Son killed father in Isle Royale murder-suicide, newly released records show

The two campers found dead on Isle Royale National Park this summer died in a murder-suicide, newly released documents in Michigan confirm.

Updated death records say Bradley Baird, 30, stabbed his father, John Baird, 60, and then himself at the campground in the remote island wilderness in Lake Superior near the coast of Minnesota’s North Shore.

The records say John Baird was “stabbed multiple times by his son” with wounds in the head, torso and extremities. Bradley Baird was found with multiple “self-inflicted sharp injuries and stab wounds to the neck and torso,” according to the records.

The details are the first new information in months about the case. Since the bodies were found by park rangers June 9, federal investigators handling the deaths have released almost nothing.

The lack of information initially fed rumors about the deaths, drawing questions and fears from hikers in an isolated park accessible only by boat or plane. It also drew criticism from some who rely on Isle Royale tourism for scaring away potential customers.

Keweenaw County, Mich., officials first released death records in July, but at the time listed the cause of death for the father and son as “pending law enforcement investigation,” and listed time of death as unknown.

Shortly before that, the medical examiner in Keweenaw County, population 2,000, had told a reporter at the Michigan news outlet MLive that the suspected cause of death was murder-suicide and that it was not clear who died first.

At the time, Dane County officials did not respond to the Minnesota Star Tribune or other news outlets. Neither did McAllister.

The death certificates say the Bairds lived at the same address in Salem Township, Mich., a suburb between Detroit and Ann Arbor. John Baird was listed as president of an insurance company, and Bradley was listed as a self-employed writer.

Park service officials declined to answer questions about whether law enforcement responded to the site between a warning of potential violence at 12:10 a.m. on June 7 and the time rangers arrived at the campground early June 9.

Roughly 40 hours before rangers said they were notified of two dead bodies, spurring them to hike overnight to the remote campground, a hiker had called police and reported screaming and threats of murder and suicide at the site.

The caller said it was a “very full campground,” with at least three other groups in addition to their own and the person screaming. The caller said they packed up in the dark and left South Lake Desor Campground, on the island’s interior, and headed toward the tiny enclave of Windigo, 11 miles west.