Francys and Sergei Arsentiev

October 1, 2015 — 1 Comment

Francys Arsentiev

Francys Yarbro was born on January 18, 1958 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1992 she married Russian mountaineer Sergei Arsentiev and together, they summited many peaks in Russia including ‘Peak 5800m’.

Francys and Sergei Arsentiev

The Arsentievs became the first people to ascend this peak, naming it “Peak Goodwill”. Francys became the first American woman to ski down Mount Elbrus and had summited both its east and west peaks. Francys dreamt of becoming the first American woman to climb Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen bottle and on May 17, 1998, Francys and her husband, Sergei, set out to make it happen. Francys’s son from a previous relationship, who was eleven at the time, had final say as to whether his mother would go on the expedition to Mount Everest and attempt to summit without the aid of an oxygen bottle. During the 1998 expedition, Francys and Sergei made several attempts to summit which were aborted due to dangerous weather conditions. Finally, on May 22, 1998, Francys became the first woman from the United States to ascend Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen bottle. Unfortunately, the couple had summited very late in the day and were forced to spend the night in the Death Zone (above 8,000 meters/feet) without supplemental oxygen. At some point in the evening, Francys and Sergei became separated; It is believed Francys was experiencing snow blindness, possibly oxygen depletion, and wandered off without him. When Sergei awoke on the morning of the 23rd to find Francys was gone, he made his way down the mountain to base camp.

Sergei Arsentiev

After failing to find her there, he gathered oxygen bottles and medicine and set off on his own to find his wife. Meanwhile, Francys encountered a Uzbek team of climbers the same morning who were in the final stretch of their summit. According to the team, she was frostbitten and appeared to be half-conscious, deprived of oxygen and unable to move on her own. The Uzbek team administered oxygen to Francys and carried her down the mountain with them as far as possible. Eventually, they had depleted their supply of oxygen and were too fatigued to continue the rescue effort. The team left Francys with a few oxygen bottles and returned to base camp without her. On their way, they encountered Sergei, who was on his way back up the mountain (in the direction Francys lay alone), in search of Francys. It was the last time Sergei Arsentiev was ever seen alive. The following day, on the morning of the 24th, another team of Uzbek climbers, along with British climber Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd of South Africa noticed Francys on their way to the summit.

Cathy O’Dowd and Ian Woodall at Mount Everest’s peak in 1996. Photo courtesy Cathy O’Dowd’s private collection.

She was discovered where she had been left the previous evening, clipped to a guide rope on the mountain, lying on her side. Russian-made oxygen bottles were lying next to her, Sergei’s rope and ice axe were found nearby, but no Sergei. It was Cathy O’Dowd who insisted she and her team abandon their own summit attempt to tend to Francys. Ian Woodall came to the aid of Cathy and Francys as the remainder of the team continued with the summit. Cathy O’Dowd, who first approached Francys, discovered her lying in an inverted ‘V’, which caused Francys to appear as though her spine were broken. She was jerking in an unnatural way and had no motor control, her skin appeared waxy and white. She had removed her gloves and although her purple dow jacket was stikl on her body, her arms were not inside the sleeves. No visual signs of trauma were present and her unnatural positioning was found to be caused by muscular limpness. As they attempted to re-dress her, she did not assist, nor did she fight she only repeated, “I am an American. I am an American.”. O’Dowd and Woodall quickly realized she was not talking to them. As Cathy O’Dowd put it, Francys’s though and speech patterns were like that of a “stuck record”. The same Uzbek team who had assisted Francys previously passed by . When Cathy noticed them, she asked they come help but they responded, “We tried to help yesterday. We left her with oxygen. She is too far gone to help.”, and advised they leave her before leaving themselves. Cathy O’Dowd and Ian Woodall remained with Francys for over an hour and the decision to leave her was a difficult one which was only made after much discussion.

Body of Francys Arsentiev. Photo courtesy of GoreGrish.com

Ultimately, they knew there was nothing the two of them could do to help and that Francys’s best chance was for them to return to base camp, find assistance, and return with a team. Francys begged, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.”, after one again assuring her they would return, Francys’s last word to them were, “Why are you doing this to me?”. Although they did return a they had promised, it was too late. Francys died on May 24, 1998 at the age of 40. In 1999 Jake Norton, a member of the Mallory & Irvine expedition team discovered the body of Sergei Artsentiev nearby the location of his wife’s body. He had perished farther down the mountain’s face and believed to have been attempting to rescue Francys when he sustained a fatal fall. Ian Woodall lead an expedition in 2007 known as “The Tao of Everest” which aimed to discover and burry the bodies of Francys Arsentiev, “Green Boots”, and David Sharp. Cathy O’Dowd, who married Woodall in 2001 played an integral role in “The Tao of Everest”. It was she and Ian who eventually rediscovered the area in which they had left Francys Artsentiev, reached her body which rested on a steep slope and gave her a proper Death Zone burial. Her body was wrapped in an American flag along with a note from her son.

They then lowered her body further down the mountain’s face and out of sight from the main path. In 1999 Cathy O’Dowd returned to Mount Everest and became the first woman to summit the mountain from both its north and south route.

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Where Are They Now? Amarjeet Sada, The World’s Youngest Serial Killer

May 4, 2015 — 7 Comments

Amarjeet Sada, World’s Youngest Serial Killer. Murdered three infants in India at the age of 8.

Amarjeet Sada (sometimes referred to as ‘Amardeep’ Sada) is the world’s youngest known serial killer, having committed three murders at the age of 8. Amarjeet was born in 1998 to an impoverished family in Begusaray, Bihar, India; His father is a laborer in the village of Musahri. In 2006 Amarjeet murdered his 6 month old cousin, the daughter of a maternal uncle. Shortly after, he murdered his own 8 month old sister. While Amarjeet’s family and some villagers were aware of the child’s involvement in these two murders, they were considered “family matters” and went unreported. In 2007 Amarjeet killed again, this time a neighbor’s 6 month old daughter named Kushboo. Kushboo’s mother, Chunchun Devi, left her daughter at the village primary school to sleep while she tended to her chores. When she returned, her daughter was gone. Villagers who knew of Amarjeet’s past murders confronted him regarding Kushboo’s disappearance. Amarjeet, seemingly proud of his actions, happily recounted the gory tale of how he killed the infant. He then led villagers to the shallow grave he had dug for Kushboo. Amarjeet told police, “Khapda de mar mar ke sura deliyay” meaning “I killed by beating her with a brick”. He told police he had laid her down in the grass before beginning to smash her face with a brick, then covered the body in grass and leaves before returning to his home. Reportedly, all three murders were conducted in this manner. It is believed he also strangled his two previous victims, which may have been the cause of death prior to beating with a brick. Unfortunately, because his first two murders went unreported and there was no official investigation into them, details remain unclear. Police say, “He [Amarjeet] said he took the children to the fields and hit them with a stone and killed them. He has been charged with the murder [of Kushboo Devi].” Amarjeet was arrested on May 30, 2007 and “spoke little but smiled a lot” when asked about the murders. While being further questioned he, “Just smiled a lot and asked for biscuits.”

Superintendent Amit Lodha, a resident of Begusarai (90 miles/145 kilometers east of Bihari, the capital of Patna) said Amarjeet Sada appeared to be a psychiatric case. He was evaluated by professionals and found to be suffering from a conduct disorder. Panta-based psychoanalyst Shamshad Hussain found that this conduct disorder causes Amardeep to behave in a sadistic manner. Due to a severe chemical imbalance in Sada’s brain, he receives a sense of gratification from inflicting injuries on others. A psychologist working on his case explained, “such aggression may be hereditary and may be caused because of great chemical upheavals in the brain.”. According to a former psychology professor at Patna University, Sada did not have a sense of right or wrong when he committed the murders due to his conduct disorder. It is believed with medication, levels of chemicals in his brain can be balanced. Ultimately, the boy was charged with murder and tried as a juvenile. Sada’s story lost steam for most of the world after that point so there is not much information available on what became of him. Although Amarjeet’s current status is “unknown”, we can assume from his graphic and proud confession, he was eventually charged with the murder. Since the boy was tried as a juvenile, in accordance to Indian law, he could not have been imprisoned any longer than three years. Due to his mental state at the time the crimes took place, it is possible he served his sentence in a psychiatric institute in lieu of a juvenile detention center. After his sentence had been served, it is also possible that his parents chose to keep him in a mental health facility; However, considering they did not seek mental health for him after either of the first two murders, it is unlikely he received more therapy than was required. Amarjeet Sada would be approximately 17 years old now (no exact date of birth available, only birth year) and more likely than not, a free young man. There are rumors he may have changed his name to ‘Samarjit’, which is common when young children commit a horrendous crime and are later rehabilitated. Hopefully Amarjeet Sada has been, and will continue to be able to manage his conduct disorder through therapy and medication and live a new life under a new name, scrutiny-free.
UPDATE: After writing this article I was contacted by Amarjeet Sada who claims he is currently living in a children’s home in India where he will remain until he is 18 years of age. No other details at this time.
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