Disaster Family Who Died Trying to Live 'Off the Grid' Told Loved Ones About Their Plan: 'We Tried to Stop Them' - Before leaving, they "watched some YouTube videos" about "how to live off the grid," a family member said

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Photo:
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

A family member of two sisters and a teen whose bodies were discovered "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.

On Tuesday, the Gunnison County Coroner's Office identified the individuals as Rebecca Vance, 42, Christine Vance, 41, as well as Rebecca’s 14-year-old son, according to a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Trevala Jara, Rebecca and Christine's stepsister, told The Washington Post that 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 told The New York Times she 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 with The Washington Post.

Not knowing where they planned on going, Jara told The Los Angeles Times that she asked Christine to send postcards to let her know they were safe, but the postcards never came.

Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes told The Colorado Sun that 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.

The autopsy reports are still incomplete, and the office is awaiting a toxicology report, per The Los Angeles Times. Barnes also expressed concern about carbon monoxide poisoning, citing evidence that the family attempted to stay warm by burning materials, including vegetation in soup cans, inside their tent.

"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 told The Colorado Sun and CNN. 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 the sheriff’s office. The bodies were discovered in a dark patch of timber, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie told The 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 with The 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 told The Washington Post. "I did feel a shift in her."

Before they left, Jara told The Washington Post that 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 with The 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.

"[Rebecca] really thought she was saving her son and Christine by living by themselves and being off the grid," Jara added. "I really did not think it was going to get this far."

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[Night Crawler]

Go live in a pod then, retard.

Fuck off faggot and go tell your mommy you need your Risperdal. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[Hitman One]

bugger off to applecross

Fuck off we're full. Mainly of rich English wankers renting out wooden pods to other rich English wankers for £300 a night though, to be fair.

 

[duckbutter&toejamsandwich]

I was once coming off a nine day hike in New Zealand so was near the trail end. Pissing it down with rain in that special ‘solid water is falling from the sky’ way inly west coast NZ can really do. Soaked to the skin, but all contents of backpack safe and secure in dry bags.
Saw a chopper, oh dear, someone being rescued. Two Israelis wearing flipflops who were four hours into a nine day hike. No waterproofs, no boots, no food and a supermarket 500ml water bottle each. The lads flying the chopper looked like they were about to chuck them back out.
I’ve also seen several people be pulled off even smaller mountains in the UK who set off in bad weather in trainers and a cardigan. People are amazingly dumb about the outdoors, probably because we don’t go in it enough to realise that exposure will kill you fast.
If you ever chat to someone who’s done mountain rescue, they will have dozens of similar stories.

I used to know some S&R guys back when I lived in the desert. They did indeed have some horrifyingly interesting stories to tell. I've heard a few about Israeli tourists, which surprised me at the time since they also live in a desert and should know better. Since then I've worked with plenty of Israelis and learned common sense isn't a Jewish trait.

They had a lot of stories about Euro tourists. Euros (no offense to you or other sensible euros) always seem to underestimate distance, time needed to traverse said distance, and the effects of heat and dry climate. Thus they get themselves and their families into some really bad situations. There was a French family where the mom and a kid fell several hundred feet off a trail that was far too difficult for small children, let alone inexperienced adults. Then of course there was the Death Valley Germans, such a sad story.

And what is it with people wearing flip flops to go hiking? Those aren't even comfortable to walk across the parking lot in, why would you wear those on a desert or wilderness trail? I saw so many people wear them in the desert. What part of cactus and rattlesnake do people not understand?

 

[Vesperus]

What part of cactus and rattlesnake do people not understand?

I can't speak for the US, but in NZ it's a fundamental right to enter a national park and all the rangers can do is suggest you fucking not.

Then arrange a helicopter to airlift your retarded corpse back to a morgue.

I don't know if it's social media or if we're just getting dumber as a species, but Darwin has placed a loose rock on every trail.

I recall going out with my climbing club back in the 90's, and someone scaled a 200ft cliff, took himself off rope, slipped on a pebble and descended 200ft a lot faster than he went up.

Nature will kill you if you blink.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

the Death Valley Germans

As someone who has been there and camped throughout California, that's not a place to wander aimlessly about.

 

[Pokemon Conquistador]

Sheeeit. I was walking in an enclosed nature park and decided to cross a grove of pine trees to what I thought was another part of the path. I soon found myself wandering through the trees with no idea where I was, and if the park hadn't had a fence, I'd have been well and truly lost without any food or water. Getting lost in nature is frighteningly easy to do.

Just because some dipshit on Youtube can nail a bunch of pallets together to make a cabin doesn't mean you can do it. Also, if a relative of yours insists on doing something that you know is dangerous for an irrational reason, try to have them committed. Or at least put the rest of your family on blast to exert pressure on the individual. If enough people come up to you and tell you you're being retarded, there's a better chance of you believing them.

 

[duckbutter&toejamsandwich]

I can't speak for the US, but in NZ it's a fundamental right to enter a national park and all the rangers can do is suggest you fucking not.

Then arrange a helicopter to airlift your retarded corpse back to a morgue.

I don't know if it's social media or if we're just getting dumber, but Darwin has placed a loose rock on every trail.

The rangers here won't stop you from going on the trail in sandals, but they will laugh at you as you limp back with your foot cut up and chock full of cactus thorns. And if you get bit by a snake, they'll charge you 30 grand for the life flight out.

Fortunately, in more deadly situations they can tell you to go home or close the trail/park if needed. The fines for violating their orders can be pricy.

 

[Vesperus]

Fortunately, in more deadly situations they can tell you to go home or close the trail/park if needed. The fines for violating their orders can be pricy.

That's a better system.
Unless you are Darwin, I guess.

 

[Power Appreciator]

Just watched a video on youtube of some vietnamese dude building a fully functional miniature hydroelectric dam on a small creek on his property, but for middle-aged white women living off the grid means burning trash inside of a tent

 

[Vesperus]

Just watched a video on youtube of some vietnamese dude building a fully functional miniature hydroelectric dam on a small creek on his property, but for middle-aged white women living off the grid means burning trash inside of a tent

Fake. The only channel that actually does shit is "primitive technology" which is some Aussie dude with mad skills and too much time. Soundalikes are just shitskins with construction equipment and editing.

 

[Seafarer]

Barnes also expressed concern about carbon monoxide poisoning, citing evidence that the family attempted to stay warm by burning materials, including vegetation in soup cans, inside their tent.

Please don't do this if you go camping.

The fact that they were so retarded they didn’t know something this basic.

That actually reminds me, apparently in parts of Africa, there is a phenomenon of villagers dying unexpectedly in the night. It happens because they light fires in their huts without ventilation so they die of carbon monoxide poisoning, but of course they blame evil spirits and shit and they have superstitions about sleeping on top bunks since that’s where most of the dead people slept (and died for obvious reasons).

 

[Vesperus]

It happens because they light fires in their huts without ventilation so they die of carbon monoxide poisoning

X to doubt unless they are using gas fires.
Are you thinking of volcanic gas eruptions?

 

[Seafarer]

X to doubt unless they are using gas fires.
Are you thinking of volcanic gas eruptions?

I’m just recalling this off of memory, I’m pretty sure I’m not confusing it with that one case where a lake erupted with carbon monoxide and killed entire villages.

 

[Vesperus]

I’m just recalling this off of memory, I’m pretty sure I’m not confusing it with that one case where a lake erupted with carbon monoxide and killed entire villages.

You don't get CO from solid fuels.
Many such cases. Sad.

 

[Seafarer]

You don't get CO from solid fuels.
Many such cases. Sad.

Did some digging and here is where I got it from:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikoloshe

“The advent of the phantom Tokoloshe came about through Bantu folklore to explain why people inexplicably died while sleeping in their rondavels at night. Traditionally, these people slept on the floor on grass mats encircling a wood fire that kept them warm during sub-freezing cold winter nights on the highveld in the rarefied air. They never realized the fire was depleting the oxygen levels, leaving noxious carbon monoxide, which is heavier than pure air and sinks to the bottom. Eventually it was realized that anyone who happened to be sleeping in an elevated position escaped the deadly curse of Tokoloshe, which was described as a short man about hip high who randomly stole one's life in the night unless they were lifted to the height of their bed.”

It’s Wikipedia so it’s gotta be trustworthy!

Edit: don’t know what you are on about by saying solid fuels don’t create carbon monoxide, when a cursory Google search says otherwise

 

[Iron Jaguar]

Proving what we've always known: women need men to keep them alive.

 

[Onni Kalsarikännit]

They had a lot of stories about Euro tourists.

I would say the stupidity is universal and race/nation doesn't really matter but if you think Euros are less stupid when hiking in [random Europe nation] you are mistaken. They do all the dumb shit you can imagine even here.

I grew up in the alpine region in Southern Germany/Austria. Dumb shit tourists do there:

- go hiking in flip flops
- generally go hiking in non-hiking gear
- go hiking at night bc their smartphones have a light
- discovering their inner explorer and go off the trails
- underestemating how quick the weather can change in the mountains
- underestemating distances
- underestemating their own skill and knowledge
- when skiing: go into areas that are restricted bc avalanches

You can't really go out here and just camp wherever you want as it's usually forbidden by law. There are exceptions but to keep it simple it's forbidden to just grab a tent, go in the mountains or in the woods and camp there.

But their most favorite dumb shit to pull off is coming in winter for skiing, getting completely shitfaced and then hurt themselves when going skiing. Because who could have known that being drunk as a kite is not a good idea when trying to go down a mountain on two tiny planks.

Their 2nd most favorite dumb shit to pull off is another winter activity: take their shitty urban SUVs and go on a drive and ignoring all the warning signs saying "DON'T FUCKING DRIVE HERE WITHOUT SNOW CHAINS AROUND YOUR TIRES BC YOU WILL GET STUCK OR FALL OF THE STREET!!!". But when Google Maps says it's safe to take this road then why the fuck should one read signs put up by the locals who live there and know their stuff?

People don't even really have to care about poisonious animals or plants here or about bears and wolves. Boars maybe, yes, but even they are rare and usually stay away from humans.
And for plants it's simple: Just don't eat any plant you don't fucking know.

Most tourists here are either from Germany, Austria, UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe or Russia. Like you don't really see any Africans, Asians or Latinos here (as long as they don't live here).

 

[Vesperus]

Edit: don’t know what you are on about by saying solid fuels don’t create carbon monoxide, when a cursory Google search says otherwise

It's possible I'm retarded.

Hey, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be here.

 

[AnOminous]

Edit: don’t know what you are on about by saying solid fuels don’t create carbon monoxide, when a cursory Google search says otherwise

One of the most common suicide methods is to sit in a car with a charcoal hibachi.

 

[Daniel Wallace]

So it's a story about two women that went camping and died of a stupid mistake that has nothing to do with the wilderness, and the journalist is making it an attack story on the concept of being off-grid and escaping city hellscapes?
Really makes you think.

If the carbon monoxide didn't kill them, it would have been something else as a direct result of their retarded decision to live off the grid.