Hi to all of my wild bottle collectors and digging buddies. I always try to keep my blog lighthearted, but I read this story yesterday (10.24.17), and felt that I needed to bring it to everyone’s attention. I know we all talk about it, and not all of us always do it, but we need to be extremely cautious of where we dig and the surrounding area. Privy’s can be dangerous, but digging in caves is even more dangerous. And most of all, none of us should ever go digging alone, ever. If there had been someone with this lady, she might be around today and be able to do more digging. There isn’t any bottle out there valuable enough to to die for. Let’s all be careful. Have Fun and Good Bottle Hunting- Mike
By Brian Rokos | brokos@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: October 23, 2017 at 4:58 pm | UPDATED: October 24, 2017 at 6:07 am
The Lake Arrowhead woman who was found dead in a collapsed cave in Crestline might have been digging for antique bottles, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesman said Monday, Oct. 23.
A cause of death had not been announced Monday for Jessica “Jace” Elyce Widner, 32.
Deputies were called to the area of Highland Drive and Scenic View Drive about 7:20 p.m. Thursday to investigate a death after an anonymous woman saw a hand sticking out of the ground near a glass bottle dump.
Gil Flores, a spokesman for the sheriff’s Twin Peaks Station, said the dump is frequented primarily by transients, but Widner did have family locally and had not been reported missing. Investigators believe compacted soil that had been dislodged from the roof fell on Widner a few hours before her discovery, Flores said.
There were tools found at the scene that suggest she was excavating the soil for bottles, Flores said.
“The bottles are remnants of the early 1900s, possibly during the Prohibition Era,” Flores wrote in an email. “So some of the bottles can bring in a few dollars for collectors. This brings people to the location looking to make a few bucks.
“What made this situation dangerous was the hillside people dug into in order to retrieve buried bottles was not stabilized. It was primarily decomposed granite, so the soil was very dense,” Flores wrote.
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