As we near the end of 2018, we are reviewing some of the top stories of 2018.
A Joshua Tree couple made national news when they were arrested in February after they were found living in a plywood structure on their property along with their three children and dozens of cats. Mona Kirk and Daniel Panico were brought up on charges of felony child endangerment, which were later reduced to misdemeanor charges, before the charges were dropped earlier this month. Friends of the couple bought them a house and furnishings in Joshua Tree.
Multiple people have gone missing, died, and their bodies found in Joshua Tree National Park and Amboy Crater.
Paul Miller, a Canadian hiker, was reported missing by his wife in July after he failed to return from a hike at 49 Palms Oasis in Twentynine Palms. The family of a Virginia couple, William and Susan Schmeirer, reported them missing after they failed to show up at their son’s house in Palm Springs in June. Searchers found the Schmeirer’s car and William’s body at Amboy Crater but have been unable to locate his wife’s body. On May 30, a hiker found another man’s body, identified as Duane Gerken of Sherman Oaks, about one-half mile from the end of the trail. And finally, Claire Nelson from New Zealand was trapped in the sun for three days with a shattered pelvis after she fell from a rock in the Lost Palms Oasis area of Joshua Tree National Park in May. Her friends noticed she had not posted on social media for a few days and reported her missing. A search helicopter found her when she tied a T-shirt to a stick to signal the helicopter. About 50 searchers spent two days looking for a legally blind Joshua Tree man who became lost while hiking at the Quail Springs area in Joshua Tree National Park. David Sewell, 76, was conscious and talking when searchers found him on April 24. Managing editor Tami Roleff has this story about a Marine who is accused of murdering a Murrieta man whose body was found in a shallow grave in Joshua Tree National Park…
A Twentynine Palms Marine was re-arrested in December, accused of murdering a Murrieta man and burying his body in Joshua Tree National Park. Curtis Krueger, 30, and his girlfriend Ashlie Stapp, 27, were arrested and then released from jail in September after the Riverside County District Attorney’s office failed to file formal charges against them within 48 hours of their arrest. Murrieta police re-arrested First Lieutenant Curtis Krueger, December 13 on suspicion of murdering Henry Stange, 54. Stange’s body was found partially buried in a shallow grave on June 2 near Bighorn Pass Road in Joshua Tree National Park.
