http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/0573.htmYellowstone National Park News Release
INFORMATION FOR THE MEDIA CONTACT: Matthews or Vallie
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (307) 344-2010
September 18, 2005 05-73
Names Released on Victims Involved in High Bridge Incident
Yellowstone National Park officials report the names of the two victims who fell from the Gardner River High Bridge on Friday, September 16, 2005, are Drew Webster Speedie, 50 years old, of Scottsdale, Arizona, and his son, Brent Quinn Speedie, 13 years old, also of Scottsdale.
A Yellowstone National Park ranger was contacted by a park visitor on Friday about the incident at the Gardner River High Bridge ( High Bridge), located on the Mammoth-to-Tower Junction road approximately one mile from Mammoth Hot Springs. A language barrier prevented the ranger from fully understanding the nature of the report, other than that some sort of incident had occurred or was occurring at the bridge.
The ranger immediately responded to the area to determine the nature of the report. At the bridge he contacted a woman who reported that her husband and teenage son had gone to take a picture 2 ½ hours earlier and had not returned. She had hiked a short distance looking for them without luck. The ranger began searching the area, and subsequently discovered two bodies below the bridge near the river embankment, around a 200-foot drop from the top of the bridge. The individual who first reported the incident has not been relocated to interview with an interpreter, and the park has been unable to locate anyone else that might have seen what happened.
Forensic autopsies have been completed and show the cause of death as blunt trauma due to the fall.
Yellowstone National Park officials are asking anyone that might have witnessed anything on the High Bridge between 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday, September 16, or who might have other helpful information to please contact the park's Communication Center at (307) 344-7381 and ask for an on-duty Criminal Investigator.
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