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The 14-year-old boy found dead alongside his mother and aunt at a remote Colorado campsite weighed just 40 pounds before he died of malnutrition and hypothermia, autopsy results have revealed.
The mummified remains of Christine Vance, 41, Rebecca “Becky” Vance, 42, and Rebecca’s unnamed son were discovered in the Rocky Mountains where they had gone to live off the grid to “escape society”.
The family had tried to prepare for their new life by watching YouTube tutorials and reading survival guides.
Exposed to several meters of snow, freezing temperatures and lack of food, the family perished.
Their bodies were found by a hiker coming off the trails in July.
Christine Vance, 41 (second left), Rebecca Vance, 42, and Rebecca’s son, 14 (left), were found dead earlier this month. This photo was taken just days before they left for their trip last summer. Their half-sister Trevala Jara is pictured in the middle
Trevala Jara says she tried to warn her half-sister Christine Vance to undertake the off-grid move that killed her, her sister and her teenage son
The family was found this month about 1,000 feet from a campsite in the Gunnison National Forest. They reportedly prepared for living off the grid by watching survival videos on YouTube.
The Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office found the bodies of the two women the next day when they searched the campsite and unzipped the tent. All three had been dead for some time.
Empty food containers and survival books were strewn on the floor.
Last summer, Rebecca convinced her sister to leave her life in Colorado Springs behind and move into the wilderness with her and her son – even though she had little to no survival skills, their half says. -Sister Trevala Jara.
“At first, Christine didn’t want to go, but she changed her mind. She felt like they had a better chance of living if she went with them,” Jara said. “And she didn’t want our sister and our nephew to be alone.”
Jara, 39, said she and her husband begged her stepsisters to drop their plan, but Becky refused.
The sisters reportedly felt that the pandemic and politics were bringing out the worst in humanity.
They weren’t conspiracy theorists, Jara said, but Rebecca Vance “thought that with everything changing and everything, this world was going to end.” … (They) wanted to be away from people and the influences of what people can do to each other.
Rebecca and Christine Vance told others they were traveling to another state for a family emergency. They told Jara of their plans, but not where they would set up camp.
The sisters had been “dispirited by the state of the world” in recent years and left last summer to live permanently off-grid in this remote region.
The first of three bodies was reported to authorities when a hiker came across the campsite about 20 miles from the small town of Gunnison.
They weren’t conspiracy theorists, Jara said, but Rebecca Vance “thought that with everything changing and everything, this world was going to end.” … (They) wanted to be away from people and the influences of what people can do to each other.
Jara remembers Rebecca Vance as somewhat reserved, sharp as a whip and able to read a 1,000 page book in a matter of days. Vance’s son was homeschooled and is a math expert, Jara said.
Christine Vance was more outgoing, charismatic and at first unconvinced by the idea of escaping society, Jara said, “but she just changed her mind because she didn’t want our sister and our nephew are alone”.
Rebecca and Christine Vance told others they were traveling to another state for a family emergency. They told Jara of their plans, but not where they would set up camp. They watched YouTube videos to prepare for life in the wild, but they were woefully underprepared, Jara said.
Jara said she tried everything except kidnapping to stop them from leaving, but nothing worked. Jara now wants to warn others about the risks of surviving in the wild.
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” Jara said. “I can’t wait to get to the point where I’m happy and all I can think about are the memories.”