Man who died 'worst possible death' while stuck upside down in cave had heartbreaking final words

A dad spoke several heartbreaking last words just before passing away after getting stuck in a cave in Utah.

On 24 November 2009, John Edward Jones and his family decided to explore Nutty Putty Cave, located southwest of Utah Lake and around 55 miles from Salt Lake City.

The family set out on their expedition a few days before Thanksgiving, but devastatingly they would return without the 26-year-old dad.

John went out to explore the cave accompanied by his brother Josh.

However, as he tried to explore a part of the cave known as the 'Birth Canal,' John - six feet tall and 200 pounds - ended up stuck.

It turned out he had taken a wrong turn and entered an unmapped section of the cave.

The dad ended up wedged around 400 feet from the cave's entrance and was left unable to turn around - the gap measuring just 10 inches by 18 inches.

Jones family

Josh was the first person to find John stuck in the cave. His brother tried to pull him free, but John slipped even further into the enclosed space, his arms now by his side.

Unable to move John any further, Josh said a prayer: "Guide us as we work through this."

John added: "Save me for my wife and kids."

Josh then wriggled back out the cave to go get help, bringing back equipment, supplies and consulting with other people to try and ease John out of the confined space.

Jones Family Handout

Over 100 people were involved in the rescue efforts to free John from the cave.

Despite the team's best efforts, resolving to try and use ropes and a pulley system to get the dad out - the pulley system later failing - the downward angle John was trapped in took a toll on his body.

Speaking to rescuers, John said: "I'm going to die right here. I'm not going to come out of here, am I?"

He then asked after one of the rescuers, Ryan Shurtz, who had been badly hurt after a metal carabiner slammed into his face.

John said: "Is he OK? I think he's really hurt bad."

After that John fell silent, later falling unconscious.

On the evening of 25 November after 28 hours of effort from rescuers to try and free the dad, John sadly passed away - his cause of death resolved as being a result of a cardiac arrest.

Topics: World News, Health

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.