Man falls 500 feet to his death trying to rescue dog

A heartbreaking recovery unfolded at Thornton State Beach
Monday after a 67-year-old man fell down a 500-foot cliff while he was trying to rescue his dog. CBS San Francisco reports the Golden Gate National Park ranger said the man's dog got away from him, and when he tried to go after it he slipped to his death.

Long after the fatal fall, the man's dog continued pacing and barking on a perch, as is if to sense something was wrong.

"The dog knows if you are hurt and sometimes with the cliff they get overstimulated and don't know all the facts," says dog walker Kyle Moreno.

This is a popular area for dog walkers. Tedd Leblanc of Daly City and his friends were out hiking Monday. He says the terrain is steep.

"Sometimes things can move around. You gotta be careful. Always be on alert because rocks can tumble"

Rescuers airlifted the man's body from the bottom of the cliff.

Later they helped the dog get back up the steep cliff and gave it to the victim's family.

Park rangers say there are no leash laws in place, but advise dogwalkers to put their animals on a leash or make sure they respond to voice control.

The area is home to beautiful scenic trails but it is very steep.

Via:  wdef.com/2018/02/20/man-falls-500-feet-death-rescuing-dog-seaside-cliff/

Couple sells all possessions for sailboat, sinks 2 days into trip

A couple’s plan for a better life has been sunk.

Nikki Walsh, 24, and boyfriend Tanner Broadwell, 26, decided nearly a year ago that they were tired of working.

“How can we live our lives when we’re working most of the day and you have to pay so much just to live?” Walsh, who booked time-share tours for a living, said to The New York Post.

“Most of the work you do goes to your home. There has to be another option,” she added.

So the Colorado couple sold all their furniture and their SUV and purchased a 49-year-old boat in Alabama to live on and eventually sail the world in.

The couple moved onto the 28-foot boat, which was in the marina of Tarpon Springs, a town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and lived there for months with their two-year-old pug, Remy, while they stocked up on food and supplies.

“We were pretty prepared,” Walsh said, of gathering items to last them for their planned trip to the Caribbean.

However, the two were not prepared for what happened next.

Nearly two days into their venture, the couple’s boat capsized in a channel of water called John’s Pass.

“We thought the channel was where we were going, but it wasn’t,” Walsh told the Post, telling the publication they were armed with GPS and paper navigation charts.

Local boat captains say the sandbars often shift in John’s Pass, the Post reported.

“We started freaking out because waves were coming, and it was tossing our boat back and forth,” Walsh recalled.

Broadwell was at the rear of the boat, holding onto Remy when the trouble hit.

“My hands were shaking. We were terrified,” she said.

Before abandoning ship, Walsh said they grabbed some clothes and important documents, as well as things for their dog.

“I also grabbed Remy’s food and just about everything he needed,” said Walsh. “He doesn’t deserve to go without his favorite toys.”

Walsh admitted she and her boyfriend, who used to drive for Uber, were “new to sailing.”

However, the couple, who has been left with just $90 in cash, no jobs and no boat insurance, say they are still hopeful for their world-sailing plans and have started a GoFundMe begging people to help them “not give up on [their] dreams.”

The pair are seeking $10,000 to rescue the ship, which sunk off the coast of Madeira Beach, FL. Walsh said raising the boat alone will cost at least $6,700.

“We have a lot of family helping us, but it’s hard when you’ve lost everything,” Walsh told The Post from Jacksonville, where the couple is staying with loved ones.

Though the pair seem down and out, they still plan to “buy or salvage another boat” at some point and “try try try again,” Walsh writes on the GoFundMe.

“You only have one life. Why spend it doing what you don’t love. Money isn’t everything!” Walsh told the Post.

Via: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/02/11/couple-sells-all-possessions-for-sailboat-sinks-2-days-into-trip.html

Man Dies Weeks After Winning $1 Million Lottery

A New York man who hit the jackpot with a $1 million dollar scratch-off ticket three weeks ago died suddenly Friday, succumbing to stage four cancer, according to multiple reports.

Donald Savastano, 51, passed away from an unspecified form of cancer. He had recently been diagnosed.

Savastano was a self-employed carpenter who spent $10 on a whim for the Merry-Millionaire scratch-off ticket, WBNG reported.

The Queens native told WBNG at the time he planned on using the $661,800 lump sum payment to “buy a new truck, pay off some debt, and invest for the future.”

An obituary published Sunday by Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home in Oneonta said Savastano is survived by his mother, two sisters and four brothers. He died in his home, surrounded by family.

Via: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/29/man-51-dies-weeks-after-winning-1-million-lottery-jackpot.html

Man Frozen to Death Fleeing from Accident

A Milwaukee man is believed to have frozen to death in the yard of a stranger’s home after running and hiding from the scene of an accident.

Mark Henderson, 34, was found dead Sunday afternoon and the medical examiner is viewing the death as a case of possible hypothermia, Fox 6 reported.

Henderson blew a red light on Dec. 30, a day earlier, causing a four-vehicle crash, according to WISN.

A medical examiner’s report viewed by FOX6 said Henderson ran from the scene of the accident and hid in a nearby yard. Henderson was on parole after a 2010 fatal hit-and-run crash in which he struck two bystanders, killing one of them.

Via: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/04/milwaukee-man-believed-to-have-frozen-to-death-after-fleeing-scene-accident.html

Man Dies on Cocaine Fueled Bender to Celebrate Beating Cancer

A father who went out to celebrate after beating cancer died when he drunkenly fell down a cliff while trying to find somewhere to sleep off the alcohol, an inquest heard.

Adam Fenton, 31, from Cornwall, was found at the bottom of the 50ft rockface after a night out with friends to mark his recovery from a highly aggressive cancer.

He had been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma nine months earlier but got the all-clear just three weeks before his death after gruelling chemotherapy treatment.

A toxicology report found Mr Fenton had 190mg of alcohol in his blood - two and a half times the drink-drive limit - and 96mg of cocaine. 

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Andrew Cox said it was likely Mr Fenton had been trying to find a quiet spot to sleep off the alcohol.

At the time, the roofer was planning his wedding to Carly Blackman, 33, who had warned him to sleep somewhere else if he had been drinking.

Mr Fenton - father to daughters Macie, six, Maddison, five, and step-daughter Bayleigh, 13 - had a history of being aggressive and emotional after drinking.

The coroner at the hearing in Truro said he was last seen on CCTV around 3.30am on the day of his death leaving a nightclub in Newquay.

His body was found three hours later on July 29 by a dog walker near Towan Beach in the town.

DC Jazz Yewen, from Newquay police, said Mr Fenton had taken an unusual way home, and couldn't explain why he didn't take a more direct route.

Due to the zig-zag nature of his route, it took Mr Fenton six minutes to complete a one-minute journey.

DC Yewen said: 'We know that Adam left the pub at 3.33 in the morning. Instead of carrying on the road he then turns left into beach road.

'He could have got to the same location by walking straight down the road. He's been around Newquay for a few years, the spot was a bit out the way - not many people walking past.

'I don't think it's unfair to say that on that night, people were giving him a wide berth because they knew what he was like. There was a discussion that if he was going drinking, he wouldn't be allowed back in the house.'

Mr Fenton's mother, Linda Fenton, stressed that she thought it was unlikely his death was suicide.

She told the inquest: 'He would not have gone over there and jumped. If he felt that down, it would have been when he was being treated for cancer, because he was very unwell - but even then he said to me "I've got nine lives, mother".' 

Coroner Mr Cox said: 'The alcohol and the drugs that were found in the blood samples have not had a direct impact on the death.

'That being said, both the alcohol and the cocaine may have affected his judgement.

'Mr Fenton had finished work and been paid and went out with his work colleagues.

'He had gone into Newquay for a drink. The evidence I have seen is that Mr Fenton had some difficulties managing his alcohol consumption.

'There is no evidence that he had been aggressive. He had much to live for and was in a comparatively good place.

'If he wasn't going to the toilet, he may have been going somewhere to sleep off the alcohol he had drank. Miss Blackman made it very clear to Mr Fenton that if he was going to drink he had to sleep elsewhere.

'I do not think he had any intention to go over the cliff edge. This has been a deliberate act with an unexpected outcome.'

At the time of his death, on behalf of her distraught daughter, Carly's mother Rebecca Watson, 53, said: 'He got diagnosed eight or nine months ago and it was one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and in his heart, lungs and lymph nodes.

'He had six months of chemo and we thought we were going to lose him then. It was a miracle he got through it.

'We never thought he would come out the other side but he did. They said that the tumours had all shrunk. They couldn't say he was in remission but he had a scan and they had all gone.

'We were celebrating. We thought he would never get through it but he responded to the treatment. It was unbelievable. He got the all-clear three weeks ago and now he's dead.

'They were about to get married and now the songs they picked for their wedding will be played at the funeral.'

Mr Fenton was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma - blood cell tumours - around nine months before his death.

At the time of his death, he was still too poorly to work, but Ms Watson said he gathered the strength for his first night at the pub with friends on the day he died to celebrate his survival.

The family declined to comment after the inquest.

Via:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5111969/Cancer-clear-dad-fell-cliff-death.html?ITO=applenews

Twin Sisters Swept Away by Rogue Wave on Vacation

A "rogue wave" swept twin sisters out to sea, drowning them, during a vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, earlier this month, family members said.

Beverly Ann Skripsky of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Barbara Jo Thomas of McKinney, Texas, were taking a morning stroll Oct. 22 when they were suddenly overcome by a 15-foot wave.

"You had two wonderful people just walking on the beach and full of life a couple hours before that, and they're now gone," said Steve Thomas, Barbara's husband.

The sisters were killed on the third day of what was planned to be a week-long vacation. Thomas remembers the last time he saw his wife alive.

"My last memory was, 'Come with us and go on the walk,'" said Thomas. "And I didn't go. I literally watched her walk out the door and she wanted me to go with her."

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When the sisters didn't return, Thomas and his family alerted authorities and went looking for them.


"We found one of their sandals, and when we found the sandal, it was like my head told me they were gone, but my heart hoped against hope," said Thomas.

“I can’t imagine how fast it was moving, but it went from 10 feet to 15 feet in seconds,” Thomas told NBC-5 Chicago. "They found two women out at sea and I’m thinking, 'Great — they found them,' and I say, 'Are they OK?’ and he says, ‘I’m sorry to tell you, sir, but they’re deceased.'”

Rogues waves, as explained by the National Ocean Service, are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves and come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves.

Recognizing the hazard, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico issued a warning regarding dangerous wave conditions — strong currents, rip tides and rogue waves — in the coastal areas of Baja California Sur, to include Cabo San Lucas.

"Not all hazardous beaches in this area are clearly marked," the warning reads. "Swimmers, waders and even people simply walking along the beaches have been washed into the ocean by rogue waves. Some have drowned and others have disappeared."

Thomas experienced it, firsthand.

"[The wave] went up five feet every second, from five feet to 20 feet, and I was literally just looking at a wall of water," Thomas said.

The Thomases started dating in middle school and had been married for 45 years. Thomas remembers his wife as a kind, magnetic woman who loved helping others.

"Anybody that knew her loved her," said Thomas.

The twins were both retired and enjoyed traveling together. The pair had recently returned from a trip to Dubai, Thomas told the news station.

"Lifelong best friends, the twin sisters were inseparable as they planned family get-togethers and joint vacations throughout their lives," according to the sisters' obituary on Legacy.com. "They will both be truly missed by all who knew their friendly smiles, warm personalities, and kind unwavering spirit to help anyone in need."

Thomas hopes their story will help save someone else.

"There are certain beaches there that are killer beaches," said Thomas. "If you're out on the beach or in the ocean, you need to be very, very cautious of what's going on around you."

Via: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/11/03/twin-sisters-swept-away-killer-rogue-wave-mexico/828294001/

Man Accidently Shoots Self Calming Son

A Pennsylvania man fatally shot himself by accident Tuesday when he tried to catch a falling gun while calming his crying son in the back seat of a car, according to police reports. Kenneth Morris, 28, was reaching through the car’s side door when his .357 Magnum came loose from his shoulder holster. He accidentally pulled the trigger when he tried to grab it, shooting himself in the stomach. The incident happened in the driveway of a home. Morris died after being taken to the hospital.

Via: https://www.thedailybeast.com/man-accidentally-shoots-self-while-calming-crying-son