SYLVA – An examination revealed a damaged hip, but hypothermia was ultimately the cause of death for a youngster whose body was discovered in a creek in a remote part of Nantahala National Forest.
According to Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Shannon Queen, Dr. William Selby of the Sylva Pathology Group made the determination after examining the remains of 17-year-old Alec Lansing on Monday.
The body of Lansing was located in a national forest in southern Jackson County on Saturday by searchers.
Investigators “noted evidence of removed moss from a tree which leaned over the small stream where the body of Lansing was found,” Queen added. According to the investigation team, Lansing injured his hip after falling from a tree into a shallow brook.
The Atlanta resident Lansing went missing on November 17th. Trails Carolina death, situated in Lake Toxaway, offers outdoor rehabilitation for young people, and he was there with them on a camping trip. After becoming separated from a guide, Lansing’s body was discovered “fairly close” to where the Trails Carolina party had been, as stated by Queen.
The area where the corpse was found is “rugged and treacherous,” Queen said. It is located along Heady Mountain Road, off N.C. 107, a few miles south of Cashiers.
On Saturday, Queen estimated that between eighty and one hundred people were looking for Lansing after county officials made an urgent appeal to local law enforcement and disaster management agencies for assistance.
During the period Lansing was missing, some of the coldest weather of the season descended over the mountains, with temperatures dropping into the mid teens Nov. 19.
