17 year dies at Marin Headlands

Body of missing 17-year-old Mill Valley girl found in cove near Muir Beach
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14725818

Friends, family recall life of Mill Valley girl a day after body found
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14734462

Apparently she and a group of high school friends were camping (without a permit) near Tennessee Cove in the Marin Headlands, where I would note camping is not legal in the first place. What some people found appalling is that she was noticed missing at 9 AM but her group didn't report her missing until 12:30 PM. She was last seen at 1 AM. I frankly don't find it all that unusual that nobody though it to be unusual until morning, since a lot of camping groups don't check up on their fellow campers who might get up to go pee. The rumors are that they could have been consuming alcohol and might not have noticed much in their inebriated state.

Her body washed up near Muir Beach, discovered by NPS personnel. NPS personnel were part of the search group and US Parks Police are leading the investigation. There aren't too many details as to exactly where the group was camped, but there are cliffs there, and she could have easily slipped if a cliff edge crumbled and fallen to the rocks and into the water. I suppose there will be an autopsy to determine the cause of death, whether it was blunt trauma, drowning, or a combination of both.

They didn't wake up until 12:30!

Quote
tomdisco
They didn't wake up until 12:30!

Didn't I note that they figure out they realized she wasn't there at 9 AM? It's somewhat appalling that they realized she was missing but waited so long to report it. It's only about 2 miles out, and it's the Bay Area so there are pockets of cell phone coverage.

I've been following this, and one allegation is that she was looking out at one of the cliffs but complaining about not feeling well. A couple of her compatriots supposedly went to get her water, but didn't see her again when they got back to that spot. I'm not sure what they were thinking - perhaps she went to her tent or perhaps somewhere else. My guess is that she probably lost her footing near one of the cliff edges right around that time. I'm not sure if they could have done anything at that point, although I suppose if she was lost or had non life-threatening injuries (like broken bones or a moderate concussion), a search might have been able to help her before maybe hypothermia set in.

A sad story, altogether.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (CA)
Major Search For Missing Teenager Ends With Body Recovery

On the afternoon of Saturday, March 20th, ranger Terry Swift was conducting a patrol in Tennessee Valley when he was approached by a young woman in the parking lot who said that a friend of hers who had camped the previous night in the park had not returned home. After obtaining as much information as possible from the woman, Swift contacted supervisory ranger Kurt Veeck, who in turn contacted the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and asked for assistance from the county’s search and rescue team. Rangers, U.S. Park Police officers, Marin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and search and rescue team personnel, U.S. Coast Guard personnel, and park lifeguard supervisors began an extensive ground and water search near the cliffs and coastline along Tennessee Beach. While the search was underway, U.S. Park Police criminal investigators began an investigation regarding the missing teenager. They determined through interviews with other teens who were present in the camp that night that there was a possibility that the teenager had fallen off the cliff into ocean – a fall of about 200 feet. The search ended at dark and resumed at 7 a.m. the next morning with over 100 volunteers from various Bay Area SAR teams, Marin County’s urban search and rescue team, and Point Reyes rangers in their Safeboat. At approximately 11:30 a.m., ranger Xave Agnew and lifeguard supervisor John Ralph spotted the body of the missing teenager in a cove north of Muir Beach. The body was recovered via a long line extraction by a helicopter out of Sonoma County. It was transported to the Muir Beach parking lot, where the Marin County coroner and U.S. Park Police criminal investigators were waiting. The death is being investigated cooperatively with the coroner’s office. No foul play is suspected; alcohol may have been a contributing factor. Media coverage was high.