I just got this book "Journal Of The Dead" from the library. This happened in 1999.
It tells the story of 2 best friends, Raffi Kodikian, and David Coughlin, who went out on a long road trip, and decided to stop over in Carlsbad Caverns national park for a one night campout. They registered with the park rangers and went down into Rattlesnake Canyon. They took only 3 pints of water and a bottle of gatorade with them, plus a little food, thinking they'd be leaving the next morning.
They got lost, and couldn't find the exit trail the next day.
4 days later the park rangers came looking for them and found Raffi Kodikian under the tent. When asked where Coughlin was, he pointed to a large pile of stones and said "Over there-I killed him" He'd stabbed him in the heart 2 times. He later said that Coughlin was in such bad shape from dehydration, that he'd begged him to kill him, and Kodikian did it. A mercy killing he said. The book talks about the fact that they had been eating cactus fruit, and that was probably the reason Coughlin vomited all night.
The autopsy revealed there was almost not an inch on Coughlin that was not bruised or injured.
There are so many loose, unexplained things in this story that the guy told I can't believe it. For example, he said they tried to drink their urine, but there was a large size can of baked beans untouched. Anyway he was taken to the hospital and released in an hour. He went on trial and went to jail but not for long.
Is anyone famaliar with this story? Any thoughts?