Ground tremor

[ElizabethHarris]

Military-type (or even execution-style crimes) are clean and quick. The assassins are like ghosts, there and gone, typically with quick gunshots to the head. That's why these seem like rage killings to me. I think those at the cedar fought for their lives with the defense wounds to prove it. What happened to the others was even more violent and horrific (different MO, different offenders than cedar) If you think the scenario of 'jumping or stomping' caused the rib and heart injuries in the snow den, it is unfathomable that assassins would take the time or go to such lengths to cause so much agony. Unless of course it was torture.

[GlennM]

Military-type (or even execution-style crimes) are clean and quick. The assassins are like ghosts, there and gone, typically with quick gunshots to the head. That's why these seem like rage killings to me. I think those at the cedar fought for their lives with the defense wounds to prove it. What happened to the others was even more violent and horrific (different MO, different offenders than cedar) If you think the scenario of 'jumping or stomping' caused the rib and heart injuries in the snow den, it is unfathomable that assassins would take the time or go to such lengths to cause so much agony. Unless of course it was torture.

All behavior is motivated. I can't find sufficient motivation to defend the deaths of the hikers as victims or perpetrators of violence. That said, I can't find sufficient motivation to walk a mile in stocking feet in snow. They misjudged their situation tragically.

[ElizabethHarris]

There would be no other motivation to leave the tent barefooted and in underwear unless they were under extreme duress. But the high impact chest wounds couldn't be caused by a fall unless it was from at least 60 feet high. There is nowhere in the terrain around the scenes that shows a 60 foot drop anywhere. So the chest wounds couldn't have come from falling...   

[GlennM]

There would be no other motivation to leave the tent barefooted and in underwear unless they were under extreme duress. But the high impact chest wounds couldn't be caused by a fall unless it was from at least 60 feet high. There is nowhere in the terrain around the scenes that shows a 60 foot drop anywhere. So the chest wounds couldn't have come from falling...

Elizabeth,  do you believe the events leading to their deaths occurred during daylight hours? I've always held this was a night time occurrence. Also, I wonder that the skeletal injuries sustained by some, not all of the team came from an external source that not everyone was exposed to, such as a detonation. Surely, a blast would leave a trace, if not a crater. If the deceased are found in a ravine, could it be possible that when they fell, they were so cold that they did not "ball up" to protect themselves from impact?  Alternately, if the hikers were assaulted with rifle butts, those soldiers would surely have finished with bullets and left prints in the snow. But then again, the loose snow was quite deep in the ravine, easily covering tracks, I suppose. I can't see motivation for man against man conflict, though. There was no robbery, nothing to gain. No secrets to hide.