Rangers Find And Recover Body Of Suicide Victim

On the morning of June 9th, ranger AJ Legault found an unoccupied vehicle in the Muir Beach overlook parking lot along Highway 1. The vehicle had been locked within the lot overnight and had a violation notice on its windshield from the previous evening. Legault searched the area to see if he could find the owner, but without success. When he got back, he checked the vehicle again and discovered what appeared to be a suicide note scrawled on a Parade magazine cover.  Legault contacted park dispatch to report it and secured the area. Rangers then began searching along the cliff sides and the ocean waters below and discovered the body of a man lying face down on the jagged rock outcroppings approximately 450 feet below a trail. Park lifeguards, Muir Beach and Southern Marin fire personnel, Marin County SO officers, and U.S. Park Police criminal investigators arrived on scene to assist with the recovery. The Coast Guard conducted a risk assessment of the recovery operation and decided it was too dangerous to use a helicopter. The decision was made to have a ranger and paramedic from Southern Marin fire descend to the body and extricate it using a rope and picket system. The body was recovered and brought up to the parking lot; the medical examiner took possession of the victim and the suicide note. Empty vodka bottles and prescription medication were also found inside the vehicle.