Family Notes – updated Jan 2004

Darwin mysteriously disappeared the morning of June 3, 1999 while walking in Idaho Falls Idaho. The combined efforts of his family and law enforcement have turned up few clues and there has been no sign of him since that time. Darwin had frequently appeared as an expert witness in both civil and criminal legal cases. Idaho has a law which requires witnesses and victims to be notified when violent criminals are sent back into the community but he was not informed when such a person was put on a work release program shortly before his disappearance. That person has since been arrested on drug charges and released several times.

Frequent updates on the search have been featured on television and posted by local newspapers including The Post Register. The most recent updates can be found at The Search For Darwin.Your interest and support are greatly appreciated by his family.

ABOUT THE HOBO SPIDER WEB SITE
and EAGLE ROCK RESEARCH

The Hobo Spider Web Site was created in response to a great many inquiries from bite victims, educators, physicians, and other individuals seeking information and photographs pertaining to the hobo spider, Tegenaria agrestis, and its bite. The site is designed to fulfill these queries, and to provide a useful on-line reference for interested persons everywhere. The Hobo Spider Web Site went on-line on August 28, 1996, and has been updated and revised repeatedly since. The addition of "Hyrum the hobo spider" (the hobo spider emblem at the bottom right of each page) took place on September 21, 1997: The original Hyrum was drawn by Rudy Boelter of Decals Silk Screening, Idaho Falls, from an Eagle Rock Research concept; when Hyrum first arrived at the doorstep of ERR, he was, true to the traditional hobo image, road weary and unkempt (see him then); a hot bath, a shave, and a little work on social graces finally made him suitable as the mascot image for the Hobo Spider Web Site. The section Competitors and Predators was placed on-line July 17, 1998. The site moved from it's original address to the domain HOBOSPIDER.ORG on March 13, 1999. The Hobo Spider Web Site Bookstore was placed on-line March 27, 1999. Future upgrades and additions are planned. Thanks is expressed to all of those who have contributed in various ways to the web site, particularly Rod Crawford, Donna Gaw, and Rebecca Vest.

The creator of the Hobo Spider Web Site is Darwin K. Vest, a research toxinologist (a scientist that studies poisons produced by plants, animals and micro-organisms), who specializes in bite and sting related problems. Vest has been active in venom and other disease related research for 31 years, and has produced numerous journal publications on venom related topics. His contributions include several pioneer studies on snake venoms and snakebite: Among snake related research, Vest produced the first studies confirming that certain species of garter snake, Thamnophis sp., do possess venomous properties, the first studies on the venom of the Chinese white-headed viper, Azemiops feae, the first studies on the venom of the rear-fanged night snake, Hypsiglena torquata, and one of the first studies on the venom of the brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, the snake which has caused ecological catastrophe on Guam.

In 1974 Vest was consulted in a serious spider bite envenomation in Twin Falls, Idaho, which was then thought to be caused by a "brown recluse" spider; he noted, that while the local and some of the systemic effects were indeed similar to "brown recluse" envenomation, there were some systemic effects that didn't fit the picture. Between 1975 and 1982 he evaluated over a dozen other very similar northwestern cases, and in 1983 conducted field research which implicated the hobo spider as the actual cause of these bites. In laboratory studies conducted in 1985 and 1986, Vest confirmed the hobo spiders' ability to produce necrotic arachnidism; Since that time, he has been further defining the disease state tegenarism, serving as a frequent clinical, legal and academic consultant, and lecturing on venom related topics to a wide group of audiences. Eagle Rock Research, Vest's organization, has a number of disease related projects upcoming.

back to the Hobo Spider Web Site

©1999 Darwin K. Vest, Eagle Rock Research