Probably somewhat traumatic for the kids. But on the bright side- the rapist is in hell! Leaders of Pa. School Field Trip Find Body
2 hours agoUPDATED 2 HOURS 5 MINUTES AGO
DELAWARE WATER GAP, Pa. - Adults leading a seventh-grade field trip on the Appalachian Trail stumbled upon the body of a fugitive who had fatally shot himself, authorities said.
Most of the 140 Bangor Area Middle School students on Tuesday's hike in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area didn't see the body, but some saw it from a distance, school district Superintendent John Reinhart said.
Police identified the man as Russell A. Good Jr., 45, of Allentown, who was wanted by police there on a rape charge. Good died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Monroe County coroner's office, which ruled the death a suicide.
State police were also investigating the death. Investigators did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday.
Traci Rumsey, a language arts teacher at the school, said the body was found on a ledge.
"It looked very much like he was sleeping," Rumsey told The Express-Times of Easton. "We got the kids out of there, and I contacted the principal, and he took over from there."
The superintendent said about a half-dozen counselors and psychologists were sent to the site to help students.
Bangor is near the recreation area, which is in northeastern Pennsylvania at the New Jersey border.
I'm surprised they didn't have to keep kids from poking it with a stick. I can imagine what my friends and I would've been saying: "That was the coolest field trip ever! We actually got to see a dead body! That rocked!"
(Of course, I was one of those kids who was anxious to disect the frog. Me and my friend got ourselves put in a group with the two hot guys we liked, me and my hot guy worked on the frog, while they were busy being grossed out together. We even named our frog Tase T. Frog. Man, was I a geek!)
