Aug. 3, 2003, 2:50PM Death of self-described exhibitionist ruled a suicide Associated Press SAN ANTONIO -- Authorities said a thong-wearing bicyclist committed suicide when he fell 100 feet to his death at Big Bend National Park in June. Joseph Gottschalk, 52, earned the nickname "Thong Man" by showing his pale buttocks during leisurely bike rides around San Antonio -- first near his southeast San Antonio home, then into other neighborhoods. His death was ruled a suicide Saturday due to "a preponderance of evidence," Brewster County Justice of the Peace Shirley Williams said in today's editions of the San Antonio Express-News. Gottschalk's naked body was found by passing hikers June 21 below a cliff at Big Bend National Park. Park rangers found boots and clothes about eight feet from the drop-off, along with about a half-gallon of water -- enough for a day's hike. The ponytailed nonconformist had described himself as an unemployed truck driver. He said he wanted to challenge himself while startling others into examining their shame and their identities. Three days before his body was found, a friend of Gottschalk's, Norm Billings, said Gottschalk told him he planned to jump from the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains at the park. "He said he was getting low on funds and he was going to have to figure out something," said Billings 71. "He didn't want to go back to driving a truck. He thought it was too dangerous." "He said he knew of a place at Big Bend that he could step off and not have any more job worries," Billings said. "It certainly wasn't alarming at the time. He was the last person in the world that you would think would kill himself, the very last. He was interested in everything." An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in Gottschalk's body. "He's a lot of person to lose," said his brother, Paul Gottschalk. I forgot the link but it is on the www.chron.com front page
Ok, maybe I'm just in one of those moods, but does it really take months to determine if he jumped or was pushed? Surely they already knew it was the fall that killed him. And why does this rate front page status?
I didn't know he had died months ago, this is all new to me. Well, I hope there are thongs wherever he is.
