Young Hikers Missing in Joshua Tree Since Thursday [7/27/17]

[Ric Capucho]

I’m with Tom; sympathetic murder/suicide is nonsense.

I’ve been trying to find an online source of the autopsy, but to no avail.

Journalists are notorious for cherry picking facts that support their chosen storyline, and skipping any facts that might contradict it. I wonder if the real autopsy report has some further nuggets that would shed more light.

What food remnants did those kids have in their stomachs?

Ric

[mattytreks]

If anything else, I suppose the "mercy killing" theory gives families of both involved a sense of peace about the whole thing -- albeit, possibly a false sense.

On a side note, this has been one of the more gripping/fascinating stories involving death in the wilderness that I've ever read about.

[Ric Capucho]

Does anyone have a clue how to get hold of the autopsy report (or reports)?

I don't mean to publish them all over the web, but to be read and handled sensitively.

Ric

[OtherHand]

In most cases coroner's reports are public documents and may be purchased from a coroner's office for a small fee. Some offices have a more sophisticated online presence than others, like LA County's, which lets you search for case numbers online. San Bernardino, not so much. Probably takes a phone call, letter or visit.

[cynthia23]

I haven't had a chance to check in here in a while, so my apologies for late response to latest news. OtherHand, thank you for posting that report! To me, it seems to support my 'hiking while drugged' theory best, as they did find magic mushrooms in his backpack and cannabis. Consuming those drugs, very probably taken in combo with a drug like Ketamine (drug that's currently very popular with some stoner-type hikers), plus heat exhaustion, could fully explain confusion and despair so bad that it led to a murder/suicide. Still, it leaves unanswered the question as to why Orbeso chose to bring a gun along in the first place.

At this point I tend to think this event was not premeditated, rather two troubled people who made multiple bad decisions that snowballed into calamity. Btw, I don't think the autopsy can shed any light on their drugged state--my understanding is that these substances quickly decompose after death and there's no way to tell if someone was under the influence.