SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A family that died of heat exhaustion during a grueling summer hike in Northern California sent a last, desperate text pleading for help, authorities said Thursday.The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office released information pulled from the cellphone of Jonathan Gerrish after months of work with an FBI forensics team.One text made shortly before noon on Aug.
15 to a person whose name wasn’t released asked: "Can you help us" and added: "No water or ver (over) heating with baby," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.But the area had bad cellphone service and the text never went through.
Neither did five phone calls to various people, investigators said.Ellen Chung, 31, her 45-year-old husband, their 1-year-old daughter Aurelia "Miju" Chung-Gerrish, and their dog Oski were found dead on a hiking trail near the Merced River last August.SEE ALSO: Report details missteps that contributed to hiker family's deaths in Sierra FoothillsTheir deaths baffled investigators.
The case involved more than 30 law enforcement agencies that had painstakingly reviewed — and ruled out — causes such as murder, lightning strikes, poisoning from algae-tainted water, abandoned mines that might emit toxic gas, illegal drugs and suicide.Last fall, investigators concluded that the family died of extreme heat stroke.