79-year-old from FL wandered from mountaintop, NH rescuers say. Now body found
William Davis of Jacksonville was found between two trails on Mount Washington and had apparently 'suffered a significant fall from a steep, rocky slope,' the N.H. Fish and Game Department Law Enforcement Division shared July 18.
Davis took a cog train up to the summit of the mountain on July 16 and was last seen on the observation deck that afternoon, his wife told officials.
Then he disappeared.
A Mt. Washington State Park employee reached Davis over the phone, and the man communicated that he had wandered off-trail near the summit, according to rescuers.
'He did not know where he was, but his description of the area made it seem that he would be easily located,' law enforcement said.
But after an hour, no one could find him, and he stopped answering his phone, officials said.
More than two dozen rescuers and a drone team began searching for him, but fog rolled in and they had to pause from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. on July 17, according to law enforcement.
Volunteers, rescuers and conservation officers from around the state descended upon the area to help find Davis.
'Searchers scoured off trail locations in periods of thick clouds and increasing winds throughout the day,' rescuers said.
But the weather dropped to 32 degrees with wind chill, and searchers said they had to suspend their operations until the morning of July 18.
At around 11 a.m., volunteers reported finding his body after what appeared to be a fall. A Blackhawk helicopter managed to land despite the weather a couple of hours later to collect his body, according to rescuers.
'There is no indication how Davis ended up at that location and how far he had traveled over rocky terrain to get there,' officials said. 'He was not a hiker, had no map, and every indication is he wandered off the summit without telling anyone where he was going.'
The medical examiner is conducting an autopsy to confirm his cause of death.
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