National Park After Dark - Mistake or Malice? Zion National Park

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

Set aside your fear of heights and keep an open mind as we embark on the Observation Point Trail in Zion National Park – the same trail where Patricia Bottarini lost her life. 24 years later it is unclear if her death was a result of an ill intentioned husband or a tragic accident. In this week’s episode listen as Danielle walks us through the events leading up to her death, and the controversy that followed. For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Friday, May 9, 1997 was a good day to be alive in Utah. The late morning sun was creeping over the canyon walls of Zion National Park. Streams of sunlight illuminated the rich, red-colored stone, while the lush greenery carpeting the canyon floors seemed to stretch out their arms, welcoming the morning warmth. Donald and Glenda Cox had been on the trails early that day, and had already conquered the Observation Point Trail, a strenuous but bucket-list worthy hike,

and were heading down the series of switchbacks, leading back to the trailhead. While pausing for a break, they heard a commotion, scuffling. They turned their heads straight up, towards the source of the sound, as rocks and rubble began to fall off the cliff above them. Eyes glued to the scene unfolding hundreds of feet overhead, they saw a body. It came cartwheeling over the edge and tumbled down the cliff face as the couple watched in horror. Glenda quickly grabbed her binoculars, scrambling to visualize where the body had landed. The two waited with tightened chests.

Knowing the heartbreaking screams of a hiking partner would soon echo throughout the canyon, but they heard nothing. No yelling, no calling out a name, no cries of agony. As silence filled the air, they knew it was up to them to find help. As Donald and Glenda hurried down the trail to the ranger station to alert park rangers of the situation, James Botterini stood at the edge of Observation Point Trail, gazing quietly down the cliff where his wife Patricia had done. just lost her life. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Cassie. And I'm Danielle. And I think this week, we just kind of want to go straight into our story. But before we do that, if you haven't visited our Patreon page, we do have three extra stories on there right now. We have two campfire stories and we have a bonus listener story that we have posted. That is exclusive to our Patreon. So if you are interested, you can go on to our Instagram National Park After Dark and click on our link. Or you can go on to our website and go to NPADpodcast.com and click on our Patreon link. Speaking of links, you can find our Patreon on our Instagram through our link tab,

but we are going to be adding a new one. So when this episode comes out, you can go on to Instagram and check it out. We had a couple of people actually email and DM us on Instagram requesting that we kind of put together a book reading suggestion list. We kind of just blur out all of these books that we recommend reading because we've either read them on our own or for research and it kind of gets just lost in the episode. So we kind of want to make a one-stop shop for the books that we recommend. So you can go and check that out. Another thing, just touching on the Patreon, I just finished researching the next campfire Patreon story.

And this month, without giving it all the way, we are going to be going to a park in Arizona. And we talk a lot about rules and regulations of parks. But this particular park, if you break one of these rules, you may have bad luck for the rest of your life. So if you want to learn more about that, that episode will be released at the end of the month when we feel like it. Yeah. Surprise. So I have to say in this intro, you immediately peaked my attention because you mentioned a trail that I have actually hiked in Zion. Observation Point. So can we just get into the story? Because I need to know. Absolutely. So observation point is not a trail that I had the chance to do while I was in Zion a couple weeks ago. But it is one that is very, very popular, kind of up there with Angels Landing, just not as skis.

So before we get into the story itself, I'm just going to do a brief overview of Zion National Park to set the scene for today's story. Located in southwestern Utah, Zion was first protected in 1909 when President William Howard Taft designated the area as a national monument called Makuntuweep. And that is actually a piute word meaning straight canyon. The 229 square mile park was later established as a national park 10 years later on November 19, 1919. and its name was changed as the National Park Service felt that the original name was too difficult to pronounce, and it may deter visitors. And personally attesting to the pronunciation aspect, I had to look that up a couple times.

But I also think there's something to be said to having a native name for a national park, instead of just changing all the names, like Tahoma, to Rainier. Yeah, actually keeping the original names from the original people who actually, actually found the parks. Yeah, and who actually inhabited the parks before they were a park. Zion encompasses scenic canyons, high plateaus, and waterfalls, and also

protects archaeological sites important to the history of the native peoples of the area, especially the piute. Known for sheer canyons, Zion is a climbers' paradise, attracting climbers from all over the world, including Alex Honnold, who freeloed Moonlight Buttrus, which is

1,200 feet, and he did so in just 83 minutes. Wow. That man is wild. Well, when I was at Zion and I was waiting at the top of Angels Landing before the chain section, I looked over because you can see Moonlight Butrus. Part of it, if you're standing looking out into the canyon to your left, you can see that. And there was a tiny little ledge. And there was a camper or a climber camping on the ledge. Like he was in his sleeping bag and he had all his climbing gear kind of anchored into the wall. and I pointed it out to someone that I was speaking to, and there was a volunteer park ranger out there studying the California condors, and he actually told us that. He's like, oh, do you know that Alex Honnold Free Soloed that? And I did look it up later just to make sure I heard him right,

but it was really cool to actually see the Canyon. And it's one thing to watch Free Solo, the movie, and just be like, wow, that's incredible. I want to know a fun fact. I was actually in Yosemite the day before he free-soled in Yosemite. Really? Yeah. And I didn't know that until the movie came out.

I had no idea he was there. But I watched the movie and I looked at the dates and I was like, wait a second. I was in Yosemite at that time and I looked at the dates back on my photos and I left the day before he free-soled it. Wow. Yeah. I wish I had known that because I would have, I mean, obviously I wouldn't have wanted to like intrude on anything. but I would have been like keeping a better eye out on that whole area and probably, you know, like, it would have been a lot cooler. He has some really cool interviews with Joe Rogan on his podcast also.

So anyone who, yeah, he's been on his show, I think, twice. And their conversations are three hours long. So if you're into climbing, sport climbing, definitely check those out. Anywho, you don't have to be an extreme athlete. to visit Zion. Over four million people hike, bike, and wade their way through the park each year, making it the third most visited park in the country. And that falls right behind Great Smoky Mountains and the Grand Canyon. So now that you have Zion scene kind of set in your mind, let's go back to our original story. So Patricia met James Botterini in her home city of San Diego, California. They soon

fell in love and married in Peru at Machu Picchu when she was 27 years old in 1988. They continued living in California for several years before moving to New Jersey and starting a family. Mirroring the desire for outdoor adventure, the couple chose Zion as a sort of second honeymoon location almost 10 years after their marriage, and perhaps to rekindle some romance. Friends, family, and even neighbors had been speculating that their marriage was strained, as the two were appearing increasingly tense leading up to their trip to Utah. James had a weakness for gambling. He had taken 53 visits to Las Vegas between 1990 and 1994 and had accumulated losses of over $74,000.

Well, that would explain the stress on their marriage. You would think. To us, that's huge. Like, that is a huge amount of money. But despite the loss of money, those who knew the couple, stated they both came from affluent families and they did not have debt and they didn't lead a flamboyant lifestyle that would put them into huge amounts of debt. So at face value, going to Vegas over 50 times in four years and losing almost $100,000 to us would be

crippling. But to them, it seemed like it wasn't too big of a deal. But money issues can bubble up in different ways. I personally wouldn't want my husband. to be in Vegas 50 times, like just on trips, spending all of our money doing who knows what with who knows who. And, you know, that would be my biggest thing. If I had lots of money, I'd be like, okay, whatever. But what are you doing? So I'm sure there was more to that story.

So Patricia's family owned a real estate company called Tobo Investment Partnership. And it was based out of Carlsbad, California. and she had an interest in this company. She owned one-twelfth of it of that company, and that share in and of itself was worth an estimated million dollars. So she had some money of her own. And aside from James' gambling habit, it seemed as if the couple was in financial good standing

and decided to head to Vegas together in May of 1997. They rented a car and drove to the National Park two days later. Friday morning, May 9, 1997, the couple woke up and had breakfast, and despite Patricia's well-vocalized fear of heights, the couple chose to hike Observation Point Trail. She was an experienced athlete and was up for the challenge that this trail presented. It may not be as iconic as Angels Landing, but Observation Point Trail holds its own on the list of iconic Zion trails. It can be done two different ways. The first starts at the Weeping Rock Trailhead and leads to a hikers on an eight-mile round-trip with about 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

And the second route to do this trail is about a seven-mile round-trip starting on the East Mesa Trail, and that earns about an additional 700 feet of elevation gain. And I look this all up on all trails, by the way, just to get all that information as correct as possible, since I haven't done them myself. I should say there's one trail that does 700 feet? an elevation gain and the other one is 2,000 feet. I did the 2,000 feet in elevation gain because we were doing switchbacks all the way up for a really long time. Right, which is that first one that I mentioned.

And the 700 feet of elevation gain, I believe, is that little, quote unquote, little, because it already starts on a different trail. Yeah, higher up. So both routes will reveal some of the best views in all of the park. but to earn them, hikers must conquer those switchbacks that you were just talking about. They go through slot canyons and you have to be comfortable near sheer cliff drops. Although the trail itself is relatively wide and hard packed, it's still kind of a scary hike if you're someone who is afraid of heights.

So like I said, the couple chose the Weeping Rock Trail route. And they made it about three quarters of the way up before stopping to admire the views. They had a snack. and then they decided that they should turn back and forego summiting as they were starting to get tired. From this point on, what exactly happened in the following moments has been speculated, scrutinized, and questioned for years. James' account of events goes like this. He walked ahead of Patricia on the trail about 15 feet or so.

After a few minutes of walking, he later stated, something alerted me to turn around, whether she called out to me or whatever. He turned around to see Patricia lying face down on the slope ledge at the edge of the trail. She was scrambling to get back to her feet when she lost her footing, slipped over the edge, and disappeared. He said, quote, she was slipping down and there was nowhere for her to go. This is the moment that Donald and Glenda Cox heard commotion, saw a body tumble over the cliff above them, and left to alert for help. Back on the trail, a group of six hikers from Phoenix, Arizona, encountered James, who appeared confused and visibly shaken. They stopped to speak with him, and James explained to them that his wife had fallen

and that he could not find her. One of the hikers in the group named Mike Fulton heard him the use of his topographical map, but quickly realized that this was not the case of a person wandering away and getting lost. Putting together the severity of the situation, the group instantly sprung into action and started looking for Patty. Mike later stated that James seemed unable to help them make plans to search for his wife. He was quiet, didn't really say much. And when he did speak, his voice quivered. He seemed distracted, disoriented in the search, and didn't put much effort into it at all.

And he didn't even call out her name when they were looking for her. I just envisioned my being like, oh, your wife is lost here. Here's a map. Like if you can't find her. And then being like, oh, shit. But she's not. You mean she fell, foul, fell, like. Right.

Right. And then him. being like a little suspicious during the whole search because you would think if you're with someone and they fall, you would be yelling for them hoping that they would respond and say, I'm okay or I'm really hurt but I'm alive or something. Yeah. Mike and his five other hiking partners and James searched the area around the trail in hopes of finding Patty.

When Mike hoisted himself onto a ledge, he made a gruesome discovery. Patty's lifeless body was laying on the loose soil of the ledge, badly broken and bloody from a 500-foot fall. He later mentioned that he knew immediately there was nothing he could do to help her, indicating that it was apparent she was already dead. But just to be sure, he knelt down to check for breathing or any sign of life at all. While he was doing so, he heard James approaching him from behind, and Mike immediately warned him not to come any closer. He recalled saying, it's not good. Don't come up here.

Mike was trying to spare James from what would surely be a traumatizing and heart-shattering scene. However, James did see Patricia's body. And while he showed very little emotion at the site, he did pick up a rock and threw it at the vultures, starting to circle overhead. What a horrible scene that is. That's so sad. Assuming he didn't murder her, it's really sad. to come across your wife and have that happening. Exactly. And I do want to mention, and I'm sure we'll talk about it later, but grief and shock and learning of terrible news

or being in a situation that you never thought you'd be in, everyone reacts differently. And not everyone has a classic. There is no uniform reaction to trauma. And for him, maybe he was truly in shock and he couldn't believe what was happening and he couldn't partake in, you know, the search or kind of process that he is seeing his wife dead. But on the same, or on the flip side, it kind of is suspicious. It's super suspicious. It's like, are you in shock or are you really sketchy? Exactly. So, not knowing that another group was already on their way to authorities, this group decided they needed to send someone down to get help right away.

James stated he needed to stay with his wife and was left with Patty's body as the hikers convened to come up with a plan. It was decided that Mike's girlfriend and a couple others would run back the three miles to the trailhead to alert for help. As they set off, Mike returned to James and found that he had replaced Patty's shorts, which had come off during the fall. The two men sat together while they waited for help to arrive. James told Mike of his two sons, who were three years old and nine months old, and began to cry for a short period of time with his face held in his hands. He also questioned how they were going to remove Patty's body from its position on the ledge. Oh my God. So they just had a baby. Yeah, less than a year ago.

That's so sad, and I'm super suss of James. Mm-hmm. Well, maybe I'll change your mind, but maybe you won't. National Park Ranger Brett McGinn was the first to arrive on the scene. He later stated that James seemed emotionally separated. He was detached and disinterested from what was going on and barely said a word when recovery efforts were underway to recover Patty's body, although he did state that James broke down crying again when he mentioned his children.

McGinn took note of his behavior and said he, quote, had questions as to James Bauderone's attitude and demeanor. Next on scene was Special Agent Pat Buchello. Initially, she mistook Mike as Patty's husband, as she noted he appeared much more concerned and upset than James was, which I think is very telling of how James is reacting to this whole situation. Yeah, that someone else would be more upset than he is and he was there and it's his wife. So as she and other park rangers looked more closely at the scene, the more they grew suspicious that something very strange had happened. Buccello said, quote, we all kind of looked at each other and said,

no one falls off observation point trail. And she was right. She actually looked into Park Records and observation point trail had had no accidents in the last 30 years and absolutely no fatalities in the 60 years that the trail had been open. With more and more questions beginning to spring up and more and more pieces not fitting together, detectives began to realize there may be a case against James. Detectives began working with the pieces of the puzzle that they did have, and they began to uncover some suspicious information. First, they spoke with Carolyn Howard Jones, Patty's sister.

Carolyn stated in an interview that when James told her the news of Patty's death, he was, quote, very matter of fact as if he was reading something off of a piece of paper. Initially, he told Carolyn, he and Patty were hiking the Angel's Landing Trail when he heard her calling out to him and when he turned, he saw that she had fallen. But then later on, he changed that story and said that they were hiking the observation point trail when he heard her slip. And when he turned around, she was screaming as she was sliding off the edge, begging him to do something before she fell.

So these are wildly different story. Yeah, very, very different. And so even the one that is kind of true, the one that he's, one that he states they were on observation point trail, which they were, he said that she was screaming to him. But so if you remember in the beginning of the story, Donald and Glenda, who witnessed Patty falling, said that it was quite, they didn't hear anybody. Yeah, they didn't hear any screams at all. Exactly. Yeah. And when you first said he messed up the trail names, like first he said Angels landing and then observation point, it's like, okay,

that's forgivable. You're in a traumatic state. You messed up the names of the trail. No biggie. But a whole separate story that's, we're getting into some sketchy territory here where I'm still very suspicious. Right. Yeah. There's a lot of detail, or not even a lot of detail, but just important details that... There's some inconsistencies going on here. Right. Remember how Patricia had part ownership of her family's company. worth a lot of money? Well, investigators also discovered that eight months prior, Patty had made James the beneficiary of a $250,000 life insurance policy and the $1 million share of her family's

business. There it is. So, again, some more contradictory information coming at you. So James had told special agent Pat Buccello the day that Patty died, and again, a few weeks later, the name of the life insurance company and the amount it was for. But fast forward several months later in July, during a taped conversation between Pat Buccello and James, James denied knowing any of that information and states he didn't even know that Patty had life insurance at all. So again, inconsistent with his story is horrible liar. And another reason, there's all these things that make me suspicious, but just something tells me that there's more going on. Well, just keep an open mind. This is just the beginning of the head scratchers in this case.

Five days after the fall, investigators discovered an unusual blood spot eight feet down the side of the cliff. What is interesting about this is that no blood marks preceded that spot, but they did find drag marks at five and 25 feet from the blood spot. Washington County undersheriff Peter Coleman found them to be consistent with what he would expect with a fall, but suggested that she may not have slid off the edge, like James had explained, but rather had sailed through the air prior to hitting the ground, as if she had been pushed. Okay.

Yep, we're starting to see some physical evidence turning up that is contradicting what he had originally said. Patty's sister Carolyn was becoming very suspicious of James and refused him staying at her home the week after Patty's death when James arrived in town for her memorial, and she also refused to sign documents saying that her sister's death was an accident. With so many red flags popping up and increasing suspicion of foul play, the federal government charged James with interstate domestic violence, making false statements to a federal officer, and four counts of wire fraud. And the wire fraud charges were from attempting to collect on the insurance policy,

which he said he had. no knowledge of. Also, he's really trying to collect on this insurance money really fast after his wife has died and there's suspicion on him and he's still like, I'm still young. I'm going to get this money. He does have two young children. So maybe he was just trying to be financially secure for that. I'm not sure. I know you're looking at me like, but. I've seen snapped. I know how this goes. The federal government was unable to charge James with murder. as that authority fell into the Washington County Sheriff's Office. And I did want to put that in there because when I first read that he was being charged with things,

but they weren't murder, I was confused as to why. But an attorney for the sheriff's office named Eric Ludlow told the news that he was going to monitor the case and basically see how it played out before making a decision whether to charge James with his wife's murder. So he's going to trial for some other charges. not murder. But depending on how the trial pans out, he may or may not have been charged with murder later on. Okay. Seems like a long time to wait on a murder charge. You know, like, court takes a really long time for anything. And you're just like, well, we'll see how this goes. And we'll charge you for murder in like a year or two when those court filings are over.

Yeah. And a year or two, try five years later. The case went to trial in November of 2002. So a five years after her death. Wow. That is a really long time to wait to charge someone for murder. Well, they're not charging him with murder, remember. They're charging him with these wire fraud, domestic interstate domestic violence, and giving false information to a federal officer. Yeah, so they still haven't even charged him or anything with murder, and it's been five years that they've been suspicious of him. Mm-hmm. So interestingly, the 12 jury members that were chosen for this case. Of course, are chosen based on a lot of different factors. If you've ever been selected for jury duty, you understand what goes into that. But one of the most important criteria

that was taken into account for this is they wanted to make sure that the jury members were able to walk the observation point trail because the 12 final selected jury members were actually driven from Salt Lake City to Zion National Park and were told to, walk the observation point trail to the point that where Patricia fell and or was pushed to see for themselves kind of the scene and make conclusions about how she died for themselves. Okay, that's an interesting way to go about that. So the trial in the courtroom was brutal. The prosecution described James as a systematic gambler who bet that he could get away with

murder. They painted him as a schemer who began his murder plot months before when Patty prepared her life insurance and a will that favored him financially. He was also described as a controlling husband who had investment business of his own that wasn't doing so hot. They included details about his gambling trips to Vegas, and when Mike Falk, that man who helped James find Patty on the trail initially, when he took the stand to testify, jurors were shown a poster-sized photo of Patricia's body just as Falk had found it. Richard Lambert, one of the U.S. attorneys, also made sure to point out Patty's fear of heights and the odd behavior that James was displaying that day.

The defense attorney Ronald Youngich explained James's odd behavior was due to shock, and that if he had indeed planned to murder his wife, his reaction would have been way more dramatic, over the top, he would have been bawling, kind of like an over-dramatized, exaggerated version, kind of like when you're faking something, sometimes you do a little too much. that was his claim. Okay. And in regards to Patty's alleged fear of heights, the defense showed pictures of Patty rappelling down a rock face in hopes of discrediting her alleged fear.

So they were kind of like, oh yeah, she has a fear of heights. Well, why is she rock climbing? Yeah, like here she is. She's fine. She's not afraid of heights. She's on a rock face. Yep. So this went on for weeks.

The trial in total was three weeks long, all the while contradictory statements and testimony were being tossed back and forth. Even forensic experts were on both sides of the fence regarding how she could or would have fallen over the edge of the trail and how she would have fallen down the steep cliff. Prosecution blood spatter expert Rod Engler testified that the elliptical pattern of four bloodstains 11 feet below the trail indicated Patty was, quote, vaulted out over the edge and that one of the bloodstains shows she was bleeding before her first impact found by marks made when she hit the rough terrain below. So he's testifying that she was tossed or pushed and she had already been bleeding before she fell. So maybe she was already

hit prior and was starting to bleed before she was pushed off the edge. But another forensic expert gave testimony that the blood patterns found on the rocks and abrasions found on her hands were consistent with a tumble, a slip, and a fall. A professor of exercise science testified, that if she slipped or tripped, she would have fallen forward, not sideways, while another forensic engineer said the different issues such as vertigo or plain physical exhaustion from the hike could have caused her to fall as much as a 45-degree angle in any direction. So they're getting different information, like completely opposite information from both sides. Yep. So this is probably very confusing for the jury, especially coming from experts,

someone that you trust as an expert in the field of their area of study, and they're saying completely different things. In the closing statements, defense attorney Ronald Yungich addressed the jury saying, how she fell, I don't know. And the prosecution doesn't know. There's a reasonable doubt here. This is about a tragedy that occurred in a world that does not exist in black and white. There are shades of gray and accidents do happen.

And in the last two days of the trial, James himself addressed, the jury. He directly said, quote, I did not kill my wife. There is no possible way that I would want my wife dead. So here comes the verdict. After 10 hours of deliberation on Tuesday, November 26, 2002, the jurors handed down their final verdict. Drum roll. James Botterini had been acquitted of all charges against him. As if to add salt to this wound, one week later, one of the jurors, named Stephen Paul Crump admitted the acquittal was a result of a misunderstanding, not a sense of James's innocence. He said, quote,

we obviously as a jury did not understand the instructions clearly, and ironically, and I guess even sadly enough, the only thing that we did unanimously agree upon was the fact that we couldn't have a hung jury. Based on their reading of the lengthy jury instructions, Crum said the group assumed that if they could not come up with a unanimousal, unanimous verdict of guilt, they had to acquit him. He said two jurors adamantly refused to discuss the idea that James could be guilty. So after hitting a dead end with them, they voted to acquit him.

And Crump said he left the courthouse with a empty feeling. And I have an empty feeling right now, even reading that, because the verdict, this acquittal, came down to jury members not fully understanding how the justice system works in the United States. Yeah, it's sad that the verdict came from them clearly misunderstanding the rules. And it sounds like they were trying to make a decision that was, we don't have enough evidence, we don't have enough information, bring us more so we could retry this. Sounds like what they were trying to do. Right.

Like I said, the jury was 12 members. 10 of the members were totally four thinking that James was guilty. But two of them were really, like I mentioned, steadfast in saying, no, I don't even want to talk about him being guilty. There's no way you can convince me. So at this point, they're in a deadlock, which is also called a hung jury. And that's when a jury can't agree upon a verdict, even after they've deliberated on and on, like 10 hours, like this, in this. particular case. Usually in hung juries, it usually results in the case being retried. So this would have given, that would have given the opportunity for maybe a different set of people who are

more familiar with the justice system to have their shot at figuring out what truly happened to Patricia. And I know there are some people on this jury that probably really tried to get a guilty verdict passed down. But the total lack of understanding for how hung juries work and that it's even an option led them to acquit him, even though that wasn't the general consensus of the majority of the jury. Yeah. So this interview that that juror gave sparked more speculation and more suits against James. For years, civil lawsuits from Patty's family, the insurance company, and the guardian appointed to the children's financial affairs and the Tobo Investment Partnership went on and on. James eventually countersuited Tobo investments but later dropped it when a settlement

was reached. In the final term of the agreement, it states, each party here to agrees that the promises, covenants, and released contained herein are not and are not to be deemed or constructed as an admission of any misconduct or fault of any kind whatsoever, but are to be constructed strictly as a compromise and settlement of all disputes between the parties for the purpose of avoiding future controversy, litigation, and expense. So all that jargon basically said. So from here on out, we're just going to come to a truce. We are not going to file suits and counter suits and go back and forth

because we don't want to draw any more attention to this. We don't want to put any more financial resources into these suits. And we're just going to come to a settlement that basically, you're not going to sue me, I'm not going to sue you, and we're going to just stop. But that doesn't mean that just because that they're coming to this agreement in the settlement, it doesn't mean that it's an admission of guilt. It's basically just say enough is enough, but just because we're coming to the settlement doesn't mean that we're admitting guilt to anything.

In the end, the civil court did not retry James for his wife's death, and he and his sons received no proceeds from his wife's family's business. James Baderani is now 62 years old and was last known to be living in Ottawa, Illinois, with his two sons. I obtained all this information for this episode from a couple different places, one of them being another book. Another book, of course. Of course. and it's called Death in Zion Stories of Accidents and Full Hardiness in Utah's Grand Circle

by Randy Mindor and of its publishing, fun fact. So she published this in 2017 and as of the publishing, 92 people had died in Zion since they began keeping record in 1908. However, we do know that that number

must be greater now with the sad addition of several more Angel's Landings Falls in recent years. I also gathered information from the Daily Herald, Uron, Daily Tribune, and the Desert News. And that's it for this episode. May Patty's soul rest in peace and let her story serve as a reminder.

China, as my dad would say, it was his token phrase, trust no one. And it also does stress the importance of understanding your country's justice system, whatever country you're from, please know it, because it's very important.

You never know when that information is going to essentially change somebody's life if you're ever picked for a jury. Do you know if he got the insurance money? No, so he didn't. He did it. So, yep, so at the end of all those. All those court things. It was finally settled that he wasn't going to be tried for his wife's death. But part of the settlement agreement was that neither him nor.

his two sons would receive proceeds. I saw that from her business. I didn't know that was the same as her life insurance. True. I don't know. I bet that little snakey sneak. That's got sneaky snake. Yeah, sneaky snake.

I bet he did get her life insurance because if you're not found guilty of murder, usually it'll pay out, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. I'll follow up, do a little more digging and maybe let you know next up. episode as before you start your story. She'd be like, yeah, FYI. Yeah, that would be interesting to find out because he was originally being tried for wire fraud for trying to collect on the insurance money, remember?

I'm just curious of how that whole thing played out. Yeah. So this was another story of, you know, a big question mark, kind of like in your story in Carlsbad. Was it murder or was it an accident? An accident? and it's a big question mark that the same in both cases, only one person that is currently alive knows the truth. In your case, it was Rafi, and in this case, it's James. And we'll never know unless they come forward with the actual truth.

And maybe Rafi was telling the truth, if you refer back to that episode. Yeah. And maybe James is telling the truth as well, and it was just a tragic accident and some freak thing happened. So I'll just never know. We can have our own suspicions in what we think, but we'll never 100% know exactly what happened. Exactly.

To wrap this up, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark. You can visit our website at npaddpodcast.com or send us an email at npadpodcast at gmail.com. Have a great week. Remember to enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye, everyone. Bye, guys.

Mukuh... Where does it just like say? Over here. Mukentooeip National Monument. Okay, that's not it. How do you say it? Mukun to weep. I think it's Mukun to weep.

Macoon to weep. Macoon to weep. Introduce us. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the wild sleeps tonight. Is that what they're saying? Macoon do weep. Macoon to weep. This is why we record for five hours.

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