Champion man, 19, who fell 50 feet at state park dies

Staff report

CLEVELAND

Matthew Seifert, the 19-year-old Champion man who fell 50 feet into a crevice while hiking at Nelson Kennedy Ledges State Park, has died.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Seifert died Tuesday in Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center. The office will conduct an autopsy today.

Seifert was hiking with three friends at the Portage County park, which is just west of Southington, and was trying to jump over a crevice in the Minnehaha Falls area of the park when he fell June 27.

His three friends made it over the crevice, but Seifert did not, fell backward into the crevice and landed at the bottom, most likely in a muddy area, a park official said.

Seifert was in critical condition in the surgical intensive-care unit at the hospital the next day with multiple injuries. He was flown there from the scene in a medical helicopter.