GPS directs driver to death in Spain's largest reservoir

The Spanish Red Cross reported a 37-year-old man died on Saturday night after driving his car into a reservoir near the western town of Capilla.

"It seems the GPS system pointed them on to an old road that ends in the reservoir, and that in the dark they were unable to brake in time, with the car taking just a couple of minutes to sink," the Red Cross said in a statement.

The victim and a single passenger were driving home towards the southern city of Seville after working at a street fair when the Peugeot 306 ploughed straight into the waters of La Serena reservoir.

Although both men managed to get out of the car, only one made it to the shore. Red Cross divers found the body of the unnamed driver at the bottom of the reservoir on Sunday morning.

Via theguardian.co.uk

Students Discover Classmate's Brain In Jar On Field Trip

In a field trip to the Richmond County Mortuary, some Staten Island teenagers made a ghastly discovery: their former classmate's brain on display in a jar. Jesse Shipley, 17, died in a car crash in 2005, and medical examiner Dr. Stephen de Roux took the license to keep the teen's brain. It was discovered on the field trip months later, and the Shipley's have now gotten permission to sue the city, even though they're saying they did nothing wrong.

One of the students told the Daily News, "There was a case that you could see through, and there were brains in jars and names on the jars. One said 'head trauma, Shipley, J.'" Jesse's girlfriend also happened to be on the trip and "went outside and was flipping out. She started crying and called her mom and said, 'Mom, Jesse's brain is here! I can't be here.'" However, de Roux stands by his decision to keep the brain for testing, saying, "I wait months, until I have six brains, and then it's kind of worth while to make the trip to Staten Island to examine six brains. It doesn't make sense for him to come and do one."

via gothamist.com

Justice William F. Mastro called the incident "a surreal coincidence," but ruled, "While the medical examiner has the statutory authority to ... perform an autopsy ... and to remove and retain bodily organs for further examination and testing ... he or she, also has the mandated obligation ... to turn over the decedent's remains to the next of kin for preservation and proper burial once the legitimate purposes for retention of those remains have been fulfilled." The Shipley's lawyer, Marvin Ben-Aron, was disappointed that the ruling implies the ME has "an unfettered right" over the organ, and the court denied his motion to sue for damages over the brain's public display. The suit alleges the jar was labeled, "This is what happens when you drink and drive," even though alcohol was not involved in the accident, and Shipley was the passenger, not the driver.

Segway company owner dies riding two-wheeled machine off cliff

The multi-millionaire businessman, 62, fell into the River Wharfe while inspecting the grounds of his North Yorkshire estate on a rugged country version of the Segway.

The Segway is a motorised scooter which use gyroscopes to remain upright and is controlled by the direction in which the rider leans. A passer-by found Heselden alongside his Segway in the Boston Spa area at about 11.40am on Sunday.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said today: "Police were called at 11.40am yesterday to reports of a man in the River Wharfe, apparently having fallen from the cliffs above.

"A Segway-style vehicle was recovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

"At this time we do not believe the death to be suspicious."

Heselden was worth £166m and ranked 395th on the Sunday Times Rich List.

The former miner made his millions from defence contracts. He created a unique portable wire cage water containment system which when filled with earth and sand proved a major defence against bullets, missiles and suicide attacks.

His founded his first company HESCO Bastions with his redundancy pay when he was laid off from the mines.

The wire cage systems developed by Bastions have become standard military equipment for Nato as well as American and British forces.

The Segway operation was acquired by a UK based company backed by Heselden.

From the Daily Telegraph telegraph.co.uk

Body Found in Multiple Ticketed Car

People die and get ticketed in their car more often than you may think.

The daughter of a man whose badly decomposed body was found inside a minivan said Thursday traffic cops should have noticed her father over the several weeks they covered the vehicle in parking tickets.

"He was my only family," said Jennifer Morales, 29, about her father, whom she believes died from a heart attack while sitting in the family's 2000 Chevrolet Ventura in Queens.

"The window was cracked open. I don't understand how no one noticed him. They just gave him tickets," she told the Daily News last night.

Although sources said 59-year-old George Morales was homeless, his daughter said the diabetic handyman lived with her and her two kids in Washington Heights.

Jennifer Morales said she had last heard from her dad in early May. She said she contacted police, but cops had no record of a report.

A city marshal found the elder Morales Wednesday morning, while trying to tow the minivan parked on 34th Ave. under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway overpass.

Parking tickets and dust covered the vehicle.

Cops called Jennifer Morales hours after the 6:45 a.m. discovery with the sad news.

"In the autopsy, they said they just found skeletal remains, no organs, only his heart," she said.

The Morales family plans to cremate him once officials positively identify the remains using X-rays taken of Morales in 2007 at Elmhurst Hospital Center.

From NY Daily News

Dead Man Given Parking Ticket

A Queens man was slapped with a parking ticket as he lay dead in the driver's seat of his car, cops and family said Wednesday.

Nicholas Rappold, 21, of Flushing, was slumped across the front seat of his Jeep Cherokee on 165th St. near 35th Ave. Tuesday morning when a traffic agent wrote him up for being illegally parked during street sweeping, cops and family said.

"It's really messed up," the young man's cousin Patrick Hill told the Daily News. "While he was dead in his car, a New York City traffic agent gave him a ticket."

An hour after the ticket was issued, a friend whose house Rappold had left in the middle of the night spotted his buddy's vehicle still parked outside, sources said.

The curious pal went to see why the SUV was still there and found Rappold's cold body, sources said.

Investigators interviewed the traffic agent but found no wrongdoing. "He had heavily tinted windows," a police source said in defense of the postmortem ticket. "It was hard to see inside."

But family argued that the officer could have seen Rappold, who had recently been in rehab for pill abuse.

"She could have at least knocked on the window to see if he was all right," Hill said.

The cause of death is still to be determined by the medical examiner, but investigators believe Rappold died hours before the ticketing from an overdose.

Police voided the parking summons after they released the vehicle to the family.

from NY Daily News

Headless Man Killed by Pipebomb

A 21 year old man was killed by a pipe bomb explosion, apparently of his own making.

In the dead of night, an explosion ripped through Evanston's Fitzsimmons Park, shaking houses and waking residents blocks away. Responding to calls of a possible blown transformer, police searched but found nothing.

The mystery didn't begin to unravel until more than an hour later Tuesday, when resident Dale Wyatt made a grisly discovery.

He was walking his dog when it started pulling its leash. Near a playground, he found a headless body.

"I was kind of freaked out," Wyatt said. "This was the last thing I expected. ..."

So began a macabre series of events that led police to discover a pipe bomb near the corpse. Nearby Nichols Middle School was forced to close, but some students still showed up for classes. Parents, children and school buses were waved off and sent away.

After disabling the bomb, investigators were left trying to determine why a man identified as Colin Dalebroux, 21, had two explosive devices.

Police said Dalebroux "was known" to another police agency in Illinois, but offered no details.

They got residents to evacuate an apartment building a block away, at 1012 Main St., where Dalebroux lived, and said they were working with the FBI to examine information stored on his computer.

At the same time, some parents of Nichols students said they were angry it took four hours from the time of the first explosion for them to be notified. While the investigation continues, the middle school will remain closed Wednesday.

Many parents were upset the district did not move faster in handling the emergency, said Eileen Budde, a Nichols PTA president, who shared their concerns.

"It seems like it was a long time between police seeing a body and when parents were told," Budde said.

Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said that if police, the school district or city officials thought "there could be a remote possibility (of concern for safety), we would always err on the side of caution. We're always concerned about safety."

Residents near the park were stunned by the day's developments.

Sarah Stanczyk, 34, was asleep when the blast rocked her home about 3:50 a.m.

"It woke us up immediately," she said. "We thought it was a transformer exploding. Either that, or lightning. It sounded like a boom, and the house actually shook."

She saw police search the area with flashlights, then leave. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that "all chaos started breaking loose," she said.

Wyatt, 31, who lives a half-block from the park, was taking his dog Buddha out for a walk. The German shepherd-mix was agitated and began pulling toward something as if chasing a rabbit.

Wyatt found the body of a shirtless man wearing pants with his legs folded underneath him and his right arm stretched up.

There was nothing from the neck up, not even blood, and no obvious marks on the body, he said. A shopping bag and a plastic jug were nearby.

At first he thought it was a mannequin and some kind of "sick joke." But after he met a woman also walking her dog who pointed a flashlight at the body, they realized it was real. Wyatt went to his home and called police, who said they got his call at 5:48 a.m. He met them at the park and led them to the body.

Police taped off the area and found an unexploded pipe bomb near the body. They called the Cook County sheriff's bomb squad, which disabled it.

Wyatt said he was worried about the incident, wondering, "What was he doing near a school?"

Nichols officials said they first learned of the trouble between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m., after a custodian arrived and told the principal that police were nearby, said Pat Markham, Evanston Skokie District 65 spokeswoman.

Principal Sarah Mendez met with Police Chief Richard Eddington at 7:15 a.m.

"It wasn't until closer to 7:30 in the morning that it was even suggested that we shouldn't hold school," said Markham. "From that point forward, people had to put the wheels in motion."

Markham said she posted information by 8 a.m. on the district Web site and e-mailed parents 20 minutes before the start of classes at 8:30 a.m. Then she recorded a computerized emergency phone message, in English and Spanish. Some parents reported getting the calls at 8:40 a.m.

Meanwhile, teachers formed a perimeter at the school and sent students home who didn't get the message. Two buses loaded with children were turned away.

Staff members traveled back with them to explain the school's closing to their parents, Markham said.

"Everything was handled in a very orderly fashion," said Markham, adding that while she usually arrives at the district before 7 a.m., she and others had been at a school board meeting until 11 p.m. the prior night.

One father, Neal Pearlman, said he was infuriated that his 12-year-old son rode his bike to school to discover police cars and yellow tape before the family could confirm that classes were canceled.

"The frustration I have had and other parents have had is we didn't get a call from the district telling us that the school was closed until 20 minutes after the school was open," Pearlman said.

School Board President Keith Terry expressed frustration that parents were upset about the notification process. He said he was more concerned about the idea that someone had blown himself up near a school.

"I really am saddened that parents feel this way, but everyone at the administration building would never put any child in harm's way," Terry said. "My mind was not so much on laying blame, it was trying to figure out why did this happen."

from www.chicagobreakingnews.com

Plastic Surgeon Killed Texting While Driving

Texting while driving caused Hollywood plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan's fatal accident on the Pacific Coast Highway, his ex-girlfriend told People magazine.

"He lived up in Malibu on a tiny street and he was texting while driving, and he accidentally went over the cliff," Charmaine Blake said.

She said Ryan's family was told by investigators that his texting contributed to his death.

California Highway Patrol confirmed to People that Ryan, 50, was texting before the crash, but would not say it caused the accident.

"It is one of the elements that we are investigating," CHP Officer Steven Reid said.

Minutes before his crash, Ryan had Tweeted: "After 25 years of driving by, I finally hiked to the top of the giant sand dune on the pch west of Malibu. Much harder than it looks! Whew! ... Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune."

He also Tweeted a photo of his dog on the dune.

Emergency responders attempted to remove him from vehicle, but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His dog Jill was thrown from the vehicle and found in the ocean. She suffered serious injuries to her head, paw and eye and was later released to a member of Dr. Ryan's ranch staff, TMZ reported..

Ryan was a staple in Hollywood, working on countless celebrities including Janice Dickinson, Adrianne Curry, Shauna Sand and Gene Simmons.

But it was his work with MTV reality star Montag that earned him notoriety; he completely (and publicly) transformed the troubled celebrity's looks. Performing 10 procedures in one day, Ryan gave Montag a mini brow lift, Botox, a nose job, a "back scoop," liposuction and an ear pinning, among other alterations.

Thrown Bar Mug Leaves Innocent Bystander Dead

A 23 year old New York man, an innocent bystander, was killed after a bizarre barroom incident across the street from Boston's Fenway Park.

Friends and family say the man just went to the Landsdowne Pub on Friday to see some college friends.

The six-month Wall Street employee hadn't had much time off during the summer, so his boss let him take off Friday to join friends from his college days in Connecticut in Boston.

They gathered at the Landsdowne Pub, but just after midnight shards of glass from a thrown mug hit him and two friends, police said, severing his jugular vein. Police said the man didn't even know the suspect who had been arrested for throwing the glass.

"He didn't know this guy. He didn’t say a word to this guy. There was no indication that he was involved in anything," the victim's father said.

From behind a closed courtroom door, Hector Guardiola, 25, of South Boston, was charged with manslaughter and released on $75,000 bail.

"Mr. Guardiola and two other bar patrons, apparently strangers, had a confrontation over apparently something trivial which escalated to a thrown mug," a prosecutor said.

The victim's two friends, including his former college roommate are recovering from their injuries.

From thebostonchannel.com

Car Collapses on Queens Man During Repairs

A Toyota Celica slipped off a shaky jack and killed a 42 year-old Queens man while he worked on the car in his garage.

From NY Daily News

Finalist dies at World Sauna event in Finland

A test of endurance proved fatal for one Russian man.

The finalist at the World Sauna Championships died on Sunday in Finland after suffering burns from exposure to the steam's extreme heat.

Vladimir Ladyzhensky (left in photo) was facing off against Timo Kaukonen when both men collapsed about six minutes into the final round of the annual competition.

The pair suffered severe burns, but Ladyzhensky later died. The exact cause is unknown pending an investigation.

The contest held in Heinola has been suspended, as investigators look into how the endurance competition was handled.

Organizers insist they did everything by the book.

"All the rules were followed and there were enough first aid personnel," Ossi Arvela, who heads the sauna contest, told reporters. "All the competitors needed to sign in to the competition with a doctor's certificate."

Participants must endure 230 degrees Fahrenheit in a sauna, and the last person remaining wins. Half a liter of water is added to the hot stove every 30 seconds to maintain the heat.

"I know this is very hard to understand to people outside Finland who are not familiar with the sauna habit," he said. "It is not so unusual to have 110 degrees in a sauna. A lot of competitors before have sat in higher temperatures than that."

More than 130 competitors from 15 countries took part in the event, which started in 1999. Because of the fatality, the competition will likely never be held again, organizers said.

from BBC News

Georgia CEO Fatally Shot By New Jersey Cop

Police are investigating the death of Credit Union of Atlanta CEO Defarra 'Dean' Gaymon, who was fatally shot by an undercover New Jersey cop on Friday night. According to a press release from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, the undercover detective had been investigating complaints of "public sexual activity" in Branch Brook Park in Newark, and had made one arrest with his partner. During the arrest, the detective lost a pair of handcuffs, and retreated into the park to search for them. That's when he claims he was approached by Gaymon, who was "engaged in a sex act" at the time (the WSJsays he was masturbating).

After the detective flashed his badge, he says Gaymon "assaulted" him and fled, allegedly shouting threats at the officer. The press release says, "Mr. Gaymon then lunged at and attempted to disarm the officer while reaching into his own pocket. Fearing for his life, the officer discharged his service weapon, striking Mr. Gaymon once." Gaymon, however, was unarmed.

The 48-year-old, a father of four in town for his high school reunion, died of a shot to the stomach at University Hospital. The officer was also brought to the hospital to be treated for trauma, and wasn't able to give an account of what happened until Monday. Because he is the only witness, Gaymon's family has questioned the validity of his story. The family said in a statement, "We know that the police killed an innocent man, with no history of or disposition towards violence." Police have asked any other witnesses to step forward.

The Credit Union of Atlanta wrote on their website, "Credit Union of Atlanta extends condolences to the family of DeFarra "Dean" Gaymon who passed away suddenly July 16, 2010. We are deeply saddened at the loss of Mr. Gaymon and offer our most sincere sympathy to the Gaymon family." Another reunion organizer told the Times, “All the people that knew him say you never met a kinder, nicer, more gentle person, and they’re stunned about what happened."

The Wall Street Journal via Gothamist.com

Two Elderly Men Die in Skydiving Accident

Two men in their 70s who bonded over a passion for skydiving died together over the weekend after their parachutes became entangled about 100 feet about the ground in Pennsylvania. Theodore Wilson, 70, was a well-regarded retired accountant who grew up in the Bronx and volunteered to help abused children at theBronx Community Health Network. NJ resident George Flynn, 75, was a retired ironworker and a grandfather of seven. Both men were extremely experienced skydivers; Wilson had logged 545 skydiving jumps in his lifetime, while Flynn had logged 1,497 jumps. But despite their aptitude, the two friends made their last jump Saturday, their third that day.

Witnesses said Wilson and Flynn appeared to be having perfectly normal jumps, but as they floated to the ground, they inexplicably slammed into each other in midair and the lines of their parachutes got tangled up, sending them both crashing down. Wilson was declared dead soon after, but Flynn held on and briefly regained consciousness before dying on Sunday.

Wilson's son Theodore called his dad the "Lion of the Family" and tells the Daily News, "I never really wanted my father to do skydiving - not at all. But he said to me, 'You have to live in the moment and you could die from anything, so why be fearful?'" And Flynn's wife Delores says, "He would have been happier to go like that than getting sick and lie in a hospital bed." According to another article in the News, only 16 people died in 2.5 million parachute jumps in the U.S. last year.

Son of NYC Mobster Mickey Spillane Falls to Death

The son of murdered Irish mobster Mickey Spillane tumbled out the window of his sixth-floor apartment in a fatal fall Saturday, police and his uncle said.

Robert "Bobby" Spillane, an actor who had roles on television's "Rescue Me" and "Law & Order," fell from his Midtown Manhattan apartment in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood near Times Square where his father, not to be confused with the pulp fiction writer of the same name, had run rackets back in the 1960s and 1970s.

Spillane, with one arm in a sling, had leaned on the screen of an open window to call out to his brother, Michael, who was on a street below, McManus said. The screen collapsed and Bobby Spillane fell, McManus said the brother told him.

"The screen gave out," McManus said. "He only had one arm and he went out with the screen."

The New York Police Department could confirm that Spillane fell through a window after a screen collapsed. Officers and medics responded to a call on Eighth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood about 7:45 a.m. Spillane was pronounced dead at the scene.

Spillane's father, who was revered as the "gentleman gangster," was gunned down in 1977 by the rival "Westies," the Hell's Kitchen Irish mob.

In an article about his funeral published in The New York Times, Spillane was described by a detective as "a very strong enforcer, a handsome, black-haired tough guy out of the movies."

He was often asked, even by law enforcement, if he had any relation to the crime writer of the same name.

Bobby Spillane never moved far from his family's roots in the old neighborhood near the Broadway theater district.

A few years back, Spillane drew on the lore from his father's time to write an Off-Broadway play called "All Dolled Up" about a cross-dressing gangster in the 1960s.

From 1010 WINS

Man Dies Trying to Scale Building with Belt and Shoelaces

A man who tried to scale down the side of a Harlem building with with shoelaces and a belt plunged 11 floors to his death Thursday morning.

Locked out of his girlfriend's 13th-floor apartment at W. 112th St., Steven Wright headed to the roof around 5:30 a.m.

Wright tied the laces and the belt to a pipe and tried to inch his way to her top-floor window, then plummeted onto a second-floor patio roof.

"I heard a boom!" said Alexander Bridgett, 45, whose window overlooks the patio. "And then I looked out to see a dead body."

Neighbors said Wright had a fight with girlfriend Lanecca Austin, 31, before the fatal plunge.

Austin told the Daily News she was asleep with the television on and the volume up high, and only found out Wright had fallen when cops knocked on her door.

Police don't suspect foul play.

"It's a bad thing that happened to a good dude," said one building resident.

From the New York Daily News

Man Dies Trying to Destroy Truck for Insurance Money

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say the owner of a tractor-trailer was killed trying to wreck the truck to collect insurance money.

It happened along the Eastex Freeway feeder road near the North Loop around 2am. Police say the 26-year-old man behind the wheel died when he jumped out of his rig. Detectives told Eyewitness News the death was an accident.

Investigators believe the driver was trying to crash his 18-wheeler into a freeway support column to collect insurance money.

A witness stated that just before the truck wheels hit the curb, the driver jumped out of the cab. The driver hit his head on the ground and was knocked unconcious. He was later pronounced dead.

Authorities say the driver of an SUV following the truck was supposed to be behind the wheel, but decided against it at the last minute. He was questioned by investigators.

Part of the feeder road was blocked while police investigated.

Man Drowns in Pool - Couldn't Swim

Jose Barrera, 32, of New York City on Monday drowned in a swimming pool at an East Patchogue home, according to a Suffolk County Police report.

Barrera was visiting friends when he entered the in-ground pool at 1:04 p.m. According to the report, Barrera, who did not know how to swim, was found by his wife 15 minutes later in the eight foot deep section of the pool.

Barrera was taken by South Country Ambulance to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 1:52 p.m.

Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. Robert Doyle said that it is believed to only be a drowning and that a medical examiner would be needed to determine the exact cause of death. Doyle said that intoxication did not appear to be a factor.

Doyle described the pool as being 18 feet by 36 feet.

From the Patchogue Patch

Landscaper dies after bee attack

A 55-year-old man died Wednesday after suffering hundreds of bee stings while working outdoors in the northern San Diego County city of Encinitas, the Sheriff's Department said.

The man, described as a landscaper, was operating a backhoe in a brushy area near the San Elijo Lagoon when the equipment apparently disturbed a colony of bees.

As he was being stung repeatedly, the man fled to an outhouse about 200 yards away, where he was found moments later by authorities responding to an emergency call. He was pronounced dead at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas.

Via the LA Times

South Korean man posts suicide note on Twitter

Police found the body of Lee Kye-Hwa, 27, a former disc jockey in a Seoul bar, hanging from a ferry dock on the Han river in Seoul early on Tuesday.

His family reported him missing on Sunday when he posted a short Twitter message in Korean.

"I'm going to commit suicide. To all of you, even those who shared the slightest friendship with me, I love you," he wrote.

"Investigators concluded he had committed suicide," a spokesman for Seoul's Mapo police station said, confirming the wording of the Twitter posting.

Access to Lee's account was not possible by Wednesday morning.

The Korea Times said Lee had also left separate written suicide notes for his family and friends, complaining of financial troubles.

It said some of his Twitter followers had tried in vain to trace his whereabouts after reading the suicide message.

News of Lee's death was spreading fast through Twitter on Wednesday as his former followers expressed condolences, shock and regret. "I wish he may rest in peace in Heaven, my heart is deeply hurt," one wrote.

Man Dies After Car Rolls Down Driveway

MERIDEN, Conn. (AP/1010 WINS) -- Police say a Meriden man died after his car ran out of gas and rolled down a driveway, pinning him between the vehicle and a garage.

Police say 23-year-old Malachi Dicks died late Thursday in the incident on Lewis Avenue in Meriden. They believe he was killed instantly.

The preliminary investigation found he had pulled his Nissan Altima into the driveway when it ran out of gas, and that it struck him when it rolled backward down the driveway.

His death remained under investigation Friday.

via 1010wins

Hiker Struck by Lightining Moments before Proposal

He never got to pop the question.

Richard Butler was hiking up a North Carolina mountain with girlfriend Bethany Lott - and an engagement ring in his pocket - when lightning struck.

"God, baby, look how beautiful it is," Lott said of the mountain vista just before the bolt hit her.

Those turned out to be her last words.

Butler, who was also hit, said "everything went black" and when he opened his eyes again "she was laying a few feet away."

"I crawled to her," he told the Asheville Citizen Times newspaper. "I did CPR for probably 15 minutes, and the whole time was trying her cell phone, but I couldn't get anything out."

Later, when the paramedics arrived, a badly burned Butler used what remained of his strength to perform one last act of love.

"I put the ring on her finger while the EMTs were working on her," he told the newspaper. "They are listing me as her fiancé in the obituaries."

Butler, 30, and Lott, 25, both of Knoxville, Tenn., had set off for the summit of Max Patch Bald on Friday when it started to rain.

"I picked that spot because she actually said she would like to get married there," Butler told a local TV station. "She absolutely loved the outdoors."

And Lott was not deterred by the stormy weather.

"She hiked thousands of miles and spent a couple of years in Utah just hiking," Butler's mother, Janet Delaney, said.

Then lightning bolts creased the sky, and one of them hit the lovebirds.

"I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back," Butler said. "My legs turned to Jell-o, my shoes were smoking, and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire."

Another Knoxville couple raced over and also tried to revive the doomed hiker.

"They stood on the top of the hill doing what they could for probably 20 minutes until the rescuers got there," said Butler, who suffered third-degree burns.

But there was no saving Lott, who was to be buried at a Tennessee cemetery on Tuesday with a view of the mountains she loved in the distance.

On his blog, Butler called himself "the luckiest man alive."

"I was given a life with the most amazing woman in the world," he wrote Tuesday. "I was loved more completely than I ever dreamed possible."

Lott may be gone, the grieving would-be groom wrote, but "I have gained a constant companion in the wind."

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/08/2010-06-08_bethany_lott_struck_by_lightning_moments_before_boyfriend_richard_butler_was_to_.html#ixzz0qN7VyhyB