The rangers found his body on a high ledge. Although it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, he was wearing a ski parka, fur lined boots, padded wool gloves, and snow goggles.
No one had been looking for him. He had not been reported missing despite it having been months since his clothing would have been weather appropriate. The day he was found, the rangers were on a routine patrol, one of several routes through the national park they checked out regularly. On their last pass along this trail two weeks earlier, the dead man had not been there. Nor had they seen him in all the months since winter.
The coroner’s examination determined he’d died of exposure. Whether it was exposure to heat or cold was unclear. There had been little decomposition.
When investigators checked their computer for the name on his drivers license, there were no other records of him. Fingerprints also led nowhere. His pockets contained only some beef jerky. There was no notebook, no map, no computer, no cellphone, no keys, nothing with info on how he’d arrived in the park. It was as though his body had sprung into existence and then mysteriously deposited itself on the ledge after being hidden in some other place, perhaps in cold storage.
The detectives had a million questions. They could answer none.
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