Missing hiker’s cause of death: exposure
A Michigan travel nurse who went missing while hiking in Calaveras County died from exposure, according to the county coroner.
Ann Marie Herford went missing in mid-November and was found dead on a steep hillside on Nov. 30, according to the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office. The official cause of death was exposure, according to County Coroner Kevin Raggio.
Herford had been staying in a hotel in nearby Sonora, the sheriff ’s office said. A few days before she was reported missing, she got breakfast with a friend and expressed an interest in going hiking. Officials later located her car parked near the trailhead for the Arnold Rim Trail, where a local resident also claimed to have seen Herford on Nov. 15, according to officials.
Authorities later found Herford’s body in an off-trail area with a “heavy tree canopy and dense foliage,” the sheriff’s office said in a release. The area’s elevation is between 3,500 and 4,000 feet, according to Raggio.
Raggio said Herford wasn’t wearing proper clothing to be hiking in such elevations, especially as the temperature began to drop.
Historical data from the National Weather Service shows temperatures in the area dipped as low as 35 degrees around the time when Herford was first reported missing. It also rained in the days following her disappearance, according to NWS records.
“Family members note (Herford) enjoyed hiking but lacked wilderness survival skills, never planning more than a couple miles at a time,” the sheriff ’s office said in a statement.
Herford was 66 years old and lived in Elkton, Mich., according to an obituary posted online.