The state of the bodies immediately contradicted Packer's version of events. They were all together in one spot, not scattered across miles. Both Humphrey and Noon had large portions of remaining flesh, muscle, organs, etc., that could have been consumed long before Bell succumbed to the madness of hunger and attempted to murder Packer, as he had claimed. The men had tattered cloths lashed to their rotting feet, which had replaced the shoes they had eaten in their desperation, and moldy and tattered blankets lay beneath and beside them. A beaten path went from the resting place of the corpses to a crude shelter that was used by Packer, and there was evidence to suggest that the deaths had occurred before supplies were totally exhausted. Within the shelter were possessions of the men which Packer had left behind. The theory at the time was that Packer killed the men before supplies ran out to rob them of their possessions, got snowed in, and then lived in his makeshift shelter for months, walking to his slain companions and slicing meat off as needed. Preston Nutter accompanied the party to the site, and identified the bodies as belonging to the five missing men. A rifle broken in two was found close to the bodies. Owing to the damage apparent on their remains, it is presumed that it was used to bludgeon one or more of them. Their remains were buried at the site by officials, and the search party returned to Packer's makeshift jail to confront him, only to find him missing.