A family member of two sisters and a teen whose bodies werediscovered “fairly mummified"in a remote Colorado campsite earlier this month said their deaths should serve as a warning: living in the wilderness without proper experience can be deadly.
Trevala Jara, Rebecca and Christine’s stepsister, toldThe Washington Postthat the decision to “live off the grid” was made as Rebecca’s fears about the world intensified.
“She didn’t like the way the world was going, and she thought it would be better if her and her son and Christine were alone, away from everybody,” Jara, 39, told the newspaper. “She didn’t want the influences of the world to get to them. She really thought she was protecting her family.”
Although Christine wasn’t always planning on going, Jara toldThe New York Timesshe decided to come along “because she thought that if she was with them, they had a better chance of surviving.”
“We tried to stop them. But they wouldn’t listen,” she said while speaking withTheWashington Post.
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Not knowing where they planned on going, Jara toldThe Los Angeles Timesthat she asked Christine to send postcards to let her know they were safe, but the postcards never came.
Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes toldThe Colorado Sunthat he believed that possibly malnutrition and “exposure to the elements” through a harsh winter last year contributed to their deaths, though current analyses on their cause of death are still pending.
“At this point it appears that these three individuals began long term camping at the location near Gold Creek Campground in (approximately) mid-late July last Summer 2022 and attempted to stay through the winter,” he toldThe Colorado SunandCNN. He did not say when he believed they possibly could have died.
A hiker discovered one of the “heavily decomposed” bodies about 1,000 feet from a site near the Gold Creek Campground around 4:57 p.m. on June 9, according to thesheriff’s office. The bodies were discovered in a dark patch of timber, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie toldThe Colorado Sun.
The Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office went on to note that investigators “located the campsite and discovered two additional heavily decomposed deceased individuals within the campsite.”Speaking withThe New York Times, Jara said that Rebecca had “good intentions,” but she was plagued with fears, which worsened during the pandemic.
“The fear overwhelmed her, most definitely,” Jara toldThe WashingtonPost.“I did feel a shift in her.”
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Before they left, Jara toldThe Washington Postthat the family “watched some YouTube videos” about “how to live off the grid” but had “no experience.”
“YouTube and the internet is not enough,” Jara added while speaking withThe Los Angeles Times.
She went on to tell the newspaper that she and her husband even tried to persuade them to use their RV and generator in the mountains as a test run. The idea appealed to Christine but not to Rebecca, who was certain they could “live on their own,” Jara told the newspaper.
source: people.com
