Thong-clad bicyclist's death ruled a suicide

Associated Press ^ | 08/04/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

SAN ANTONIO -- Authorities said a thong-wearing bicyclist committed suicide when he fell 100 feet to his death at Big Bend National Park in June.

Joseph Gottschalk, 52, earned the nickname "Thong Man" by showing his buttocks during leisurely bike rides around San Antonio -- first near his southeast San Antonio home, then into other neighborhoods.

His death was ruled a suicide Saturday due to "a preponderance of evidence," Brewster County Justice of the Peace Shirley Williams said in Sunday editions of the San Antonio Express-News.

Gottschalk's naked body was found by passing hikers June 21 below a cliff at Big Bend National Park. Park rangers found boots and clothes about eight feet from the drop-off, along with about a half-gallon of water -- enough for a day's hike.

The ponytailed nonconformist had described himself as an unemployed truck driver. He said he wanted to challenge himself while startling others into examining their shame and their identities.

Three days before his body was found, a friend of Gottschalk's, Norm Billings, said Gottschalk told him he planned to jump from the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains at the park.

"He said he was getting low on funds and he was going to have to figure out something," said Billings, 71. "He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

"He said he knew of a place at Big Bend that he could step off and not have any more job worries," Billings said. "It certainly wasn't alarming at the time. He was the last person in the world that you would think would kill himself, the very last. "

An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in Gottschalk's body.

"He's a lot of person to lose," said his brother, Paul Gottschalk.

[Tijeras_Slim]

He just snapped.

[bedolido]

Ping!

[Paul Atreides]

Some people are as undignified in death as they were in life.

[AntiGuv]

No pictures please!

[halran]

"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

No comment required.

[CJ Wolf]

"An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in Gottschalk's body."

Poor guy, no wonder he commited sucide. Thongs just didn't do it for him anymore.

[Southern Partisan]

Natural selection at work.

[King Prout]

and (just read the article) vice-versa.

[eniapmot]

"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

Well then...nothing left but to kill himself...

[Bigg Red]

Gottschalk's naked body was found by passing hikers..

I still maintain that some gansta offed him for his thong.

[King Prout]

afraid of a red flapjack?

[bedolido]

Poor guy, no wonder he commited sucide. Thongs just didn't do it for him anymore.

He had a "Crack Attack"!

[Luke Skyfreeper]

"He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous."

Not as dangerous as jumping from the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains.

[biblewonk]

Is this the same thong dude that was posted earlier in the year?

[Paul Atreides]

A hippie who didn't want to have to earn a living. Figures.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Incidentally, as someone who's been unemployed/ underemployed/ living in poverty and sometimes outright despair for the past two years, I understand quite well how the guy may have felt. However, he's just reduced his chances of getting a decent job, and having a decent life, to zero.

[Clara Lou]

Flake.

[King Prout]

and an actively/aggressively annoying hippie, too.
sigh... leaving the world no poorer, ThongMan executed a graceful swan dive off of Loser's Lookout, ending as a fatty red smear on the rocks far below.

[sc2_ct]

Joseph Gottschalk, 52, earned the nickname "Thong Man" by showing his buttocks during leisurely bike rides around San Antonio -- first near his southeast San Antonio home, then into other neighborhoods.

Authorities said a thong-wearing bicyclist committed suicide when he fell 100 feet to his death at Big Bend National Park in June.

I wonder how many of his neighbors are going to be mourning...