CA FANG JIN: Missing from San Bernardino County, CA - July 2023 - Age 47 *Found Deceased*

Chinese woman remains missing, while her boyfriend was found dead in San Diego County

A Chinese woman who toured the Mojave Desert remains missing, while her boyfriend from San Bernardino County was found dead in San Diego County

www.vvdailypress.com

Chinese woman remains missing, while her boyfriend was found dead in San Diego County​

The investigation continues into a missing Chinese national and her friend, a former Navy SEAL from Morongo Valley.

The most recent update in the case came in September, roughly two months after Fan Jin and John Root Fitzpatrick went missing.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials reported that the body of veteran Fitzpatrick, 52, was found last month in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Mara Rodriguez told the Daily Press on Wednesday that there is no update on Jin's whereabouts, and the missing person's case remains open.

The 47-year-old woman was last heard from in July.

After meeting a man, later identified as Fitzpatrick, online and corresponding with him for six months, Jin decided to meet him, her family said.

“Jin did her best to check into the man’s background, ordering a background report and verifying the man’s identity, military service, and employment record,” according to a GoFundMe account set up by family friend Kyle Zhou.

Jin flew from China to Los Angeles on July 14.

After arriving, she boarded a train from Los Angeles to the Palm Springs area. The following day, she was picked up by a man whom she hired for a tour of the Morongo Basin area, sheriff's officials stated.

Jin had planned to camp in an unknown area in the Morongo Basin, which is situated southeast of Lucerne and Johnson valleys in the High Desert, police stated.

On July 16, the couple was seen on surveillance video purchasing toiletries inside the Marine Corps Exchange at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, according to a search warrant issued by San Bernardino County Superior Court.

The man took her to Joshua Tree National Park and then “supposedly went camping” with her at “a small town in the desert,” her family said.

The pair reportedly took at least one hiking trip to the desert. Jin also stayed with Fitzpatrick at the Roadrunner Mobile Home Park in Morongo Valley.

Jin continued to send photos to her family in China, including one of Fitzpatrick’s driver's license and another of him with his blue Toyota pickup, the search warrant revealed.

On July 22, photos and messages were no longer being received by Jin’s family, she wasn't answering her phone, and her social media posts stopped. Her phone showed that it was no longer in service on July 25, according to her family.

Jin’s friend filed a missing person’s report on July 26 with the sheriff’s department when she couldn’t contact her. Jin had booked a return flight in October, and her family said she did not intend to stay in the U.S.

Fitzpatrick was reported missing on July 30, according to the man’s longtime friend and military colleague, Darryl Hoss, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Hoss reported his friend missing when Fitzpatrick didn’t return from an extended camping trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the Union-Tribune stated.

According to military records reviewed by the Union-Tribune, Fitzpatrick was honorably discharged from active service in 2010 as a chief petty officer, master parachutist, and instructor who had completed multiple tours overseas.

In 2020, Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was later placed in the veteran's treatment court, hinting at underlying issues, according to the Hi-Desert Star. He eventually completed the program, and the charge was dismissed this year.

Investigators stated that on July 22, Fitzpatrick’s vehicle, a blue Toyota Tacoma truck, was captured on camera in Thermal, just south of Indio and about 60 miles north of where his body would later be found.

On Aug. 1, deputies conducted a welfare check at Fitzpatrick’s mobile home located on 29 Palms Highway in Morongo Valley, according to the search warrant.

Detectives visited Fitzpatrick’s mobile home and found the front door open. Investigators entered to see if the couple were inside and found no one.

Detectives did find items belonging to Jin inside the home and the "odor of decomposition,” the court document stated.

Sheriff's officials also discovered and took a red suitcase that contained Jin’s property. Additionally, her straw hat, sandals, green shoes, an SD card from a Ring camera, a green helmet, and a white purse with her belongings.

Deputies also found receipts from the Marine Corps Exchange.

On July 3, Fitzpatrick was seen on a store security camera purchasing duct tape, according to the search warrant. At that time, he was seen with a white/Hispanic man, who left the store with the purchased items, the court document stated.

A month later, sheriff’s investigators served a second search warrant at the mobile home, where they took three iPhones.


MEDIA - FANG JIN: Missing from San Bernardino County, CA - July 2023 - Age 47

 

[GrandmaBear]

Anyway to figure out when there was water in the wash? I'm a bit confused by upstream and downstream in a desert setting, those words seem to me to be an active waterway.

I know we hardly always agree by any means but the same thoughts and questions exist with me.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I did say the first time I smelled comp was then. Seeing animals killed on the road. Of course. On the way to my grandparents. You always came across the unmistakable smell that someone hit a skunk. At least once during the trip.

Skunk though doesn't always have to be dead. They will emit that smell if scared and spray the contents of their sac so the smell is not decomp but I get what you mean. If smelled along the roadway USUALLY they have been hit and are dead. But if your dog comes home smelling like skunk (common occurrence with our outdoor dogs when kids) that skunk is probably alive and well while your dog comes back into the yard with head low, stinking and feeling like he did something wrong or has lost at something. And then we'd have to waste the tomato juice!

Love ya and not arguing other than pointing out the skunk part (not the bird part), smelling them doesn't mean they died.

 

[buyerninety]

Something like a handful of days later (from when they are
thought to have died) there was a LOT of water dumped onto
that desert. I seem to remember a post on WS showing a view
from Highway 78 looking south showing puddles of water
everywhere (can't find the post now). But like I said I'm a bit
skeptical that she got washed to there.
Dead animals don't smell like decomposing humans smell,
which is like rotting apples. Don't know why. I figure maybe
it's the sugar intake of humans? probably some smart persons
written a PhD on it.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Autopsies released for Navy SEAL and Chinese tourist found in Anza Borrego Desert

Causes of death remain undetermined for John Fitzpatrick and Jin Fang, whose remains were discovered months after they went missing.

www.cbs8.com

Autopsies released for Navy SEAL and Chinese tourist found in Anza Borrego Desert​

More than a year after the skeletal remains of a Navy SEAL and a Chinese tourist were discovered in the Anza Borrego Desert, their autopsy reports have been released, but the causes of death remain undetermined.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office has unsealed the autopsy reports for John Fitzpatrick, a Navy SEAL, and Jin Fang, a Chinese tourist who had met Fitzpatrick online.

Their remains were found separately in the fall of 2023, months after they were reported missing.

"The autopsies that were released today indicate that the bodies are markedly skeletonized," said Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist not involved in the case.

Fitzpatrick's skeletal remains were discovered by a hiker in September 2023, nearly two months after he went missing from his home in Morongo Valley. A month later, in October 2023, a search team located the remains of Fang.

Dr. Melinek, who reviewed the autopsies at CBS 8's request, explained the significance of the "undetermined" cause of death. "Undetermined does not mean we don't know what happened. It just means that the physical evidence is falling apart as a result of decomposition and the post mortem interval," she said.

The autopsies revealed no indication of foul play based on the examination of the bones. However, the extreme desert conditions may have played a role in their deaths.
"Around the time that they were last seen alive, July 26 at Anza Borrego Desert State Park, the temperatures were at the max 117 degrees Fahrenheit. So if somebody was stranded, they could get dehydrated and pass away just from dehydration, very, very quickly," Dr. Melinek noted.

Fitzpatrick's truck was found damaged and disabled in the Harper Flat area, about 4 miles from where his body was discovered, the autopsy revealed.

Regarding toxicology tests, Dr. Melinek explained why they were not performed: "Toxicology on decomposed or skeletonized remains is really problematic. First of all, there needs to be sufficient tissue to be able to test it. You're not going to be able to interpret the drug levels, even if you pick something up."

The Medical Examiner's office stated that the autopsy reports were kept sealed for months at the request of the Sheriff's Department due to an ongoing investigation. They were finally unsealed this week.