"We were pretty appalled," Enterline says. "I think it would be safe to say I'm horrified by how close it was to the road."
Michael Gaughan
courtesy of Emily McCarty
Barry “Plunker” Adams (second from left) and Circus Maximus (right) chat with a deputy.
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Police say they are still awaiting the results of several tests on Hanson's remains. In addition to a toxicology report, an anthropologist and pathologist will analyze the remains, looking for marks to confirm the theory that forest animals impacted the condition and location of her body.
"I don't think in the end it will point us in any other direction other than what I would characterize as an unfortunate incident for Mrs. Hanson and her family," Sheriff Brown says. "There isn't any information we've been able to gather that indicates there's any foul play involved."
Nevertheless, several questions loom large about the way Peck and Ward handled Hanson's disappearance. Why didn't they speak up sooner and more forcefully? Why didn't they search the woods near the car, if that's where Peck saw Hanson headed on the morning of July 8? And if Hanson was in such poor physical condition, why didn't they leave the Gathering and take her to the hospital?
Reached by phone last December 18, Peck is in no mood to discuss the matter. "That's pretty fucked up to be bringing this shit up at Christmastime," he says before abruptly ending the call. "It ain't cool. Don't call me at Christmastime and bring up somebody's death. It's not fucking cool."
His girlfriend, Ward, talks briefly but offers little clarification. Improbably, she maintains that she never once laid eyes on Hanson from the time she arrived at the Gathering on July 5 to the time she and Peck left the forest, according to police, on July 10, "I never saw her," she says repeatedly. "She got up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom and never came back."
Ward says she got separated from Peck several times, and at one point he was left searching for both her and Hanson. And yet she says she still managed to have a good time. "I thought it was beautiful. It was a beautiful gathering, lots of music, good people, the food was free. Everybody was so happy and friendly and nice and warm. It was a great experience."
The couple's trip home was reportedly far less pleasant. First they lost the keys to the Saturn and had to summon a locksmith to the National Forest. Then, on July 11, the car broke down in Reno, about an hour and a half away from South Lake Tahoe. Finally, multiple sources say Ward ended up spending about three weeks in the psychiatric ward of Reno's Renown Regional Medical Center.
"I was very upset," Ward says when asked about her time at the hospital. "I was disturbed by the death of my friend, and the fact that we couldn't find Marie. Yeah, I went to counseling. It was very stressful for me."
Adding to the intrigue, Adams says that when he investigated Peck's previous Rainbow Gathering participation, he learned that the man who calls himself Mellow "really liked being naked" at the events. According to Adams, Peck's first Gathering was in Colorado in 1992, and he roamed the festival grounds in the nude carrying "a little funny sign" that advertised his availability to potential female companions.
Adams says some Rainbows recall Peck as being an airhead, but others found him deceptively sharp. "I was hearing from a number of people that this cat Mellow was not very bright, that he was spacey or all whacked-out," Adams says. "In fact, what I learned was that he's bright—very bright—and enjoyed getting it over on people . . . in discussions people found him to be extremely well-read, extremely intelligent, and maybe a tiny bit of a smartass."
Barring new evidence or some unforeseen development, the exact cause of Hanson's death will likely remain a mystery. Adams believes the most plausible version of events is that Hanson woke early in the morning, headed into the woods to relieve herself, and lost her bearings in the predawn darkness. "She could think she's gone maybe five feet, but she gets turned around," he says. "It's deep boonies, pard."
Not only Hanson lost her life at the Gathering in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Two other adults were found dead in their tents, both of natural causes. But three women also gave birth, and Adams notes that there is some symmetry there. "As Bob Dylan, the great prophet, said, 'Those who aren't busy being born are busy dying,' " Adams says. "Gatherings are that way. People live and people are born and life goes on."
But for the Hanson family and many of the Rainbows who searched for her, there is cold comfort in such coincidences. Back on Mt. St. Helens, Emily McCarty kneels to light a candle as a makeshift memorial. She says that next year, after the snow has melted, she wants to help Hanson's family return to the woods and recover the remains. In the meantime, McCarty says, the bizarre events surrounding Hanson's disappearance and discovery are nearly impossible to put out of her mind.
"It creeps me out," she says. "None of this has gone the way it should have. It's not normal circumstances, not on any level."
khamilton@seattleweekly.com
