighed just 40 pounds, according to the autopsy from the Gunnison County coroner's office, first reported by The Colorado Sun.

Loved ones said that they were surprised the sisters would choose to forgo modern conveniences, but that Rebecca Vance had grown increasingly fearful of society after the Covid pandemic.

Initially, Christine Vance didn't seem like she was going to accompany her sister but last summer, she arrived at her stepsister's home with an urn of their mother's ashes and their deceased parents' belongings for safekeeping, Jara said.

Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes previously speculated that the cause of the deaths may have been related to exposure to cold weather and malnutrition.

Desiree McDonald, Rebecca Vance's friend and former co-worker at the now-defunct electronics chipmaker Atmel Corp., said in July that she had last texted with her at the end of 2020 as they were rekindling their friendship.


Saved 63% of original text. :::

They were looking for Trump's missing votes

I don't understand why you would make this joke.

Is this story a political talking point in the US or something? It just sounds super sad to me.

Covid denialism, etc etc. 99.9% chance that these women were hardcore in the Q bubble.

Oh I see, thanks for explaining.

The articles I read made it sound like the mother had always been a bit of a loner, so it reminded me more of the deaths of Timothy Treadwell (Grizzly Man) or Christopher McCandless (Into the Wild).

Things over there seem really polarized, even worse than here.

You are correct, the person you're responding to is jumping to conclusions with no evidence.

There's nothing in the article stating such. Just that one of the women had become fearful of the world because of COVID.