Danger Not Withstanding.....

The California coastline has long been the source of interest to geology students and nature lovers alike. The same can be said about the Oregon coast, Washington coast, East coast, etc. We temper our curiousity with a healthy dose of respect, but we are nonetheless curious.

A search through the internet uncovers the many stories of hikers who have made what most of us might think are the unimaginable treks through nature in search of something most of us can't understand. There are tons of articles about bringing babies in backpacks, how much you can expect your children of various ages to carry, and how far you can expect them to walk. There are discussion about safety issues, most of which are borne out of experiences of other hikers who took the initiative before you. I even came across one story about an avid hiker whose very young son suddenly ran after a lizard and came very close to plunging over the edge of a cliff. Had his daughter not reached out and stopped the fall, a tragic accident would have occurred.

We find the various vantage points from which we see things from a different perspective, and we go on classroom outings (such as the one at the right) in order to appreciate the land we live on.

We are protected from some of the dangers that might be encountered, but for the most part we are left alone to come and go without incident.

Accidents are not intentional. They happen. In spite of all our best efforts, we sometimes discover that the choices we make did not turn out to be the best ones. The family who went out on a hike and had just paid to follow the nature path in Utah, surely didn't mean for the little three year old girl who was with them to fall off a cliff, but she did. And her rescuer lost his life trying to save her.

The parents who took their kids to Yellowstone National Park to explore the area surely didn't expect a walk along the boardwalk to lead to a trip that threw their son into the caustic, hot pond.

Surely we warn our children about the dangers we perceive. While I might take Billy out to walk across the rope bridge that crosses the gorge over the Grand Canyon, his brother would be the first to stick his head and body through the ropes! And Billy is the youngest one, it just so happens he is intuitively cautious and minds. His brother is quite the opposite!

In spite of our best efforts to do the right things and moderate our activities according to the circumstances, accidents happen. When we think we have it all under control and turn away for just a moment, accidents happen. I can only pray that all of us are spared from the great suffering very bad accidents have brought to the lives of others.

Distortion, Manipulation and Just Another Lie!

Once again I am putting aside Part II of The Path to Lauren to concentrate on the dishonest testimony promoted by the Prosecutor. I will post from the Grand Jury testimony (July 19, 2004) which was very similar, in this instance, to what Leslie said during the trial.

Discussion turned to a description of the various paths available to take when traveling between the Parking Lot at Abalone Cove and Inspiration Point. There is also a brief discussion about the Pre-School on the Beach of Abalone Cove.

Page 143

1 Q(Hum) NOW, THIS BEACH AND SCHOOL AREA, WHAT TYPE

2 OF SCHOOL AREA IS THAT?

3 A(Leslie) IT'S A PRIVATE PRESCHOOL THAT HAS A SMALL

4 PLAYGROUND AREA. IT IS SITUATED DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH,

5 MAYBE 30 YARDS, 40 YARDS FROM THE OCEAN AND BEACHFRONT.

In fact, Portuguese Bend Nursery School was opened in 1953 by the matriarch of Portuguese Bend, Mrs. Vanderlip. She opened the school because she had small children and she invited the children of the area to participate. In 1975 Los Angeles County purchased the property and the beach was leased to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. The Nursery School serviced the children of Palos Verdes, Torrance and San Pedro. It is a parent-involved coop for children ages 3 through 5. The fence around the playground is about 3 feet high and has at least two unlocked gates which were both open when I visited. Children walk from the roadway to the school with their parents, or car pooling is used as a means of limited car traffic on the small access road. Visitors to the Nursery School park in the upper parking lot and access the beach using the same path used by Cam and Lauren.

Cameron Brown had been taken to the school's playground as a child. The setting is very unique and the children enjoy whale watching, dolphins and exploring through the acres upon acres of tidepools right outside the playground. Cam never forgot his experience there as a child, and he thought Lauren would enjoy it as well. The Nursery School and playground is not privately owned, but is in fact publicly owned land without restricted access. The following pictures are of the school and the beach. You can see the lifeguard stand right behind the playground which warns about nude bathing.

It is important to realize, because it is not evident in the following pictures, that the playground and preschool area is NOT on the same level as the beach below. There is a stairway to the beach with about 6 steps down. There is a seawall which protects the playground from the raising tides. I will show pictures of this later.







6 Q (Hum) IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY TO ACCESS THIS

7 PRESCHOOL AREA OTHER THAN GOING DOWN THIS TRAIL THAT YOU

8 DESCRIBED FROM THE ABALONE COVE PARKING LOT?

9 A (Leslie) THERE IS ONE ADDITIONAL WAY TO ACCESS THE

10 PRESCHOOL. IT'S A WINDY, PAVED ROAD THAT KIND OF CURVES

11 AROUND FROM PALOS VERDES DRIVE SOUTH DOWN TOWARDS THE

12 BEACH. HOWEVER, IT'S LOCKED IF THE SCHOOL IS NOT OPEN OR

13 DURING NORMAL SCHOOL HOURS.

14 Q (Hum) AND CAN YOU ACCESS THIS WINDY --

15 THIS PAVED ROAD THAT YOU HAVE DESCRIBED FOR

16 US, CAN YOU ACCESS THAT FROM THE PARKING LOT AT ABALONE

17 COVE?

18 A (Leslie) NO, YOU CANNOT.

19 Q (Hum) YOU WOULD HAVE TO COME OFF OF PALOS VERDES

20 DRIVE SOUTH TO GET ONTO THE ACTUAL ROAD THAT GOES DOWN

21 THERE?

22 A (Leslie) THAT'S CORRECT, YES.

NO IT IS NOT! Let me show you as I myself walked that very road the first time I went to Abalone Cove. I did so because it was high tide on my visit and I could not walk along the beach. So let's do a little reality check here by way of pictures. Hum could have easily used pictures, but I notice he used only a map.

On my first visit to Abalone Cove I had not bothered to check the tide level and encountered tides beating against the seawall. I explored the various ways that I might be able to cross over to Portuguese Point (attempting to cross at point "B"), but realized that Altamira Canyon is far too steep and wild to cross. I then walked up the road from the playground and instead of going all the way to Palos Verdes Drive South I went along the road marked "A" on the picture. This road took me to the bluff area where the parking lot is located. It is completely unhampered and very easy to travel. If Leslie claims no such road exists, he is mistaken. Point "C" on the photograph is the path you walk down from the parking lot to the playground. I might also add that while there is a gate across the road from Palos Verdes Drive South to the playground, it is easily stepped over or under by a hiker. It is only closed to driving traffic which is it's purpose...to eliminate the number of cars going into the school each day. If a child needs to be picked up from the school, the teachers take the child to the gate to meet their parent.

On my second visit to Abalone Cove I wasn’t sure I would be able to make the entire hike because I was not going to go through Altamira Canyon. According to Leslie’s testimony which follows, you can’t go along the beach so I wasn’t expecting to be able to.

27 Q (Hum) AND THEN IF YOU WERE TO LEAVE THIS BEACH

28 AND PARKING LOT -- I'M SORRY, THIS BEACH AND PLAYGROUND

Page 144

1 AREA AND TRAVEL AWAY FROM THE ABALONE COVE PARKING LOT,

2 HOW WOULD YOU DO THAT? WHAT WOULD WE RUN INTO? WHAT

3 WOULD WE FIND?

4 A (Leslie) LEAVING THE PRESCHOOL AREA?

5 Q (Hum) YES.

6 A (Leslie) ONCE YOU LEAVE THE PRESCHOOL AREA, YOU WALK

7 A SHORT PERIOD ALONG THE BEACH. IT'S KIND OF A DEEP,

8 SANDY BEACH; AND THERE'S -- IT'S NOT REAL WIDE. THERE IS

9 A HILL ON ONE SIDE AND THEN THE OCEAN ON THE OTHER. IT

10 IS KIND OF JUST A SHORT BEACH WALK WITHIN THAT AREA.

11 Q (Hum) AND THEN IF WE CONTINUED AWAY FROM THE

12 PARKING LOT, WHAT WOULD WE ENCOUNTER?

13 A (Leslie) THERE'S TRAILS THAT THEN BEGIN TO STEM OFF

14 FROM THAT SHORT AREA OF THE BEACH WHERE YOU WOULD WALK,

15 AND THEY AGAIN GO UP SOME INCLINES, ACTUALLY SOME VERY

16 STEEP INCLINES, AND WIND UP AND AROUND THROUGH THE HILLS

17 WHICH SIT ABOVE THE OCEAN AND WOULD TAKE YOU IN A

18 WESTERLY DIRECTION.

19 Q (Hum) SO THE ONLY WAY, BASICALLY, TO GET OUT FROM

20 THE BEACH, YOU HAVE TO GO UP; IS THAT CORRECT?

21 A (Leslie) THAT'S CORRECT, YES.

22 Q (Hum) YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP WALKING ALONG THE

23 BEACH?

24 A (Leslie) NO.

No, Mr. Leslie? Three years and many trips to that beach and you say, “No?” I guess we need a few pictures to enlighten us as it is clear we can’t depend on the investigator's version of events.

I walked down to the beach using the cement stairway. People I encountered along the way didn’t want their pictures taken so I have blacked them out. I chose to walk along the rocks most of the way, but the option to walk in the sand is readily available. As the tide washes in you could get wet in some areas, depending on the water’s level at the time. The walk was easy, and the worst I encountered was two dead herons.

So how exactly do we know the level of the tide during that day when Cam and Lauren walked along the beach at approximately 2pm (1400hrs)?


Long Beach, Terminal Island, CA Long Beach, Terminal Island, CA: Data Inventory

Station ID: 9410680 Page Help

Historic Tide Data
Historic Tide Data
Station Date Time Pred 6
DCP#: 1
Units: Feet
Data%: MLLW Local 100.00
Maximum:
Minimum:
------- -------- ----- -------
9410680 20001108 00:00 0.68
9410680 20001108 01:00 0.76
9410680 20001108 02:00 1.36
9410680 20001108 03:00 2.34
9410680 20001108 04:00 3.49
9410680 20001108 05:00 4.52
9410680 20001108 06:00 5.19
9410680 20001108 07:00 5.33
9410680 20001108 08:00 4.93
9410680 20001108 09:00 4.07
9410680 20001108 10:00 2.99
9410680 20001108 11:00 1.94
9410680 20001108 12:00 1.18
9410680 20001108 13:00 0.89
9410680 20001108 14:00 1.14
9410680 20001108 15:00 1.82
9410680 20001108 16:00 2.76
9410680 20001108 17:00 3.69
9410680 20001108 18:00 4.36
9410680 20001108 19:00 4.58
9410680 20001108 20:00 4.29
9410680 20001108 21:00 3.56
9410680 20001108 22:00 2.58
9410680 20001108 23:00 1.60



My picture was taken on February 12, 2007 at 1530 hours. The tide data at that time is found in the following data:

Long Beach, Terminal Island, CA Long Beach, Terminal Island, CA: Data Inventory

Station ID: 9410680 Page Help

Historic Tide Data
Historic Tide Data
Station Date Time Pred 6
DCP#: 1
Units: Feet
Data%: MLLW Local 100.00
Maximum:
Minimum:
------- -------- ----- -------
9410680 20070212 00:00 3.47
9410680 20070212 01:00 3.83
9410680 20070212 02:00 4.26
9410680 20070212 03:00 4.65
9410680 20070212 04:00 4.91
9410680 20070212 05:00 4.93
9410680 20070212 06:00 4.65
9410680 20070212 07:00 4.06
9410680 20070212 08:00 3.23
9410680 20070212 09:00 2.26
9410680 20070212 10:00 1.32
9410680 20070212 11:00 0.56
9410680 20070212 12:00 0.12
9410680 20070212 13:00 0.05
9410680 20070212 14:00 0.34
9410680 20070212 15:00 0.92
9410680 20070212 16:00 1.63
9410680 20070212 17:00 2.33
9410680 20070212 18:00 2.87
9410680 20070212 19:00 3.20
9410680 20070212 20:00 3.28
9410680 20070212 21:00 3.20
9410680 20070212 22:00 3.04
9410680 20070212 23:00 2.96

Further, we have the Grand Jury testimony of Sergeant Erickson who monitored the call and went to the scene when the emergency was broadcast as follows:

Page 78

1 Q (Hum) AND WHAT DID HE TELL YOU HAD HAPPENED?

2 A (Erickson) WELL, THIS ALL TOOK PLACE DURING A WALK

3 ALONG THE BEACH, BECAUSE I HAD SEVERAL CONCERNS. IT WAS

4 GETTING LATE IN THE DAY, AND I WAS WORRIED ABOUT THE TIDE

5 COMING IN AND POSSIBLY WASHING AWAY ANY EVIDENCE, SO WE

6 PROCEEDED TO WALK ALONG THE BEACH AREA WHILE HE EXPLAINED

7 TO ME WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND WHAT HE HAD DONE.

And Leslie’s Grand Jury testimony (pg 18) about the tide:

17 Q (Hum) NOW, DURING HIGH TIDE DOES THE WATER

18 ACTUALLY COME UP ONTO THOSE ROCKS AND COVER THOSE ROCKS?

19 A (Leslie) A PORTION OF THEM, YES.

20 Q (Hum) YOU TRIED TO -- HAVE YOU TRIED TO GET OUT

21 TO THE ROCKS DURING HIGH TIDE?

22 A (Leslie) YES, I HAVE.

23 Q (Hum) AND YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT AND YOU GOT AWFUL

24 WET?

25 A (Leslie) THAT'S CORRECT.


The following photos were taken on December 21, 2005 at 1:20 to 2:30pm.

This picture is taken from the upper bluff above Abalone Cove during a high tide condition. It is actually on the path going down to the playground.

This is a picture taken at point "B" of the above satellite view. It shows Altamira Canyon. At this point I declined going down the steep side of Altamira Canyon. There was no clear pathway to follow and no reason to believe this was a reasonable option when considering ways to get to the other side. I opted to go up the road from the playground instead, and found no way to cross.

This picture was taken on the roadway going away from the playground and shows the terrain.

This picture also shows the terrain between the parking lot and Portuguese Point.

Signs

The view from the Playground

I have delayed Part II of The Path to Lauren because more information is being obtained that may add further insight.


This group of signs is located on the upper bluff of Abalone Cove prior to descending on the path to the Nursery School. I do not know when any of these signs were installed, but I do know that because of Sarah's efforts some new signs were put in the area to warn people of the dangerous conditions due to unstable ground that isn't obvious.

The following signs are located just before the Playground.



This is a picture of the Lifeguard station outside of the Playground and adjacent to the parking lot.


This sign is located on Portuguese Point as you look out toward Inspiration Point. This is very near the area from which Detectives Leslie and Smith went under the fence (with Dr. Berkowitz) and followed a remote path not traveled by Cam. Dr. Chinowah from the Medical Examiner's office told the Grand Jury that he also went on this walk, but it was later discovered to be untrue.


This sign is off Palos Verdes Drive South on the path that leads to Sacreds Cove and Inspiration Point.

This sign is located in the same general area as above.

This sign is on the open gate on the second path that leads from PV South to Inspiration Point. Unfortunately I did not think of taking a picture of the entire sign, but I think you can read it if you click on the photo to enlarge it. I believe it says, "WARNING. Beyond this point are unstable cliffs and steep drop offs not recommended for children. Proceed at your own risk." I suspect this sign was added because of Sarah's efforts. It is only on this gate. I saw no other signs about children on the other path going to Inspiration Point nor elsewhere. This leads to the one area where I felt very nervous, right above the Archery Range. No other signs exist at the entrance to Inspiration Point. I go into this more in Part II because the short path right beyond this gate made me very nervous. It is entirely avoided by taking the first path instead, which is the path Cam and Lauren went on. I should also note that the jury was taken through this gate and not on the first path which Cam and Lauren had been on.


This sign is located further up PV South on the driveway entrance to the Archery Range.

These are the only signs I saw.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is further discussion about these signs in the comments which identifies what was done as a result of Sarah's efforts. Signs warning of constant land movement and the one on the gate along with limited fencing were added. Letters discussing these efforts are linked in comments.

The Path to Lauren, Part I

An important issue to the prosecution's case is establishing what paths were followed that day. The path the prosecution claims Lauren and Cam took from the playground to Inspiration Point was instrumental to classifying the death a "homicide." Additionally, the prosecution has made an issue of the path Cam took to get to Lauren after she fell. Craig Hum has stated that "he went somewhere else first." Mr. Hum has thus implied that Cam took a convoluted route to purposely add precious minutes to the time it took to get to Lauren. Has the prosecution established the true paths which were traversed that day? Or are these more misrepresentations by the prosecution?

After spending numerous hours reviewing aerial pictures of the area, I finally realized that the only way for me to really understand what happened on the day Lauren died was to take a trip to the site and do more than look at it from the distance. I had to go to the area and walk the paths, examine the terrain and put myself into the pictures I had been looking at.

I was surprised by how deceiving the aerial photographs are. What looked flat was in fact not flat at all. What looked like easily traveled paths turned out to be paths cut by surface drainage, ambitious hikers or mountain bikers - such as the three impressive bikers who demonstrated their abilities on one such path on the day of my visit. My assumptions about what happened that day were thrown out the window as I walked from the parking lot to Inspiration Point.

The following pictures consist of overhead shots that are marked with coordinating numbers where each subsequent photo was taken. Clicking on the overhead should make it larger so that you can see the numbers more clearly.



I walked along the beach from the playground to the point where surfers were gathered beneath Portuguese Point. From there I followed the road which led up to the point. Along the way I encountered dirt paths cut from one point in the road to another ... steep paths that required far more effort to climb then the road. I also saw other dirt paths which avoided the road altogether ... quite strenuous paths with many sharp inclines and descents (as the prosecution's pediatric consultant had described).

These are the paths that the prosecutor wants us to believe Lauren and Cam followed. He spent a lot of time during the trial demonstrating the difficulty factor of those paths, a point I will readily concede, although I did walk a couple of the paths ... just because. Mr. Hum presented the area as though the road or other such options did not exist, as if the only option Lauren and Cam had available to them was the difficult dirt paths. But with an easy road right there, it's ridiculous to think that they would not have utilized it. (The witnesses who testified they saw Lauren and Cam walking that day all said they saw them on the road.) But even though the witnesses saw Lauren and Cam on the road, Mr. Hum still labored on about the difficult paths!

During the trial, a pediatric consultant testified that she was taken along the entire path the investigators told her Cam and Lauren had traveled. She talked about the difficulty she had as she walked along the steep dirt paths that cut across the area from the parking lot to Inspiration Point. She was not taken on the readily available roadway. She testified that Lauren could not have traveled that path without being exhausted, and this is the opinion that caused the medical examiner to change his conclusion to homicide. Contradictory testimony which brought out the fact that Lauren and Cam walked along the road was minimized by the prosecutor and he continued to drum on the idea that Lauren was taken on the steep, difficult paths which I passed by as I followed the road.

As I walked along I was reminded of the many, many instances during my own life and childhood when I had been on similar treks through nature. I was stunned by the wild beauty and peaceful settings. I talked to several people along the way as we crossed paths and chose the same vantage points to look out upon the scenery. None of the trip was either difficult or what I had imagined. I had thought the path would lead me down the east side of Portuguese Point along the beaten path I saw in the aerial pictures, but in reality it was impassable.



You leave Portuguese Point along a continuation of the same road I had come up from the beach. It is a road that cars drive on, hardly anything which I would consider to be dangerous or difficult. I recalled a discussion I had previously had with someone from the area who laughed when I said I thought there was a path going from PP to IP because I saw it on the aerial. He drew a picture of where I would really go. He turned out to be right. And as I later found out during the trial, it is also the same way Lauren and Cam had gone that day. The road goes from the beach to the big road. From there you are above both points. Not at all what I had expected.

Once back on the main road, there is another path to follow. There is a guard rail and large pipes between hikers and the main road. (The pipes are above ground because this area is so unstable and moves so much, the pipes can not be located underground.)



I walked along the road for a relatively short distance before coming to another path which led me to Inspiration Point. I followed this immediate path to the point. There is not a great distance between the road and the point, and soon I found myself at the crossroad where the choice was made to go to the point, or follow a very steep-looking path down to the beach.

I later learned that if I had continued along the main road I would have come to another path, the one the jurors were led down, which takes you from the road down to the point. A portion of the second path is close to the sloped edge, making it scarier then the first path. A witness places Lauren and Cam on the first path. Yet the jurors were taken on the second, more dangerous and scarier looking path.

I continued on the path to the point. Today there is a fence constructed of wood pillars with what appears to be 2-inch pipe between the pillars. You can see that there is continued erosion in the area, as some is fairly fresh. The path is on a slight incline, and it is easily traversed. Because of recent erosion, at one point the path is close to the sloped edge. I marveled that the dirt bikers zip through this area with ease. (There are several places the paths are closer to the edge today than they were in November 2000. This is demonstrated by pictures taken the investigators days after Lauren's fall.)

I looked down on the archery range below before following the path to the point. I looked for a path going down to the archery range and found none. Instead, I saw that it was a steep drop off on the entire east side of IP. I began to wonder where on earth Cam had gone to find a way to the archery range. I saw no way at that point.