A woman who hiked into the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes died on her hike/NPS file
A 27-year-old woman who headed out into Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at Death Valley National Park for a hike of a couple hours was found dead roughly a mile-and-a-half from her vehicle.
Park officials said Monday that the woman and her aunt started their hike from the sand dune parking lot around 11 a.m. on Saturday. The pair split up around 11:30 a.m.; the aunt returned to the parking lot and the woman, an experienced hiker, said she would return in one or two hours.
After a few hours, the aunt hiked back into the dunes but was unable to locate her niece. She contacted park rangers around 5 p.m. to report her niece overdue. Park rangers searched unsuccessfully that evening. A larger group of park rangers searched the next morning. Around 9 a.m. Sunday one of the search teams found tracks matching the missing woman’s hiking boots.
The deceased woman was found at 9:22 a.m. She was in the flats north of the sand dunes, about 1 ½ miles from the parking lot. Park staff used a wheeled litter to carry her body to the parking area.
The Inyo County Coroner’s Office was investigating the matter. However, foul play is not suspected, a park release said.
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Comments
That woman is my friends cousin. She just graduated medical school. She was an intern in a hospital in NY. She is filipino. My thoughts and prayers are with her family.
I met her aunt waiting on a bench outside the Stovepipe Wells Inn for the park police to find her niece. I was shocked to learn of the death. Why didn't they send out a drone or helicopter with infrared??!! This is Death Valley. When someone goes missing, you need to get on it. Senseless and tragic death. So sorry for her loved ones.
I am sorry to hear about this. There must be more to this sad event. May you and your friends and family find comfort in your loss.
When the deceased woman was found, should the police or crime investigator have been called first before moving the body?
I would think the first thought would be that she may still be alive? Even so, moving a dead body is supposed to be for the dignity of the deceased.
Most drones don't have a terribly long range. They likely woudln't have a helicopter on call. Whenever helicopters are called in, NPS typically asks for help from local or state law enforcement, and that takes time. There are also a lot of animals out there, so simply finding an IR signature might not be enough.
Also - there's no park police at Death Valley. Any law enforcement will be rangers who are sworn law enforcement.
It's easy to get turned around in those sand dunes. A GPS unit or app is a good idea. also a compass this is very sad and avoidable
It is SIMPLY NOT that big of an area - it could be fully mapped by a commercial drone in 60 minutes - not a problem - something of TOTALLY OFF with this story - I jogged around the whole area in iunder 4 hours yesterday - it is almost impossible to become lost and it is very cool this time of year, think an investigation will reveal something else happened.