2016 probable Death-by-GPS on Harry Wade Road

[Candace66]

I don't recall hearing about this 2016 incident.  I came across it while searching for an article about a 2009 incident.  (I do recall hearing about the motorcyclist mentioned in the NPS statement below.)


I'm presuming this was somehow a death-by-GPS, though neither the NPS statement nor the articles I found state that.

If she was traveling to Fort Irwin to meet someone, I would expect that meeting would occur in the developed area of the base.  Or at the gate to it.  Which is directly accessed from I-15 via the Fort Irwin Road.  And if she was coming from Las Vegas, there was no reason for her to be on the Harry Wade Road.

BTW, I wonder if she actually got stuck on the Owl Hole Spring road, which is narrow and due to frequent grading has very high berms along it.

From the NPS statement:

A search on Sunday by multiple agencies concluded when a woman's body was found 5 miles from her vehicle. It appears that this is the second heat-caused fatality in Death Valley National Park. Both fatalities were in the southern end of the park near the unpaved Harry Wade Road.

On Sunday, August 28th, 2016, at approximately 1:11 p.m., deputies from the Barstow Sheriff's Station responded to a report of a missing person in the area of Old Spanish Trail near Baker, California. Pi-Wei Hung (40) was driving from Las Vegas, Nevada to Fort Irwin, California. Hung had not been heard from since August 27th, 2016, at approximately 1:10 p.m., when she was in the Charleston View area of Inyo County.

Personnel from San Bernardino County, Inyo County, Fort Irwin National Training Center, and the National Park Service, along with two helicopters, responded to the remote area to search for Hung. At 2:30 p.m., Hung's vehicle was found along Harry Wade Road. It appears that she may have gotten the vehicle stuck in loose sand in the berm while attempting to turn around.

Hung walked about 5 miles, away from the road. Her body was found at approximately 4:57 p.m. It appeared Hung passed away from heat exposure, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner's office. The day's high temperature was 113 °F.

This is the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley National Park this summer. On Thursday, June 9, park visitors found a deceased motorcyclist on Harry Wade Road. Reinhard Egger, 60, was a German citizen. The man's motorcycle was parked upright and was still functional. According to Inyo County Coroner's Office, Egger died from overheating. It was 118 °F that day.

Link to the statement

While I tend to assume the NPS statement is more reliable, check out the confusion added by news articles about this.  For example:

A Las Vegas woman who was en route to meet her boyfriend at Fort Irwin over the weekend was found dead in the open desert Sunday afternoon after authorities say her sedan got stuck in a dirt road near Baker.

Link

Friends of 40-year-old Linda Hung says she was headed through the desert to get to Fort Irwin. It’s where her boyfriend who is in the military is stationed...

“It just doesn't seem like her at all. No, it just doesn't seem like her to go walking off into the desert. Something just doesn't seem right,” said Linda Fossessca, who knew the victim.

“Why did the boyfriend ask to meet her there in Death Valley? Why a person would want to do that?” he said.

Link

I'm pretty sure he DIDN'T ask her to meet him in DVNP, but meant for her to come to the civilized part of Ft. Irwin.  I didn't see any follow-ups suggesting authorities suspected foul play or that he was under investigation.

---

Sorry, I don't know why the line spacing is so messed up in my OP!   (At least it appears messed up to me.)    

Maybe this software doesn't play well with Firefox?

[MojaveGeek]

Looks OK to me (viewing atm, in Chrome)