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David Sharp

British engineer and mountaineer David Sharp was born February 15, 1972. In 2006 he attempted to summit Mount Everest solo with no oxygen, Sherpa, guide or radio. It is presumed he did reach the summit and was descending when he became imparted due to environmental conditions and was possibly experiencing oxygen depletion. David Sharp took refuge in “Green Boots’ Cave“, next to the body of the unidentified Indian climber refered to by the nickname “Green Boots“. Sitting with his arms clasped around his legs, Sharp was passed by at least forty climbers who mistook him for the infamous “Green Boots“.

The body of David Sharp in Green Boot’s Cave on Mount Everest

Believing his was already deceased, David Sharp received no assurance until it was too late. A team making their way to the summit around 1AM noticed David but were unable in the conditions to conduct a rescue at night. He told them, “My name is David Sharp and I am with Asian Trekking.”. The team instructed David Sharp follow a trail of LED lights which led back to base camp before continuing their summit. Nine hours later, as the same team was descending the mountain they noticed David Sharp was still huddled beneath the alcove know as “Green Boots Cave“. The team administered oxygen and tried to help David move for over an hour but he was unable to do much as stand on his ow to rest on another climbers shoulders. At this point, David Sharp was experiencing advanced hypothermia; his arms, legs and face were severely frostbitten and black. Long icicles were hanging from his nose and he was suffering from altitude sickness. The team Ho attempted to help was running dangerously low on oxygen and with David unable to stand on his own, they were forced to leave him behind and return to camp to report their findings. Although this story caused quite a bit of controversy in the news, David’s mom, Linda Sharp, supported the difficult decision made by the team to leave her son behind. She stated, “David had been noticed in a shelter. People had seen him but thought he was dead. One of Russell’s [Russell Brice, expedition manager to the team which tried to help David]. Sherpas checked on him and there was still life in there. He tried to give him oxygen but it was too late. Your responsibility is to save yourself- not try to save anybody else.”. Russell Brice has a long history of rescues on Mount Everest; In 32 years of climbing, (prior to 2006) he had rescued 15 climbers in need of aid. Those who were on the team which left David stand by their decision, citing that in the incredible off-chance he had survived, David Sharp would have been severely brain-damaged and would have required the amputation of both his arms and legs.
The following video is an excerpt from National Geographic’s Dying for Everest in which the body of David Sharp and “Green Boots” is clearly visible

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If you enjoyed this article, you might also like The Death Zone, George Leigh Mallory, Hannelore Schmatz, Who is Green Boots?, Francys and Sergi Arsentiev, Pray the Decay Away: Incorruptible Corpses and Other Forms of Natural Postmortem Preservation, The Seven Stages of Decomposition, Everybody Poops: The Post-Mortem Edition, Nepal Earthquake, and GermanWings Crash: Andreas Lubitz Suicide was a Mere Side Effect to the Murder of 149

Laura Belle Devlin, born September 7, 1874 murdered and dismembered her husband in 1947 at the age of 72.

On January 5, 1947 C.G. Butcher, a postman in Newark, Ohio delivered mail to the Devlin residence at 78 King Avenue. That day, seventy-two year old housewife and avid collector of old lace, Laura Belle Devlin, received a letter from relatives in Philadelphia informing her that her 75-year-old husband, Thomas Devlin, had passed away during a recent visit. Made suspicious by the fact that this letter had no stamp and a postmark which was obviously hand-written, C.G. Butcher took the widow to the local police station. When Mrs. Devlin was questioned, she admitted to having murdered her husband, Thomas, in the parlour of their two-story home.

Emotionless, she described the killing, saying she pounded Thomas Devlin with her bare fists until he was unconscious the attempted to break his bones with a sickle. Afterwards, she dismembered the body with a handsaw and burned parts of him in the stove. She scattered the rest of the pieces of her husband’s body in the backyard.

After being arrested on charges of first degree murder, she told police, “[Thomas Devlin] tried to kill me so many times that I decided to end his life.” then immediately asked, “And now can I go home?”. Mrs. Devlin was temporarily incarcerated at the Licking County Jail where she refused to be fingerprinted because, “That ink will make my hands dirty.”. In another attempt to take the 72-year-old killer’s fingerprints while photographers snapped pictures, she simply asserted, “NO!”. When informed of her incarceration, she just shook her head in disapproval of law enforcement’s decision on the matter and later told reporters she “disliked” jail. Despite her feelings on being locked up, she was described as “mild-mannered” throughout her incarceration. On January 11, 1947 Mrs. Devlin was admitted to the Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane for a 30 day observation period. There, she was diagnosed with “Senile Psychosis: Confused Type”, which is more or less an old-timey way of saying “Dementia”.

Sadly, on March 29, 1947 Laura Belle Devlin passed away at the Lima State Hospital from a bout of pneumonia which she had been battling for one week after having had an attack of influenza.