{"id":32675,"date":"2023-07-25T16:36:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T22:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-people-found-dead-at-campsite-were-sisters-14-year-old-boy-who-planned-to-live-off-the-grid\/"},"modified":"2023-07-25T22:36:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T22:36:15","slug":"three-people-found-dead-at-campsite-were-sisters-14-year-old-boy-who-planned-to-live-off-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-people-found-dead-at-campsite-were-sisters-14-year-old-boy-who-planned-to-live-off-the-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Three people found dead at campsite were sisters, 14-year-old boy who planned to \u2018live off the grid\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gunsight
Gunsight Pass in the Fossil Ridge Wilderness in Gunnison County. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Two sisters and a 14-year-old boy were identified as the three campers whose bodies were found badly decomposed at a remote campsite in Gunnison County.<\/p>\n

Christine Vance, 41, Rebecca Vance, 42, and Rebecca\u2019s son, 14, were all Colorado Springs residents, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes told The Colorado Sun on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

They likely started camping in July 2022, the coroner said, about a year before a hiker found one of the bodies July 9, about 1,000 feet from a site near the Gold Creek Campground, northeast of Gunnison. Gunnison County Sheriff\u2019s deputies found the two other bodies the next day.<\/p>\n

Malnutrition and \u201cexposure to the elements\u201d at high altitude and through a harsh winter likely contributed to their deaths, but further analysis is pending to determine the causes of death, Barnes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a significantly harsh winter for us this year, and it always is here, but we did have more snow than we have had in the past couple of winters,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

One family member told Barnes she believed the trio planned to \u201cgo live off the grid\u201d but didn\u2019t know where they were headed.<\/p>\n

The bodies were discovered in a dark patch of timber and were in an advanced stage of decomposition that made it difficult for the Sheriff\u2019s Office to identify, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie previously told The Colorado Sun. Nearby, investigators found a blue tent, empty food cans and a lean-to shelter.<\/p>\n

A hiker discovered one body on the ground in front of the tent, Murdie said. The other two were found after investigators unzipped the tent, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

When Barnes arrived at the campsite, the bodies were partially mummified, he said. The coroner\u2019s office was able to obtain blood specimens to submit for toxicology testing.<\/p>\n

The \u201cvery remote\u201d campground is not visible from the dirt county Forest Service road that leads to the area, Murdie said. The U.S. Forest Service lists the campground as closed \u201cdue to inaccessibility\u201d and as a \u201chaven for hikers, backpackers and equestrians\u201d with alpine lakes nearby.<\/p>\n

The county coroner doesn\u2019t believe the three campers were ever reported missing. The coroner\u2019s office publicly identified the Vance sisters after he located their next of kin, and is withholding the release of the boy\u2019s name as he is a minor.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado Springs residents, according to Gunnison County coroner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,255,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-death-and-dying","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32675"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}