Alaska's 586,000 square miles afford countless ways to get lost, by fate or design. But the lab warned that the test could take up to 18 months, and the Bennetts wanted to bury their son. But when he gets to Race Point rock in thick clouds and no one is there, and he sees a defined trail going UP and continuing west, he says to himself: 'I'm not at the top yet, I've got to keep going up.'". Three months after the Funny River bones were discovered, Shuey and another investigator found themselves speeding through the Arizona desert in the middle of the night to reach Lake Havasu City by morning. I was working on a story about the phenomenon in Alaska of ordinary people disappearing while doing ordinary things. For a long time, there was hope they might find at least a hint to explain the disappearance. The company confirmed that Rick had gotten his check that day, but his truck was found two days later, plowed into a snowbank in the town of Sterling, just 15 miles from home. In the town of Soldotna, about 20 miles from where the bones were found, Dolly Hills got a call from one of her granddaughters. no, but there were indications in that case he might be having some personal issues. "Left behind were his tent, sleeping bag, cook stove, food -- and medicine he had been taking daily for diabetes, high blood pressure and a thyroid conditionHis wife, Carol, said she doesn't expect to see her husband of 44 years again.". In Alaska, the majority of cases involve young runaways who eventually turn up alive, said investigator Bill Hughes, who manages the state police Missing Persons Clearinghouse. Disappearance on Mount Marathon On July 4, 2012, runners gathered in Seward, Alaska, for a three-mile trail race up the mountain that looms 3,000 feet over Resurrection Bay. It was a rainy and cold July day. They told him to go to the top of the mountain, make the turn and follow them down. They told him to make the turn and follow them down. I really hope that people will continue to search up there for Michael and eventually solve this very strange puzzle. The results came back in two parts. Out there, it can go from clear one hour to zero visibility the next, said Peter Atchak, Search and Rescue leader. Dolly introduced Heidi as my daughter, and I would come to know the two women as a unit. The two women came to believe she was closer to the truth about what had happened to Rick than anyone else, certainly closer than the Alaska State Troopers. Harper was in an area so remote that it is believed no one will ever stumble on his remains. Malia Miller. Consider LeMaitre and Griffis the bookends of disappearance in Alaska. im sorry for your loss, Pauline. Places where people fish and hunt to eat. For a long time, he never took them off, Leon told me. He was last seen near 3,000 feet on the mountain towering above the bay. Investigators from the medical examiners office tracked down the X-rays at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage and gave them to two forensic anthropologists. The two women feared that Rick might have been a victim of foul play. Leon isnt the only one whos had that idea. Heidi and Dolly also couldnt accept that he might have gotten lost and succumbed to the elements. Last year the Justice Department awarded a two-year, $1.75 million grant to the Nation's Missing Children Organization and Center for Missing Adults, a clearinghouse that works with authorities. Sewell grew up in the territory. Richard Bennetts family described him as a boy of few words who grew into a man of even fewer words. By then, LeMaitre, who had disappeared wearing only black shorts, a black T-shirt, a black headband, white shoes, black-and-red gloves, and bib No. LeMaitre was the final, back-of-the-pack competitor in that race. Troopers search for missing Fairbanks woman. McCandless had starved to death in a deserted bus, but he was destined to become posthumously famous as the subject of a speculative non-fiction book named "Into the Wild.''. There are places out there with enough space for a man to remake himself without anyone bothering him. They took over the search, but did not call in an Alaska Air National Guard Pavehawk helicopter with sophisticated, heat-sensing technology until the next day. Human remains found in 1996 in Central, an Interior community of under 100 northeast of Fairbanks, were put into storage. Dolly was 53, petite and gregarious, with short black hair, glasses, and an angular face. The keys were in the ignition and his drivers license was on the front seat. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. See Photos. "He contacted my sister regarding his expedition fall '06 It is surmised his cancer, which had been in remission, had returned and this walk in the woods and down river was to defy the odds. Hed lost a son, thought hed found him, and lost him again. The image of two women studying a map, a single light overhead, spoke to me of an inner toughness rising to the occasion. Kysar's body was the only one eventually found. Eric Miller wrestles with opposing theories about his brothers disappearance. McCandless was a confused young man searching for himself. Griffis's disappearance never made the news. She, Heidi, and other family members hiked to the spot above Lower Summit Lake, held hands, and tearfully recited the Lords Prayer before digging the urn out of the ground eight years after the Bennetts had put it in. When he wasn't found in the immediate area of the lodge, searchers speculated that he might have tried to ride west 35 miles to Chisana, a deserted cluster of old mining cabins around an airstrip in the park, or Beaver Creek in Canada's Yukon, about an equal distance to the east. It wasnt Rick, I repeated. Schoch's body did, however, eventually make it home. . There are lives that are erring and nameless. Under a blazing sun, Leon said a short prayer and bid farewell to his son. Millers family members told troopers she has not been in contact with her family since Saturday. The medical examiners office ordered a round of expedited DNA tests. She thanked them. Jane placed a wreath on the freshly turned soil. Noting that Race Point, commonly called the "top" of Mount Marathon, is 2 miles east and 1,800 feet lower than the actual summit, Alaska adventurer Tim Kelley has theorized that misinformation might have contributed to Michael's death. Sprawling east from Alaska's Richardson Highway across big river valleys, brushy hillsides and the desolate Nutzotin Mountains all the way to the U.S. border with Canada, the district covers 5 million acres, an area almost twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. There are others. They told us there was no one else missing in the area, Leon said. The skull was resting on its side, the face angled toward the ground. "Rich (was) always creative, wrote, created and invented," said Narkowich. His car was found about three weeks later in the parking lot of Resurrection Pass Trail, a popular hiking route in the Chugach National Forest south of Anchorage. Although it's not as famous as the Bermuda Triangle, the Alaska Triangle has more unsolved missing-person cases than any other location on Earth -- more than 20,000 people have vanished in the area in the last 50 years. No sign of the well-known mountaineers has ever been found. It is home to a footrace the Seward Mount Marathon that rivals the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as the best known sporting event in the 49th state. Finding his body would be a relief at this point, he said. i have a friend from long ago still missing. The Hillses and Bennetts hadnt known of each others existence, but now their lives were inextricably linked, the peace of one family coming at the expense of the others. The case documents I read show that the State Troopers indeed did not consider that the bones found near Richard Bennetts trailer could have been anyone elses. They werent quite to the point where if you touched them they would disintegrate, but close., The remains were spread across an area about 60 yards in diameter, presumably the work of scavenging animals. Kelley is one of the many to have gone looking for Michael's body. In August of that year, Jane and Leroy stopped by Richards trailer. But in November of that year, a beach clean-up crew working on Shuyak Island on the south side of the strait found human remains. Find your friends on Facebook. Why hadnt the police told them about the bones? She wasnt involved in either case, and knew little about them. Dolly told Leon, Jane, and Leroy that they had chosen a beautiful spot at Lower Summit Lake. A 27-year-old climber from Salt Lake City, he was attempting a solo ascent of 16,237-foot Mount Sanford when he disappeared. She even got a helicopter to fly over the area that could locate a person by their thermal body heat. She was found safe. The bones were close to being ash, Lieutenant Kat Shuey later recalled. The samples could provide a DNA link to the missing. Troopers search for missing Fairbanks woman | Local News | newsminer.com He couldnt just drop everything and go off to the Kenai. Atop one stack was Colonel Cockrells letter to the Bennetts. The June before Griffis faded away into the wilderness, Sue Nott, 36, and Karen McNeill, 37, went missing on 17,400-foot Mount Foraker in the Alaska Range. Everyone glanced at it. Under the Levis, blue sweats. Troopers noticed a blue Dodge Ram pickup Tuesday off the northbound lane at 259 Mile. Searchers were on Marathon where the race took place within hours once his wife alerted race officials hed yet to come down long after he was expected to do so. It was like he was planning on coming back.. Richard wouldnt do that. no one at this point expects to find Broach alive. Landslides, avalanches, fissuring glaciers, overflowing rivers, and collapsing riverbanks all make travel unpredictable at best. They found no sign of LeMaitre. Of those, three were also involved in the Richard Bennett case. Of those, 1,027 are still listed as missing. '', still active missing person's bulletin from the Alaska State Troopers, Sue Nott, 36, and Karen McNeill, 37, went missing on 17,400-foot Mount Foraker, Good Samaritan Gerald DeBerry disappeared in the foothills of the White Mountains, it has been 30 years since Japanese national hero Naomi Uemera went missing. See Photos. He described the case as tragic for the family but typical of what troopers dealt with almost every day. I swear now and then. I want you to know that we know how youre feeling, Dolly said. He would never be seen again. Lemaitre was never seen again. It's possible that Gilbert wandered off and got lost in the woods. She is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140 pounds. Its just a couple guys in a boat, I heard Dolly say. He finally agreed to call his mother when I told him, Look, if you dont call her, Ill have to file a big report. . He never showed up there, and there was never much more than a cursory search for him. Their only hope of crossing the 300-yard wide river was walking upstream 25 miles to the Donjek Glacier, hoping it was the source of the river, and they could walk across it without crampons or ice axes, which they had left behind,'' Brendan Leonard wrote in an Adventure Journal tribute to Washburn after his death. Only a decade ago, mountaineer Jason Harper went so far missing in Wrangell-St. Elias Park that Alaska State Troopers don't even list him on their "active list" of missing people. The boots are too big; the tops reach all the way to his crotch. Everyone I met there seemed to know of people still missing or unfound. Dolly Hills herself lost a 13-year-old brother, William, in 1962. Jim Miller, 39, left his Anchorage home Sept. 22 in the midst of personal problems, including pending heart surgery. A big search followed. Jenna Miller. Jenna Miller. Red means a rough ice road. Some remote communities rely on trail markers to guide snowmobilers and other travelers during winter, when whiteout conditions can erase familiar landmarks. I didnt know what to do, Leon Bennett told me, recalling the days and weeks after Lieutenant Shuey showed up at his house. Alaska encompasses 39 mountain ranges, 12,000 rivers, 100,000 . Yet the two women would keep searching for the next 10 years. Griffis was last seen in the area of the White River on the Alaska Highway.". "It's very difficult to identify who in our population goes missing because they choose to be, because of diminished mental capacity or foul play.". I guess if he did it, he did it. They never saw anything. He looked at the skeleton and thought it seemed about the right size. When someone goes missing in Alaska, search areas can be as large as entire states in the Lower 48, and considerably more treacherous. In early 2015, I traveled to Lake Havasu City to meet the other family that had gotten a knock on its door the previous August. They drop a long pole with a big hook in the water, and the boat goes back and forth. There are cases like this all over the state. And Gerald Deberry, 53, was a Fairbanks man who joined a search for a woman missing in the White Mounains 70 miles north of that community in 2011 only to disappear forever himself. Id covered many stories of loss, but Dolly and Heidis seemed especially cruel because it had no foreseeable end. Troopers identify remains of missing person after 32 years The first concluded that the bones found at the Funny River site were neither Rick Hillss nor Richard Bennetts. The Nabesna Ranger District of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is an easy place to get lost. Not much has changed there since 1907 when Robert Service, the bard of the north, wrote these words in a poem titled "The Spell of the Yukon": There's a land where the mountains are nameless. Firefighters battling a huge blaze on Alaskas Kenai Peninsula first spotted a boot in the dirt. Dolly and Tom spend winters in Phoenix, just 200 miles from Lake Havasu City, and the families decided to meet. Richards closest neighbors, Frank and Nancy Kufel, retirees who lived down the road, appeared to be the last people whod had contact with him. "He was so unique because of that pod thing,'' said Thompson, now a ranger stationed in the isolated Alaska coastal village of Yakutat, population 600, near the southern edge of the 13.2-million-acre park -- a park bigger than the nation of Switzerland, but far more rugged. There are a number of theories about what causes the disappearances, ranging from local . The latter left no one with any idea of where to look. The hurting that never goes away, we know. The medical examiners office released the remains, and the Bennetts had them cremated. As I left to catch my flight home, they were bent over a map on the dining-room table at Dollys house, discussing the logistics of dragging the Kenai River. "There are eight people missing'' in the Seward area since 1993, she added, and trooper files hold an unknown number of cases of people who disappeared before that date. They lived less than a mile away and hadnt heard from him for a while. The boy is grinning from ear to ear. Im sure shes up there with him sitting on that ledgein that beautiful state! There was no message, only a link to a story from the previous days Alaska Dispatch News. Bush pilot Harley McMahan dropped Harper off near 7,000 feet on the mountain on May 4, 2004. They called the medical examiners office several times, asking when the remains could be released. Im frustrated that Im not out there looking for him myself., Leon was caring for one of his daughters, who was recovering from a quintuple bypass. LeMaitre's 41-year-old daughter, MaryAnne, flew north from her home in Utah to continue the search for another month with the help of others. So, too, for Richard Lyman Griffis, a continent roaming inventor who lived in Spokane, Washington, Oregon, California, New York and Florida before heading north. Not a bone. But you cant ignore that theres a possibility. The Alaskan bush would suit his sons temperament and skills. He did auto-body repair, but so did a lot of other people on the Kenai. Heidi and Rick had two children together, and he had also been raising her eldest, a daughter from a previous relationship, as his own. How come you cant find my husband?, Shuey told me. But that is unlikely given how few people venture into the White River country. Jane felt her heart pound. Their stories are represented by color-coded flags dotted across an Alaska map in Hughes office. He knew them.. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. The three of us would wind up having regular phone conversations, trying to make sense of what had happened. Could ancient stories of the Thunderbird be true? It was just lying there on the ground, kind of turned on its side, legs stretched out, Jane later told me. He faded into the Brooks Range of northern Alaska just about the time DeBerry's four-wheeler was discovered along the White Mountains in the Interior. Because of senility, he might have set out on foot, only to encounter a bear or fall into the nearby Nushagak River, although a thorough search of the area turned up no sign of either. Now she was on oxygen and struggling to breathe. We decided that with the information discovered during the investigation that it is reasonable to believe the human remains are that of Richard Bennett, he wrote in an official report on March 28. They tried to block those thoughts, but they never went away completely..
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