Body Found in Van Parked at Abandoned Garberville Gas Station
The man who says he discovered the body told our reporter at the scene, Lisa Music, that he had been walking by the van with two others when he saw a foot through the partially open slider van door. He told her that at first thought it might be a blowup doll but, after shining a flashlight inside the van, he soon realized it was a body and left because he was afraid the deceased might be someone he knew.
One of the three who discovered the body went to a nearby business and requested that 911 be called.
Soon after, law enforcement arrived on scene and secured the area until the Humboldt County Coroner could arrive. Eventually, multiple law enforcement, including Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies, California Highway Patrol officers, and, eventually Coroner’s staff came to the scene.
We’ve requested more information from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department.
Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.
UPDATE Thursday: Body Found in Van in Garberville Identified as Los Angeles Man
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Hey, that looks like the old Ed’s Texaco @ 822 Redwood Drive, which is now owned by Jesse Jeffries, and an application was submitted to HC Planning to open a new cannabis dispensary called Humboldt Flower Co at that location.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2wop0K43eFBv5RP2Pdyuo9cBjzjuKOt/view?usp=sharing
Hey Ed,
That looks like an irrelevant comment on a report about a murder
Where did it say it was a murder…? I assumed OD, not murder. Unless I missed something?
How do we know it’s a murder?? Speculate much?
Exactly speculation on both murder and OD…people should wait for the facts before they speculate on how a person has passed on.
I agree snapple facts doesn’t help
It sounds like you need to be interrogated by the HCSO.
Actually. Super relevant comment from Ed. He just gave us the basic information the original article ommitted/ failed to mention/ hid from the public, and corrected the article writer on his/ her mistake on the facts.
Murder you say? I say it was Mr. Bear with a candlestick in the library.
Wow Ed, way to use someone’s death to sucker punch Jesse. Geez…. Condolences to the family that lost a loved one.
Well Cinnamon, the headline was wrong, it was not “ABANDONED”, Jeffries has owned it since 2018.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WuaRTcu9MMS6wP9gOSCiicCBPlWaT1sn/view?usp=sharing
Hey Ed, wow, what does that have to do with anything?? Complete irrelevant to the subject matter. There’s a thing called minding your business, you should try it.
Wow.
That goes both ways.
Someone with more knowledge about the local happenstance than I speaks and you try to shut them down.
It may not be relevant information about the deceased (may they rest in peace) but it was interesting none the less.
Condolences
Do you even live around here?
No he doesn’t. Left here awhile ago and still trolls us and causes problems. He loves to instigate and rile people up.
Thank you Ed for the information.
I’m not sure why the negative comments. The old gas station is the scene where a deceased body was found, thus your comment was relevant.
Another expired human body found in deceased town…
People are warned not to live in Garberville, where bodies are found regularly, and some of the citizens might be on drugs…
Tourists are advised to avoid Garberville, and there is really no reason to go there, except for “Garden of Beadin”, and excellent bead shop in a world of deceased bead stores…
Garberville: Just don’t get off the freeway…
A man in a remote village was at a nice wedding dinner enjoying the meal and the company when he looked up at his wife and saw the face of death. It frightened him so much that he left the celebration, got on his horse and rode all night until he came upon the next watering spring. Getting off his horse to water them both he noticed someone already there and again he saw the face of death. He exclaimed how can this be?! I saw you at the wedding reception and left you there! Death answered, yes I was there and to see you was also a surprise to me. But our appointment was always for us to finally meet here.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Gville.
Thanks for your observation…
Life is a sexually transmitted condition, with a terminal outcome.
There is no specter called death, it’s a natural process…
It used to be a natural process.
It’s not a process it’s a trick!!
I’ve always said life was a terminal condition but I never really thought how I caught it in just that way. Thanks for the smile.
Appointment in Samarra
There is a very similar Dervish Tale about ‘Death’s’ agenda…
I never do…stopped stopping in there years ago. Charlotte’s store- as you say- is a beam of white light in the zombie twilight. But really WTF happened to that town?! So much money and so many glib self-righteous hippies yet they let their own town go to hell…sad sad garbageville
Same story as everywhere Farce: too many drug-addicted or mentally ill people. How did they get that way? Umm, look to the parents, or lack thereof…
Mental illness can be caused by abuse, but most of the time someone someone is born with it.
Plenty of drug addicts have good, involved parents.
Your comment only hurts the parents who try desperately to help their kids avoid drugs and be stable and it doesn’t work. Why shame people who are already devastated.
No, not meaning to shame anyone, I’m speaking from conversations I’ve had with desperate people and all of them (admittedly small sample size) had messed up parents.
Look around every where USA. When I travel I see the same crappy places to eat and shop in, in almost everytown. So maybe the great franchising of America is what happened to small towns. The 1% taking more than their fair share, not enough left to go around to the rest of the 99%.
Or the counties or even the state of California doesnt give a rats ass about someone’s mental state of mind. There doesnt seem to be alot of help for them or anyone for that matter nowadays.
Blue Moon? Sweet Grass? Branscomb Center? Got to run this morning or I’d name more. Should have left 15 ago but damn…you don’t know what you’re missing.
And Il Forno! So delicious and worth the hour plus drive 🙂
Last time I went to town, I think That was the van with tinted out windows that I was parked next to in Redway, in front of ShopSmart, with some creepy looking male nonlocal, strangely picking at a sticker or something on the the back of the van for about an hour.
finally another nonlocal female exited the passenger door, in I’ll fitting attire, I believe, to have a smoke.
It was an unsavory scene very near to old D’ Amatos, where the time I went to town before it, and was at ShopSmart, EMS appearing to save an overdose victim.
And yeah, way too many dead people find their way to being found dead in Garberville and Redway area.Vern, at the South end of town, Dave, around nice cars(?), the unknown soul, that ended it all, in the turnaround near the flagpole, Mattie, in the town square, the ignited young lady, found along the river behind CalTrans, the ones found in their tents, both in Garberville and Redway, the one, that worked at Redway Liquors, found at the bottom of the bluffs, the one found just days ago near Melody Trailer Park, the one found at the mouth of Bear Creek, Hugh Duggins, found East of town, near Dyerville loop Rd. the one found on the back porch of the Garberville Post Office, the one found in the river down by Tooby Park, and that’s not even to mention all the ones found in the local motels, (Gene was one of them), of which there have been many, and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. (16) and then this one, (17).
Just thought of 2 more, found in different places at the the bottom of the bluffs in different locations, (19)
Perfectly normal.
So what’s your point? Is it like people don’t die, od, or get murdered any other place? Wow maybe we should all move to like L.A. or New York or Detroit, where it’s safer. Wow trolling is fun!
Chicago
Holy beep. Dude. How could anyone not have PTSD living there. I’m not a local, am jealous of not living around my Ole buds, but uck me, glad as beep I don’t have to be around all that pain and heartache, sorry everyone for being a turd. Please realize, life is a gift and you are here for a reason. Help heal the world .
Tainted out, God bless my Ole crew. You made me one of service, and I thank you all. Final farewell, treat your body good, and praise God know or curse em , latter . RIP Aimee the queen of the hippie mafia…
Garberville is a wonderful place.
Very beautiful.
“Pay no attention”, then, to the man, mad at the world, arguing with no one but himself, walking up and down the street carrying the hatchet in his hand, that I saw when last I visited…
Or the other guy that always carries the 3′ piece of pipe, no matter where he goes, or the occasional guy with the full sized axe… or the occasional guy with the machete… Or the bow and arrows.. Or the sword….
Or when you are overwhelmed, late at night, while fueling at the gas station next to the old Texaco, by the smell of burning hair.
Perfectly normal.
The new multi-million dollar substation?
Obviously really paying off.
Maybe it’s just a little too warm and comfy?
Imagine how bad it would be without it’s “deterrent factor’.
I guess you can’t see it from the old Texaco, and vice versa, apparently.
I forgot to mention the guy that walked up to my truck window maybe three weeks ago, showed me a knife “he was trying to sell”, when I declined, and said, “I already had a good knife”. He continued, “his sales pitch”, and proceeded to show me “how easily it opened”. “Ten bucks”, he implored, the old Texaco, only an “off handed” stones throw away.
That one pissed me off.
I came a lot closer to reporting the man with the knife, than the man with the hatchet.
I reported neither.
The guy with the knife, represented much more of a threat , than the guy with the hatchet, but I must admit, they both made me a little nervous.
The guy with the hatchet, is always more or less erratic, and as often as not, speaks of violence, and even talks about “killing”.
He passed within eight feet of me in two places that I had parked in Garberville, both times, with the hatchet somewhat menacingly in his hand, speaking angrily, the first time, a small rubber blade protector, was in place, but the second time, it had been removed, and the “edge”, bright and shiny, was readily apparent.
He is generally harmless, but to those unfamiliar with him, it would definitely be very alarming.
But I’m getting a little sick of it.
Especially the guy with the knife that approached my window.
And the overwhelming smell of burning hair?
If that doesn’t raise the hair on the back of your neck, maybe your a local, and so nothing much will.
I almost reported that, also, but didn’t, but I did search for the source of the smell.
I swear, it couldn’t have come from too far, of the old Texaco, and I had considered it.
I searched the other way, towards the post office, as that seemed “upwind”. It slowly dissipated.
Sickening, and creepy as fuck.
Kym, you’re maybe glossing over too much?
Maybe it’s you that doesn’t know what you’re missing?
Maybe your timing is just more fortuitous than mine?
I see many serious problems, that will only get worse, if not properly addressed.
They are real, not imaginary.
Hey, watch what you say about Hippies…
What happened is all of our tax money gets spent up north.
A far cry from the lovely place in the pre pot era. Same goes for Redway.
When was the pre pot era? 1950s and 60s? Pot made the town.
You really are a newcomer. Timber and ranching and recreation made the town.
Dont forget the part where the new white settlers had to erase almost all the Natives[ left their dead/ mutilated bodies lying almost everywhere around town even in the river] before bringing sheep maggots to ruin the top soil, and cutting all the thousand year old trees in about 49 years. Dead bodies lying around is nothing new..
Hotels and Motels and restaurants/ bars made Garberville.. that and some hard working/ drinking souls.
mostly tired/ hungry people on the road made Garberville.
Damn, how incredibly rude. I suppose Eureka and Arcata are so much better? Garberville has a lovely farmer’s market, a New Orleans Bistro, food trucks of all sorts, Calicos, a nice town square. Is it perfect? No. Is it dangerous and to be avoided? Not at all. Still safer than Eureka even with its problems.
Safer than Eureka. Per capita? I doubt it
Then why don’t you do some actual due diligence and find some crime stats to show us something fact based rather than tell us all about your “feelings” and subjective assumptions?
Look at statistics. Per capita Eurekas crime rate is near the top of California’s list along with Oakland and fresno and other crime riddled cities.
Not saying that. They are victims too.
Im currently in Peru but i miss garberville even the crazy garberville….yes the town is defunct and i can see why you wrote this. I visited garber first time last year and it hit me hard to see the homeless and so many of their shops closed…it does look a bit depressing. But speaking for myself, in Garberville sitting out there in rays looking for a job was one of the most interesting experiences i have ever had….to observe so close the mad dysfunctional world of a theater…i literally felt i was on a movie the whole time i was there and i disliked garber very much at times and so did other visitors i talked too. But then, there are some real kind people and i loved those moments too… garberville has a spell on me lol plus the locals i met some totally insane but majority of them were really nice, kind and helpful. Oh and the cats! Garber has the coolest cats in the world! :))
Quit slamming our town because you were unhappy with your last job in Garberville!
Every town has its share of thieves, and junkies.
I will add homeless in another sentence because many are good people having a hard time.
If you have a beef with your last employer take it out on them!
Yes, many of the thieves are Administrators for your public agencies, the Supervisors Office, and the District Hospital…
As for the District Hospital, they have been reviled on these pages, by me, for seven years…
Harry Jasper actually asked me to come back to work, before he separated from SHCHD… I told him I would need a contract with a “pay or play” clause, and he then deferred…
I have been poached from several hospitals, to work for others, and brother, they are all just as bad, except for Kimaw and Trinity Hospital… Matt Rees and Kent Scown are well known for their nepotism and conflict of interests, but we will never know just who is a junkie, since they don’t drug-test the staff there…
As for Garberville, I lived in Redway over 5 years, bought a home there, and finally just had to give up and sell out, about the time pot became legal…
It’s a slippery slope, GBV, and you are without brakes, and going over the waterfall while in flames…
Your town has high points, on the heads of the denizens…
How about that black leather jacket dude swinging a machete from Redway to Garberville back-and-forth all day every day? Looks dangerous
This shameless catch and release (but take their money) routine is pathetic and this and many other postings on BlackBelt are due to the fact that criminals KNOW IN FACT they will be let go – bail will be waived and most charges will be dropped. Lets not blame this crap on Covid – not an excuse…What happened when they made stealing anything in California under 950 a citation – bands of idiots got together to rob and loot. This type of action only promotes and produces criminals to continue to progressively commit crimes. I didn’t even read this article. I already know the reasons, the outcome, and the solution. It’s time to crack down….
Follow up action: Don’t go to Garberville or Covelo without your properly-licensed concealed carry.
Snort! I’m 62. I’m headed there this morning with my mother. The only thing I’m worried about is my pocketbook when I buy gas and I’m pretty sure that’s a national problem.
Isn’t gas less expensive in Miranda?
can you correct the headline? the van was abandoned not the gas station
Wrong again. Both are abandoned
🤔🧐
“Quit slamming…”
– Sick of it! –
🤔🧐
“Snort!”
– Kim Kemp –
🤔🧐
In reference to Garberville?, (my home town)…
Sounds about right…🤦♂️🤷♂️…
What a wild fantasy life you have! Every town has it’s good and bad times. Money giveth, and money taketh away! Ironically, Garberville is probably one of the last place in CA you can still see someone open carry a rifle walking down the street to Browns. But hey, anybody on this thread who wants to not stop on their way to Eureka or Crescent City… What a scathing burn! It might take a while but we’ll get over it.
I carry rifles into grundmans in Rio Dell all the time
I was gonna mention that too, but it diluted my point! I feel kinda bad Rio Dell never quite got to take advantage of pot money like Garbertown. Maybe in the long run it’ll be more stable. The civic organization of RD is more intentional. Garberville just kinda happened.
Are those big bags of weed falling out of the car?
This confirms that 90% of the commentary on here is from non locals as I always suspected.
Your absolutely right, garberville, nothing to see here.. keep on driving.. smfh..
I wish Lamport was able to knock out that emerald city plan and completely separate us from the North. Hehe 😋
RIP to the person who passed.
That is really a very sad story. I can’t imagine what it would be like to find a deceased person. May the person RIP.
That was a very sad story. I can’t imagine what it would be like to find a deceased person like that. May they RIP.
Good morning, Kim. I posted a nice comment twice and it has just vanished. What happened?
Be patient grasshopper
It is hard when all the birds are after you!
Martin, Kym will see your comment sooner if you spell her name correctly.
There are two comments above this one that might be what you are talking about? I didn’t approve them and you are not on moderation so I believe they came through on their own. Because of caching (a way to keep my website from being overloaded, sometimes there is a delay in posts/comments showing up.)
At least it could not have been Covid because no one cares anymore. Of the 6 members of our family who went that way the last one was long, long ago at Christmas and was fully vaccinated but was old having graduated high school with me in 1970. So maybe his demise was just age related.
Wow. If I saw something like that then I left because it might have been someone I know, then I am a disgusting piece of shit. And three people NO cell phone? Yeah right.
Sure would be nice to read more compassion comments .
Rest n Peace 🕊️
I hope you take the time Kym to follow up
Let us know who was found
I read your news posts of someone found with no update in giving the person his or her name .
Like the human remains found in Fieldslanding he has a name .
I know his name i called the coroner office It’s not my place to say his name
It’s yours you wrote the story Your place to finish it giving him his name .
You have no rules how ppl can talk so rude unkind of the dead.
People still do have names to say in who they are in a follow update .
Hope you follow up on the young man human remains found in Mendocino .
Give him his name
I’ve been calling myself on that one getting more information to make sure I can rule out my own son that it’s not him that was found.
Please may we all have follow ups People have names & family’s
Thankyou
🕊️🌎🕊️
I agree!
Kym, actually did, do her due diligence, and then some, and absolutely followed up on the identification of the decedent whose remains were found in the tidal area of the bay, near Fields Landing.
That’s a fact.
Maybe a retraction is in order?
I have previously confirmed this myself for another reader whose comment indicated that she was not yet aware of the identification published by RHBB.
Hat tip, Kym Kemp, and well deserved, at that.
Happy to do it.
We posted the identity of the person’s remains found near Fields Landing last September. https://kymkemp.com/2021/09/13/human-remains-discovered-in-fields-landing-this-spring/
Which remains found in Mendocino? There have been several.
I believe she may be referring to the man found under the “Arnold Overpass”, near the intersection of Hwy 101, and, Hwy 162, north of Willits, found or reported on September 21, 2021.
It was reported on RHBB.
As far as I know, he has not yet been identified.
The one found in the trunk, badly decomposed, nearer Covelo, has been positively identified, but it hasn’t been publicly released, to my knowledge. His family is said to live out of the Country.
“Mom”,
Here is a screenshot of Kym Kemp’s extraordinary diligence in her follow up, six months ago, that you may not have seen, from September 13, 2021. Please tap to confirm.
I’m very sorry for any kind of similar loss that it sounds like you may have experienced. It may have been you that I replied to before, about this, “Mom”. She also went by “Mom”, as I recall.
If it was, I very promptly replied, with the confirmation, at that time, as it was early, and I knew that Kym was exhausted that morning.
I’m sorry if you didn’t see it, then.
My sincerest wishes on your behalf, for a resolution.
Excellent Thankyou
Never did see this headline
Death Investigation
I will keep an eye out for the next ones like this .
Your welcome.
I don’t think you should be showing pictures of that van when the decedents family hasn’t even been notified. If that was my mom or dad’s van I would recognize it; especially with those belongings in the front passenger seat. I think it is ALWAYS unnecessary and grotesque to show post pictures of someone’s family member deceased with absolutely zero exceptions.
When people say this, I have a bunch of questions I want to ask. Because I don’t understand the thinking.
When a plane crashes should the flight number be withheld ’til every family member of the deceased was notified? And if so, what about the thousands of people who are sick with worry that the flight was their family’s member’s flight? Doesn’t their need to know count?
How about the Twin Towers? Should reporters have waited until every body had been excavated and every family notified before showing the footage? Doesn’t the need of the community to understand the situation outweigh the need of the family to learn from an official rather than from a news site? The beloved one is dead and no amount of learning from one source rather than another is going to change the incredible pain of that loss.
To me, I’d want to know as soon as possible. I want every detail. I know other readers, some affected by stories I’ve written, feel the same way. One at least was able to rush to the bedside of a dying loved one. Others have been able to start rapidly putting together support systems to deal with trauma. Other readers are able to know that the vehicle involved wasn’t their loved one’s and have thanked me.
Everyone has the choice not to read articles if they find them disturbing but if I or other reporters don’t write the articles, those who need to know–those who hunger for answers—won’t have the opportunity to ease their mind or know for sure.
I disagree! You can’t compare a catastrophic event with showing the dead body of someone’s loved one and their vehicle that can be identified before they have been notified. And no, I don’t think people want to learn of their loved ones passing by happen chance scrolling through Facebook to see their covered dead body next to their vehicle. No, the “Lookie Lue’s” curiosity isn’t more important than the deceased person’s dignity or their family’s. Writing an article is not the same as showing the person’s dead body being loaded up next to their easily identifiable vehicle. Comparing a deceased person to a living person seems quite the reach. I doubt that everyone reading this article or anyone would assume it’s their loved one and be anxiously waiting to find out. This will be sorted out soon enough. It’s not as if this person’s identity is unknown. A little compassion goes a long way and just because you are at a place when tragedy strikes and no one can stop you from taking pictures of the deceased and posting them doesn’t mean that you should. Now days everyone is walking around with a camera and it seems that something in humanity has been lost. It’s a lot more than privacy it’s the compassion for the dignity of others and their own personal suffering. You may look at this and see first responders carrying a full body bag. His or her family will see it and see their mom or dad or child they love.
Sad news on any day.
And for any family.
Please report on who it was and how it came to be. There may be lessons learned and it would be good for the public to know what it was or was not.
The commenter in the thread that said they saw the van earlier the guy picking a sticker. And a chick in ill-fitting clothes leaving, I wonder where she is at?
Had a buddy with a line in GB, in the early 2000s we use to run packs of GDP and GG😂
It was inevitable; we are living a remake of “The Grapes of Wrath”, after all.
Rest in peace, brother from a different mother.
:'(
Why is everytime anything happens there is a bunch people here arguing about dumb shit. I honestly feel like kym should close the comments down on these to stop the trolls sad it would have to be like that also sad the area has turned to a bunch FAKE woke children that are in there 50s failed life and nothing better to do than troll. Grow up get a life or better yet a job.