Eric Sears graduated from Carlsbad HS this June. He disappeared July 15th, just shy of his 18th birthday, in Joshua Tree National Forest, where he'd been hiking with a friend. Eight days later, they found his body a mile and a half from where he'd last been seen. The toxicology results finally came back last week, but what was indicated on it wasn't strong enough to conclusively finger a cause of death. It did, however, show the presence of chemicals consistent with ingestion of jimson weed. Eric's friend Ben Fogelstrom acknowledged the two had made tea out of the hallucinogenic plant while hiking. The authorities believe that Eric became disoriented and possibly panicky due to the plant's effects, and that's what caused him to leave his campsite, probably leading to his death.
CBS reran a first-season episode of C.S.I. last week that dealt with exactly the same thing. Two teenage kids out partying in the desert, use some jimson weed, making tea out of it, when one of them gets scared out of his wits, runs naked across the desert 'till he collapses and is found days later.
