The Meadow
Sep 15, 2026 · 34 min · 13 segments
When a hand is unearthed in a popular meadow in Yosemite National Park, investigators hunt for answers for years. When an ID is finally made, even more questions emerge. *If you think you may have…
Sep 15, 2026 · 34 min · 13 segments
When a hand is unearthed in a popular meadow in Yosemite National Park, investigators hunt for answers for years. When an ID is finally made, even more questions emerge. *If you think you may have…
[gentle music] On Tuesday, June 28th, 1983, family and friends visiting Summit Meadow in Yosemite National Park were hanging out and having a picnic when a man in the group, this guy named Tom Day, and one of his friend's sons walked off to explore on their own.
But not long after leaving the larger group, Tom and the boy came across something suspicious in the ground.
According to the TV series Wild Crime, which produced a four-part miniseries about this case, the area of the meadow that Tom and his friend's son found the remains in was kind of muddy and near some running water.
Horrified by the discovery, Tom and his group quickly contacted the authorities, and in short order, an NPS ranger named Don Coelho arrived on scene.
Don's normal patrol jurisdiction covered Summit Meadow, so that's why he was the first ranger in the area.
When he took a look at the hand, he realized he needed to request some backup, so he radioed for another ranger to get to the scene.
And one of those folks who came was Kim Tucker, another ranger who worked as a criminal investigator.
At the time, the NPS didn't have what is now known as its Investigative Services Branch, or ISB.
Anyway, Investigator Tucker processed the scene for evidence and determined that the hand in the mud wasn't just a hand.
According to Wild Crime's coverage, there was a Band-Aid touching one of the fingers, and from the looks of it, the remains appeared to have been there for quite some time.
They weren't skeletonized, but they did show signs of having undergone the process of being frozen and then thawed, likely from enduring seasonal changes in the park.
Investigators' goal in 1983 was to try and get a quality hair or blood sample from the tissues to figure out who the hand and forearm belonged to.
At a minimum, they wanted to know what the person's race or ethnicity was and what their sex was.
While those efforts were underway, Investigator Tucker and other rangers and volunteers combed Summit Meadow.
At that point, all they had was the hand and part of the forearm, and they suspected the rest of the person might be elsewhere in the area.
So a meticulous search got underway, but unfortunately, no other bones or human remains were recovered.
The terrain itself wasn't easy to search, likely because weather conditions had changed the topography over time.
Not to mention, when Tom Day and his friend's son found the forearm and hand, they'd had to dig in the ground a little bit to actually unearth it.
So unless searchers were doing some light excavation while they scoured the meadow, it's not necessarily surprising to me that they didn't find any other body parts.
Anyway, with the search party coming up empty, Investigator Kim Tucker set her sights on learning more about the anthropological findings of who the remains belonged to.
On July 7th, nine days into the investigation, she took the forearm and hand to a forensic anthropologist, who concluded that they'd likely come from a small-framed woman who was about 25 years old.
The anthropologist also estimated the woman weighed about 110 pounds and had died within the last year or so.
[gentle music] On Tuesday, June 28th, 1983, family and friends visiting Summit Meadow in Yosemite National Park were hanging out and having a picnic when a man in the group, this guy named Tom Day, and one of his friend's sons walked off to explore on their own.
But not long after leaving the larger group, Tom and the boy came across something suspicious in the ground.
According to the TV series Wild Crime, which produced a four-part miniseries about this case, the area of the meadow that Tom and his friend's son found the remains in was kind of muddy and near some running water.
Horrified by the discovery, Tom and his group quickly contacted the authorities, and in short order, an NPS ranger named Don Coelho arrived on scene.
Don's normal patrol jurisdiction covered Summit Meadow, so that's why he was the first ranger in the area.
When he took a look at the hand, he realized he needed to request some backup, so he radioed for another ranger to get to the scene.
And one of those folks who came was Kim Tucker, another ranger who worked as a criminal investigator.
At the time, the NPS didn't have what is now known as its Investigative Services Branch, or ISB.
Anyway, Investigator Tucker processed the scene for evidence and determined that the hand in the mud wasn't just a hand.
According to Wild Crime's coverage, there was a Band-Aid touching one of the fingers, and from the looks of it, the remains appeared to have been there for quite some time.
They weren't skeletonized, but they did show signs of having undergone the process of being frozen and then thawed, likely from enduring seasonal changes in the park.
Investigators' goal in 1983 was to try and get a quality hair or blood sample from the tissues to figure out who the hand and forearm belonged to.
At a minimum, they wanted to know what the person's race or ethnicity was and what their sex was.
While those efforts were underway, Investigator Tucker and other rangers and volunteers combed Summit Meadow.
At that point, all they had was the hand and part of the forearm, and they suspected the rest of the person might be elsewhere in the area.
So a meticulous search got underway, but unfortunately, no other bones or human remains were recovered.
The terrain itself wasn't easy to search, likely because weather conditions had changed the topography over time.
Not to mention, when Tom Day and his friend's son found the forearm and hand, they'd had to dig in the ground a little bit to actually unearth it.
So unless searchers were doing some light excavation while they scoured the meadow, it's not necessarily surprising to me that they didn't find any other body parts.
Anyway, with the search party coming up empty, Investigator Kim Tucker set her sights on learning more about the anthropological findings of who the remains belonged to.
On July 7th, nine days into the investigation, she took the forearm and hand to a forensic anthropologist, who concluded that they'd likely come from a small-framed woman who was about 25 years old.
The anthropologist also estimated the woman weighed about 110 pounds and had died within the last year or so.
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