Hiker, 66, tragic final texts to family before death | World | News
Geraldine’s heartbreaking messages to her family were discovered two years after she died (Image: Facebook)
In a devastating and tragic incident, a 66-year-old woman vanished from the Appalachian trail in the US and endured 26 days in the wilderness before sadly perishing.
Geraldine Largay, affectionately known to family and friends as Gerry, hailed from Brentwood, Tennessee, and went missing on July 22, 2013, after she stepped off the Appalachian Trail in the Eastern United States to relieve herself and got lost somewhere between West Virginia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.
The sole substantial clue remaining? A photograph of Gerry captured early morning on the day she vanished near a log lean-to featuring three walls sheltered by a corrugated tin roof with a fire pit visible close by.
A retired air force nurse, Gerry remained missing for more than two years before her remains were found by Lieutenant Kevin Adam, a forester employed by the US navy, on October 16, 2015. In a heartbreaking turn of events, it subsequently emerged that no fewer than three K9 units came within 100 yards of her campsite, yet failed to find Gerry.
Gerry’s own husband, George Largay, was not far away on the morning she disappeared, having travelled to the Route 27 Crossing which stood approximately a 22-mile trek from the shelter where Gerry had last been spotted.
Gerry (R) got lost while hiking the Appalachian Trail in the summer of 2013 (Image: Facebook)
According to reports initially published by the Boston Globe — which carried out a 1,500-page study into Gerry’s disappearance and death — Lieutenant Adam discovered a “possible body” in October 2015 and recalled thinking: “The possibilities were: it was a human body; it was animal bones, or if it was a human body, was it Gerry Largay?”
Wardens were eventually able to reconstruct a picture of Gerry’s final days — all thanks to detailed journal entries she had maintained during her time surviving in the wilderness, along with text messages she had sent to her husband which he never received owing to poor signal, reports the Daily Record.
In a devastating journal entry — and one of her last messages to her loved ones — dated August 6, 2013, a fortnight after she became lost, Gerry wrote: “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry.
“It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me – no matter how many years from now.
“Please find it in your heart to mail the contents of this bag to one of them.”
Heartbreaking texts and diary entries of Gerry Largay’s final days were discovered (Image: Maine Warden Service)
The documents further revealed that Gerry had attempted to text her husband after becoming lost, sending George a message at around 11am on the day she went missing that read: “In somm trouble. Got off trail to go to br. Now lost. Can u call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. XOX.”
Due to poor or non-existent mobile signal, the text message never reached George. Over the following hour and a half, Gerry attempted to text her husband a further 10 times, pleading for assistance, before eventually settling down for the night.
The following day, she sent another undelivered text to her husband at 4.18pm which read: “Lost since yesterday. Off trail 3 or 4 miles. Call police for what to do pls. XOX.”
When Gerry’s remains were ultimately discovered at the makeshift campsite she had constructed, her notebook was found alongside them — covered in moss and titled “George Please Read XOXO”.
Her entries revealed how Gerry had spent two days wandering aimlessly after taking a wrong turn across a stream.
Additional items recovered at the campsite included maps, a space blanket, string, a torch that remained functional, a rain jacket, dental floss, a blue baseball cap, and a handmade necklace crafted from white stone wrapped in string.
Gerry had already completed more than 1,000 miles of the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail when she became lost, and her husband told the Brentwood Home Page in 2013: “Hiking the Appalachian trail and sleeping in tents and wearing the same stuff for three and four days in the rain – not on my bucket list.
“But she needed to be supported on the hike, because she had limits on what she could carry, so I simply had to say, ‘OK, suck it up. What’s six months in the grand scheme of things?’ So I did it.”
Gerry’s close friend Jane Lee, who had completed a substantial portion of the Appalachian Trail alongside Gerry before being called away by a personal crisis, had informed wardens at the time that her friend would occasionally struggle to maintain pace and wasn’t the best at using a compass.
Following the discovery of her remains, diary entries and text messages were eventually uncovered — finally bringing her family the closure they so desperately needed.
The 66-year-old hiker was last seen in pictures near a log lean-to early morning the day she disappeared (Image: Supplied)
Her loved ones said in a statement: “After all of the communication and information from everyone involved including the Medical Examiner’s Office, Navy, and the Maine Attorney General’s Office, these findings are conclusive in that no foul play was involved and that Gerry simply made a wrong turn shortly after crossing Orbeton Stream.
“We wish to thank all of those who gave their time and prayers while searching for our wife, sister, mother, and grandmother. We especially would like to thank the entire Maine Warden Service for their dedication to this case.
“It became apparent from day one that this was personal to them and they would not rest until Gerry was found.
“Now that we know her death was an accident, we again ask all media for the respect of our privacy as we continue our grieving process with this new chapter of closure.”
