A mother's tragic decision, fueled by QAnon conspiracy theories, led to the deaths of her 13-year-old son and sister in the remote Colorado wilderness. Rebecca Vance, believing lies about a "Great Reset" plot by elites to control the world, fled her home with her son Talon and sister Christine to live off the grid at a campsite outside Gunnison.
From Axios:
In the days before his family moved to live off the grid in the Colorado wilderness, 13-year-old Talon Vance told his online gaming friends goodbye.
"NOOO COME BACK," the username Fluffy wrote. "Please I will give anything for you to come back," another responded.
The 13-year-old who loved video games and computers transcribed the messages over 24 pages in a journal before his family left Colorado Springs for the remote Gold Creek campground outside Gunnison — a move prompted by his mother's conspiratorial fears about global elites and the pandemic.
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Rebecca Vance, Talon's mother, and his aunt, Christine, left their home in August 2022, refusing help and declining to share their destination with family, saying only they wanted to live off the grid. They landed in the woods outside the campground at 9,900 feet, where winter came early and ran cold.
No one knew where they disappeared until their bodies were found in July 2023 by a hiker who described the scene as an old squatter's settlement with "a mummy" lying in the middle. Two more bodies were found inside a tent.
As reported in Outside and New York Magazine, the trio was woefully unprepared for the harsh conditions, bringing only basic supplies like a cheap tent and sleeping bags. Talon's journal, found near his body, revealed his mother's reliance on him to learn wilderness skills despite his young age. "Side note: I did the trucker's hitch first try!!" he wrote enthusiastically.
The family survived on limited rations until their car was towed in November, leaving them stranded. Investigators believe Talon likely perished first, his body moved outside the tent by his mother and aunt before they succumbed to malnutrition and hypothermia. Talon's corpse weighed a mere 40 pounds when discovered.
Do you think the people who concocted QAnon and the grifters who profit from it care about what happened to this family?
