Despite the case being ruled a closed suicide, the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office has refused to return Tripp's clothing to his family, including his socks. Examining those socks could determine whether Tripp really walked barefoot through the forest.
Where this was said
At 44:00 · chapter starts 39:50
As the crow flies, Tripp would have needed to travel about a mile and a half from where his ATV stopped to where he was found. The terrain between those two points — described by Gil and PI Cody Turner, who have walked it at night since — is treacherous: broken glass, barbed wire, ditches, snakes. Without shoes. Yet when the family viewed Tripp's body at the funeral home, his feet showed no scratches. His socks, visible in autopsy photos, look dirty and possibly worn through at the toe — but the sheriff's office has refused to release those socks to the family. Meanwhile, an independent forensic pathologist found that the branch used in the hanging appeared only about 2 inches in diameter, well below what research shows is needed to hold Tripp's 119-pound body. And the ratchet strap came from a deer stand whose owner told Cody he'd cut it down two years ago and forgotten it was there, buried under foliage — making it nearly impossible for Tripp to have found it in the dark in an unfamiliar stretch of woods.
During the search, a deputy threatened to arrest volunteer Sandra Davis's husband if he went to Crow Creek — an area the deputy claimed was already searched. That same day, Tripp's body was found in Crow Creek, an area outside the official search grid.
Tripp's boots were found far from where his body was discovered. His father Gil and PI Cody Turner walked that path at night and described the terrain as 'violent ground' — broken bottles, barbed wire, ditches. Yet when the family saw Tripp at the funeral home, his feet had no scratches.
Despite allegedly walking shoeless for miles through terrain described as 'violent ground' with broken glass, barbed wire, and snakes, Tripp's feet showed no scratches at the funeral home.
Despite the case being ruled a closed suicide, the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office refused to return Tripp's clothing — including his socks — to his family.
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