Posted on 04/17/2019 8:47:49 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The heartbreaking mystery of Jerika Binks, the Utah runner who disappeared over a year ago while on a trail run near her home in American Fork, may finally find some closure.
On Monday afternoon, local authorities announced they had found the skeletal remains of a body in the general area that Binks was last known to have been, and with multiple personal items known to belong to Binks, according to a press release issued by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
The remains showed evidence of an injury, though nothing at this point suggests foul play.
Sergeant Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office stressed to Runner’s World that the identity of the remains are yet to be confirmed, but said the personal items found do not match those of any other missing persons in the area.
Nearly 14 months ago, Binks set off on a run on the morning of Sunday, February 18, 2018. She never returned, prompting an employee at the sober living facility where she lived to contact Binks’ mother, who then reported Binks missing to the police.
An automated wildlife camera along a nearby trail in American Fork Canyon last placed Binks roughly half a mile from the Timpanogos Cave park entrance, heading back toward the trailhead, roughly four hours after a street camera in town first caught her running.
But blizzard-like conditions severely hampered search efforts in the immediate aftermath, and local authorities struggled to build on a series of tips and leads that all eventually petered out, as journalist Kiera Carter reported in Cosmopolitan. By the time Carter’s feature was published in late December 2018, the case was still open, but police were no longer actively searching.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
Utah...Woman alone on a trail...Cougar would my guess.
Yeah she is with God. Go be with God.
She was a cougar?
Maybe she lost a territorial dispute?
Utah claims runners, bikers, hikers, climbers on a regular basis. Animal attacks are rare; it’s usually just folks out in the pretty rocks picking a fight with Isaac Newton.
No, she was the victim of a cougar/mountain lion.
Wonder if she was armed. I don’t understand anyone who goes running alone in isolated areas. Never mind the possibility of heart attack or other issues - how about a fall? And in really isolated areas, there are large predators like mountain lions, wolves and bears, to say nothing of pesky critters like rattlesnakes, scorpions or even swarms of bees.
https://fox13now.com/2019/04/17/body-found-in-american-fork-canyon-confirmed-as-jerika-binks/
She had a broken leg. No foul play suspected.
Oh. You mean they had a grave run-in with The Law and didn’t understand the Gravity of the situation?
You have probably 200 people a year who disappear off state and national forests/park land. No one collects a complete database, but you hear the stories and piece together the location and general circumstance. One might guess that the vast majority (probably over 90-percent) are related to cougars/mountain lions.
David Paulides of Missing 411 is collecting and investigating these types of reports...
http://www.canammissing.com/missing_411.html
One report said her remains were found in the ravine 800’ above the valley floor. That’s a pretty strenuous climb even for a fit person especially if they had already been running for a while.
And how many feet below the path she was running on.......
Looking at the photo of where her body was found, it’s easy to believe that if she was running or trotting, she could have slipped on those rocks and broke her leg with no way to get out and eventually died.
Good question. For some reason i assumed she was found ABOVE the trail. Below the trail probably makes more sense but i’m not familiar with the area.
Laying there can’t move with a broken leg then a blizzard moves in.
doesn’t sound like a great way to die.
RIP
It can use something as simple as a sprained ankle to take your life.
Never assume everything will work out OK.
Liberals have let animal-rights nutballs take over the state wildlife agencies, and they downplay the danger of cougars, wolves, and bears.
“...prompting an employee at the sober living facility where she lived ...”
“Sober living facility?” Sounds like a fun place to spend your final days. Maybe if she’d stayed drunk she would still be alive.
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