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NEED TO KNOW
- William Davis, 79, went missing after taking the Cog Railway train to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire on Wednesday, July 16
- After he realized he was lost, he spoke to a State Park employee on the phone, but remained missing even after several searches
- His remains were discovered nearly two days later, on Friday, July 18, around 11 a.m.
The remains of a 79-year-old Florida man were located two days after he first went missing, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation.
William Davis went missing after he and his wife took the Cog Railway train to the top of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington on Wednesday, July 16. His wife reported that he was last seen near the observation deck at about 3:20 p.m. local time.
“From there no one knows where he went,” the NH Fish and Game Department said in a news release.
Davis spoke with a State Park employee on the phone, and he expressed that he seemed to be lost and off-trail. He didn’t know where he was, but his description of the area signified that he wasn’t very far from the summit and he could be easily located. After an hour of searching, Davis had stopped answering his phone and was still unaccounted for.
NH Fish and Game was then notified about his disappearance around 6:00 p.m. Around 24 rescuers and a drone team searched until 2 a.m. on Thursday, July 17. The group continued the search early that same morning at 6:00 a.m. Due to poor weather conditions, including 40-degree temperatures, rain, and a 32-degree wind chill, the search was suspended until that evening.
The search resumed Friday morning. Davis’ body was located around 11 a.m., and 400 feet off Lion Head Trail between Alpine Garden Trail and Tuckerman Ravine Trail, per the news release.
The government agency said it is unclear how Davis ended up at the location.
“He was not a hiker, had no map, and every indication is he wandered off the summit without telling anyone where he was going,” per the agency’s statement.
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“Although it is too soon to determine the exact cause of death, it was clear at the scene that Davis suffered a significant fall from a steep, rocky slope,” NH Fish and Game said.
His body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of his death.
