Finding Norman in Death Valley

March 20, 2011

As detailed in my post about my involvement in the final chapter (really the final postscript) of finding the Death Valley Germans, I became somewhat involved with the ever-curious escapades of one Mr. Tom Mahood.  It’s been downhill ever since.

Jack Freer, a law enforcement officer from Carson City, Nevada, later contacted RMRU looking for Tom and I put the two in touch.  Jack had taken an interest in a Carson City resident, Norman Cox, who had abandoned his car at Badwater in Death Valley, left a suicide note, then vanished.  The subsequent search turned up no body.  This was in August, 2010.

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Hike To Captain Jinks Mine

Both Linda Green’s 1984 Historic Resources Report for Joshua Tree National Park and the 1961 California Department of Mines and Geology report for Riverside County listed several mines in the Hexie Mountains as being so remote they were never visited.  That really intrigued me, as seldom-visited mines bring to mind relatively undisturbed sites.  Google Earth showed small sections of what once had been a road, though the Jinks (sometimes spelled Jenks) mine was said to date back to the late 1800’s.  The Ruby Lee and Combination mines had never really been much more than prospects, so held less interest.  I emailed the DzrtGrls and when Jamie got back to me that this was even a bit too remote for them, I was hooked.

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My Ass Makes The News

February, 2011

In January, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee contacted Riverside Sheriff’s Office looking to speak with someone about the Death Valley Germans case as he was writing a story on the hazards of backcountry travel.  RSO contacted me, and I put Knudson in touch with Tom Mahood.

After some back and forth emails, Tom K. flew down to Ontario and met Tom M., Pete Carlson, and myself for a hike in Joshua Tree.  (This was one of the many, many, hikes in JT searching for the remains of Bill Ewasko, but that’s a story for another post.)  We three locals met up at the usual spot – Carrows in Banning – and carpooled to the Quail Springs Trailhead where we met Tom K.

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John Donovan Recovery

May 30, 2006

In April, 2005, John Donovan set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.  Owing to the huge amount of snow that year, friends who had planned to hike with him urged to to postpone the trip by a few weeks, but he was intent on attending the annual PCT kickoff party at the Mexican border, so ended up hiking solo.  On May 3rd he picked up a cache of food near Anza, intending to pick up his next cache on the other side of the San Jacinto Mountains near Cabazon.

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