At Joshua Tree National Park in California, park staff discovered a human skeleton and a bag belonging to a man who hadn’t been seen since last April.
According to a release, the remains at the Black Rock portion of the park were recovered off a trail on January 25 after researchers uncovered an abandoned bag. When park rangers found the unidentified body parts, they contacted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and the Riverside County Coroner for help.
Local reports show that on April 30, 2023, Trammell Evans (25) was last seen leaving a vehicle at the Black Rock Campground. Evans was reported as late to return from his expedition on May 5, 2023, prompting the park to launch a search and rescue operation. Starting from Black Rock, Evans intended to trek all the way to Geology Tour Road and then return via the Riding and Hiking Trail.
Joshua Tree Hunt & Rescue (JOSAR), the Bureau of Land Management, the sheriff’s offices of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and the California Highway Patrol Helicopter were among the many cooperators in the continuing hunt for Evans.
Anyone with information regarding Trammell Evans is urged by the Palm Desert Sheriff Station to call (760) 341-STOP (7867) or (760) 836-1600 for anonymous tips. Incident number O240250071 should be mentioned.
According to the National Park Service, Joshua Tree National Park has been the site of several fatalities in the last few years.
Falls, medical problems, and the occasional murder have been the park’s usual causes of death. There were two recorded deaths in a span of seven days in 2023. Two bodies were discovered in the park in 2018 of a man (54) and a woman (58). The woman had fallen and struck her head on a difficult hiking trail above Rattlesnake Canyon.
The instances have been attributed to the difficult terrain, isolated routes, and portions of the park where cell phone coverage is impossible.
