It stars Chadwick Hopson, Alexis Johnson, Landon Henneman, Jyllian Petrie, and Jacob Omer. But when he reached the narrow crevice trapping 26-year-old John Jones in Utah Countys Nutty Putty Cave, he had to fight back tears. In the wake of Jones death, the Utah County Sheriff floated the idea of permanently sealing the cave. Mason D. Davis as Man in Dark, a hallucination John has seen over the course of his life. But Hodgson, one of the onscene commanders, was focused on his earlier promise to the Jones family that rescuers would bring John out of the darkness. Eventually, . John Edward Jones, 26, will have his final resting place in the Nutty Putty Cave, as members of the Utah County Sherriff's office announced there will be no more rescue efforts due to the dangers of the cave. "JOHN WAS BETTER ! His calves were free but useless. Called The Last Descent (see above), it gives you an accurate glimpse of Johns ordeal and what it feels like to be trapped in the most narrow of cave passageways when claustrophobia and then hopelessness set in. Ultimately the decision was made that it was too much risk for the rescuers to remain there in an effort to get him out and the decision was made to leave him in place.. A pulley system freed the 5-foot-7-inch-tall, 140-pound teen in 2004, but John was bigger, farther down the tunnel, and rescuers could only reach about 6 inches of his legs. Heres a look at three of them that have inspired me recently. Maybe it's because as people learned more about the life of John Jones and his response to a life or death situation, they wanted to be better. ", Once it was clear that Jones couldn't escape on his own or with help of his fellow cavers, authorities became involved. Many of the passages in this cave are this narrow or even narrower. He was a medical student at the University of Virginia who was married to a woman named Emily and had a daughter named Lizzie, with a second child on the way to be born in June of 2010. It felt like a slap in the face, said Susie Motola, who had been the first rescuer to reach John but was now working on the haul line. John picked a waist-high hole to explore. It had reopened just six months before John Jones had entered the cave. They had to push the cams through a thick layer of powdery calcite that coated the cave walls, then string the rope through the attached pulley. John was at the Nutty Putty cave with his . No Fault: Directed by Maggie Kiley. Where Utah high school and college football players signed after 2023 NFL draft, Utah man, 70, survives cougar attack while on a solo hike, Biden attacks news outlets for 'lies of conspiracy and malice', Retiring coal-fired power plants need a replacement. But it didnt seem to have mattered. Unfortunately, John Edward Jones first expedition into Nutty Putty Cave, southwest of Utah Lake and about 55 miles from Salt Lake City, was his last. She started to panic, then told herself to breathe. He rubbed Johns leg. Emily took the ring, then gave it back. He was tearing up, Emily remembered, which confused her. The group entered the cave around 8 p.m. and explored a large chamber called the Big Slide before John and Josh broke off with two friends to find a challenge: a tight but navigable passage called the Birth Canal. The search-and-rescue team volunteer sweated in 70-degree heat and stifling humidity, her clothes covered in soft brown clay. But as she tied a webbed rope into a Lovers Knot around his ankles, she realized bringing John out of the cave was going to be like swimming backward against a very strong current. Emily had always known her husband of 3 1/2 years to be persistent and patient. Just wondering, when you die and go to heaven, who will you be with? When 23-year-old Josh learned his brother was stuck, he thought it was the beginning of another family adventure story. Theyd been through rescues where, despite all efforts, the victim died. One user wrote: "I hope she does not read these comments and I hope none of you have to go through what she has in her life. John was exploring the cave alongside his brother, but got stuck in a narrow tunnel. But as Josh wound through the tunnel, crab-crawling feet first between the cramped, muddy walls, he felt a creeping apprehension. He has been involved in past rescues that have ended tragically, and he vows to not leave without rescuing John. Since he was 4, he has spent most of his free time exploring caves and more than once acted as a trapped victim for Utah Cave Rescue, a group his father helped found. Officials sealed off Nutty Putty Cave for good a week after Johns death. In the meantime, the team worked to solve the friction problem by rigging a pulley system anchored to the tunnels walls with a series of climbing cams anchors designed to fit quickly and tightly into rock. or superseded by additional information. Formerly popular with cavers and known for its narrow passageways, Nutty Putty has been closed to the public since 2009 following a fatal accident that year. Shaun Roundy, one of the rescuers on the scene, explained the difficulties facing anyone, even experienced spelunkers, who went into Nutty Putty Cave. In 2016, filmmaker Isaac Halasima produced and directed a full-length feature film about the life and failed rescue of John Jones. I think hes really hurt bad.. But suddenly, and without warning, one of the pulleys failed. Paul Tan as Dr. Doug Murdock, a medical expert who provides information warning the rescuers of John's condition in the cave. When he saw a fissure that dropped nearly straight down in front of him, it may have appeared to widen out at the bottom, giving him a spot to turn around. Yet spelunkers of all ages are always keen to navigate the crevice, and Jones was no exception. When Utah filmmaker Isaac Halasima approached Emily Jones-Sanchez with the idea of making a movie about her late-husband, John Jones a spelunker who died in the Nutty Putty Cave in November of 2009, after massive but unsuccessful rescue attempts she wasn't sure what to make of it. She was carried down the aisle by John's father. One of the bolts anchoring the pulleys broke, and John was back into his initial position. Moving on wasnt easy. Over the next 28 hours, rescuers worked frantically to free Jones, finding a way to give him an IV and let him talk to his wife over a police radio, but ultimately they could not rescue Jones before he suffocated. There are many trees mentioned in the scriptures that have spiritual lessons we can learn from. As families, we know that we will be happy and that we will be together as a family again, with John.". In the years following Jones's death, researchers haveinitiatedefforts to better understand caving injuries and deaths to make spelunking safer. As he finds his way back to the entrance, he finds it deserted and realizes he has died and is now a spirit in the afterlife. The rescuers had little room to move and very little grip with which to pull. The rope was strung through nearly 15 tandem pulleys drilled into the wall of the cave. Which Animated Disney Movie Should Get A Horror Adaptation Next? John Jones began to explore the "Birth Canal" section, however something went wrong and he ended up in another area, "Bob's Push", 100 feet below the surface of the cave. Eventually, he had come home to Utah with his wife Emily and 13-months-old daughter for the Thanksgiving holiday and to share the good news that another baby is expected next June. His conversation is overshadowed with flashbacks from when he first met Emily to them dating. Jones died after being trapped for over 24 hours. In the cave, John encounters another spirit in the form of an infant. But when his chest expanded again, he was stuck. It was really serious.. What if hes not dead, and we all leave and he wakes up and no ones there? Emily has since remarried and gone on to have two more children. And the team had grown close to both the trapped man and his family. He thanks you for reading his content. In a new bonus episode, the "Cold" podcast investigated that theory to determine if it was plausible. (Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Crews work to rescue John Jones of Stansbury Park from the Nutty Putty Cave near Elberta in November of 2009. Susie helped him shift positions, but she couldnt lift him. In its heyday, as many as 25,000 people per year visited the cave. Aaron climbs down and finds John, whose condition is starting to deteriorate. We all were afraid that this movie would just be a sad story, Jones-Sanchez said. Emily Jones-Sanchez is photographed with her husband, Donovan, and children, Lizzie, John and Emerson. He then reflects on the hallucinations and visions of the boy and man in grey with Emily and Lizzie. When rescuers told trauma physician Doug Murdock that John was nearly upside down, he knew the trapped man didnt have much time. John makes a decision to split up and explore an un-mapped route. John Edward Jones died November 25 in a caving accident in Nutty Putty Cave, Utah County. The wife of a man who died the 'worst possible death' has spoken out against the trolling her family have continued to receive 13 years on. They considered greasing him - so theyordered six gallons of vegetable oil to try to slide him out. Ive often thought that John is busy doing important things and growing in important ways and living a great life so I need to continue living my life, too. As he tries to go back and free himself, he falls into an even smaller hole and passes out. Getting people, equipment, and supplies down that far took an hour. Volunteers from two cave exploration organizations andpersonnel from 10neighboring fire departments worked to free John, with more than 130 people on the scene in total. For Emily, the peace she found after saying that final prayer with Johns family never left her. On Nov. 26, he had to break his promise again. The plan was, rescuers thought, their last, best hope: John was beginning to lose touch with reality in the darkness. John Jones Jones, 26, had grown up in Utah but was attending medical school at the University of Virginia in 2009 when he returned home with his pregnant wife and 14-month-old daughter for. After his death, she went home to Salem, Va. She lives with her parents now and is applying to graduate schools. Ryan yelled for the teams to lower him, to give him a rest. Shed had her chance to show she could serve as well as anyone, that she could help someone. Ryan Shurtz usually feels at home underground. AND POSTING ABOUT YOU," one user wrote on a post Emily shared on 6 March, 2020. It was November 24, 2009, a few days before Thanksgiving. What's behind shortages of Adderall, Ozempic and other meds? Instead of widening so John could get out, the crack narrowed and all but closed. The drilling is finished and the attempt to pull John out commences. Roundy believes that the pulley came loose at its anchor point in the cave wall, which contain a substantial amount of loose clay. John was exploring the cave alongside his brother, but got stuck in a narrow tunnel. Thanksgiving dinner was an Ensure shake through a straw. Its just that I know, Emily said. In the long hours theyd spent underground, John talked about the baby growing inside her, how he planned to be there for the childs birth. A good one. In 2009, John Jones explored an unmapped section of the famous Nutty Putty Cave. She couldnt hear her group. The film had a limited release in Arizona, Utah and Idaho on September 16, 2016. Drills and chisels continued to arrive throughout the day, but the larger equipment was too big to position near John. Down in the cave, though, John didnt respond, Kowallis said. She helped string a rope from John back to the rest of the team in an open pit at the tunnels entrance. to remind him he wasnt in the hole alone. Explorer Kory Kowallis in the crawl to the aptly named Scout Trap passage in Nutty Putty Cave. The Last Descent: Directed by Isaac Halasima. The entire system starts to fail.. He was stuck in the tunnel for over 25 hours, but because of the pressure his body felt and the position he was stuck in, he tragically could not be safely rescued. What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. He was exhausted. Today Emily is married to Donovan Sanchez, with whom she had another child. John hadnt gone into a cave in years when the two brothers met for Thanksgiving at their parents Stansbury Park home. "You may not agree with her choices but you dont pay her bills, feed her kids or mow her grass John loved her and she loved him, so just maybe he sent someone to help her get through it Its not easy to go through life on a good day so give it up I hope she is every bit happy and blessed and the same to her beautiful children.". That night, Josh drives Emily to the entrance of the cave where he convinces the lead rescuers into letting her stay at the entrance. It was John's first caving expedition in the Nutty Putty cave that turned out to be his last. Underrated Cinematic Survival Competitions, Great Movies About Missions Doomed from the Start, Survival Myths to Unlearn Before It's Too Late, Must-See Newer Survival Movies and TV Series, Great Movies About Kids Trying to Stay Alive, No One Could Save John Jones From His Tragic Spelunking Accident - But His Death Sparked Change, Provided by Emily Jones/via Desert Rat News. After this look at Nutty Putty Cave and the tragic death of John Edward Jones, read about some of the bodies of climbers left behind on Mount Everest, including those of Green Boots and George Mallory.