Mohawked. I say it again: in my opinion what the boyfriend of Samantha Sayers, Kevin Dares, did the night she went missing, going into that trail alone, the way he contacted Rangers and 911 that night, his delay to inform Samantha's mother that her daughter was missing - she learned about her disappearance next day approx. I do know that the season finale of that show happened after the hike so it could point to her not planning on inflicting any sort of self-harm? the witness wrote in an email to deputies. That will be nice for them.. Thats a squishy number, though, because the two largest land managers the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service dont keep track. Samantha Sayers is a 5-foot-8-inch white woman weighing 125 pounds. Once, while working a night shift at Dennys a customer complained that his steak was too dry. Im a member of the truth group and the missing Seattle hikers group ( they discuss Sams case and others and its also my favorite because theres no stupid drama.) I was amazed. Spreadsheets tracked every time a viewer thought they saw something. Before she left on her solo hike on the Vesper Peak trail hed texted Be safesos me if anything goes haywire. Her replyThanks baby I love you.was classic Sam, straightforward and confident. Off the mountain, Kevin had become the tragic fiance who refused to give upor maybe the subject of wild speculation. In his Facebook videos, hes intense and combative. Imagining Sam bushwhacking her way through the forest around Vesper, family members filled Ziploc bags with snacks and instructions for Sam. After climbing more than 4,000 feet, up switchbacks and across boulder fields and finally across the patchy snow that marbles the stone pyramid of Vespers very top, Sam reached the summit. So forgive Kevin for being a bit anti-social. Next to that a green backpack and a purple sleeping bag. They were among the outside experts Kevin hired using money from the GoFundMe. And for how long? Gentle, kind and quiet. In the Belltown apartment, they hung maps and scrawled Sharpie notes directly on the wall. I want to understand that she had to "put up a front" in order to properly follow other leads, but like how dare you rally and petition and raise money for volunteers to go searching if you never really felt she was there in the first place. The last few hundred feet of Vesper is more of a scramble route than it is a defined path. Eventually, even that produced a splinter group, The Truth of the Sam Sayers Case UNCENSORED. Of course shed go straight to Belltown.Seattle PD was dispatched to the coordinates. None of these things were irrefutably Lakoduks, but Tripp who everyone calls Brad Dad had a feeling. In his book The Cold Vanish he acknowledges that its a rounded guesstimation although he believes 1,600 is wildly conservative.. Samantha "Sam" Sayers, a former Girard resident, remains among the 43% still missing. Seriously they are on a power trip now. But the gold business soured in the late 80s and Carrs dad got into a dispute with his business partner. Soon hes ahead of everyone else. Supply bags meant to be left on Vesper for Sam. Samantha Sayers is healthy but is bald because she has alopecia, an autoimmune disease that leads to hair loss, her mother said on Facebook. Im at 4,500 feet, Dares says, about 500 feet above the group. Sergeant Adams thinks Sam is somewhere on that mountain, not far from where she was last seen. Now that I've heard more theories on that front, his story sounds weirder and weirder. Carr posted a 30-minute live YouTube video during which someone called him ridiculous. He responded by calling them a weak ass fool and challenged them to meet him on the mountain. Its Dennys. Of that first week, Kevin mostly remembers climbing and crying. Usually the ties that bind us to everyone else can be grasped and slowly reeled in.When Kevin talks about August 4 now, his voice catches with emotion, remembering the most excruciating day of the worst summer of his life.At the SAR base at Spada Lake, he heard about the ping. Carr owns and operates 49th Parallel, a private search and rescue group located in Concrete and spent at least 70 days searching for Rachel. Been trying for a week now I thought it was shut down (I'm social media challenged) 3 This was Sam Sayers in her element: fired up by the theatricality, by a tight-knit community. He also worries that such rogue searchers put themselves in danger. In this wide swath of mountains unpenetrated by cell phone coverage, the Verlot pay phone is literally a lifesaver; more than 25 calls to 911 were made between 2015 and 2017 alone. Society persisted and Carr spent five years in a Missouri prison although he was sentenced to seven. Not drinking makes nights harder.I dream, he says, the bayou drawl heavy even as his voice gets quiet. 425 775-3000. tips: findsamsayers.infobox@gmail.com. So is the consenus that she had an accident and fell? In a snowstorm, this would be easy to miss. He pauses and warns another search party member to watch his step. Tips came pouring in, from the usefulYMCA campers at Lake Elan just below the peak saw Sam ascend but never come downto the questionable, like psychic visions of her near rocks, trees, and water. He gave up two things for Lent: social media and alcohol. Anyone with any information should call the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office at 425-388-3808 or 425-388-3523.. To Kevin, Carr was a generous stranger turned close friend, willing to take the Louisiana tenderfoot through the rugged terrain around Vesper Peak. 8:02 PM. The longest in state history. Need help ASAP, he wrote. He moved to Colorado as a child and now lives in northwest Washington in a small, rented home on the Skagit River with his wife and three children. There were a few other searches after that, Carr said, but things didnt really heat up until Samantha Sayers vanished on Vesper Peak in 2018. But is he a racist? Through all this drama, Carr, Dares and others continued searching. Three weeks later, Kevin stood in the Sunrise Mine Trail parking lot, shoving food into an army-style tan backpack. And three or four sandwiches, plus snacks; she never skimped on snacks. But he knows that any scenario where Sams alive is a dark one. The desperate family paid, nonetheless. In the face of such an enormous challenge . Theyd had nothing since midafternoon on August 1, when Sams phone pinged near the summit, one of the only areas with even spotty cell service. Amid conifers and half-frozen lakes, we can feel free from our modern tangle of surveillance, even as tenuous threads still leash us to the world below: ever-pinging cell phones, footsteps on an established trail. He points to the moats off the north side of the peak, where the steep bottom of the cliff meets the glacier. It was easy for fellow hikers to remember the young woman with the bald, tattooed head and the wide, easy smile. On a perfect summer day, a solo hiker went missing from a Cascade trail. Carr knew what so many recreationists did not, that Vesper Peak wasnt just a subalpine playland of rocks and cliffs. Charismatic in the most genuine way. Sam was a proud LGBTQ ally, thriving on activism. That self-promotion is an intentional choice, Carr said. He knows he should be angling left, to meet up with the group, but for some reason he wants to trend right a bit more. Just one of those feelings. Kevin Dares. She built that fire. The system is so broke, they dont even track it, says David Francis, whose son Jon disappeared in Idaho in 2006. Rachel moved back into her dads home in Moses Lake. The two compromised. Carr posted a picture of himself lying on the floor surrounded by expensive freeze-dried meals. Carr Sr. bought the mine for a song in the early 80s and turned it into a profitable business within a decade. Though Snohomish County had officially suspended its operation, Sergeant Adams came back up to snorkel Lake Elan in a thick dry suit. Because at the end of the day, hes the only person out there helping you.. He didnt think it was likely Sam had ended up there, but it was worth a look. This is the stance of someone who doesnt give up. The happiest situation I can think of is shes on that mountain and it was something quick and she didnt suffer for too long., Only a fraction of missing persons cases are truly without a trace, truly unsolved. It even had an iron box stove inside. (Rescue calls) are running a little bit ahead of where weve been traditionally, and the severity of injuries has gone up. Toppled trees covered in moss. Nine months later, the mystery has consumed the lives of thousands. I submitted a request to join but it hasn't been approved yet. This unofficial search began as soon as SAR pulled out. Language is powerful.. He cant. Trash. Monchak would head up the amateur drone searches, but later broke from Kevins search to run his own. The AFRCC, or Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, was actively monitoring Sams phone for pings, a sign of brief connectivity to cellular sites. Police are continuing to search for a woman who went missing after going out on a solo hike in Washington State on Aug. 1. Hed read about it on Facebook and decided to help. Whether or not psychics are legitimate. His girlfriend, Samantha Sayers, also disappeared while hiking. Aug. 29, 2021 Since that awful autumn of 2018, Dares has returned the favor. Samantha "Sam" Sayers, 28, went missing whilst on a solo hike on the Vesper Peak trail in the North Cascades mountains in Washington on Wednesday, August 1st, 2018. Adams dispatched the county-owned SNOHAWK1 helicopter on what was turning into a cloudy Thursday. I'm sure you've met them, the kind who are super into crystal healing but also love them some jesus? Carr, at the time 19, started dating a girl and became friends with her dad, a crazy backwoods hillbilly who was convinced society would collapse in 2000. With his dark pointed goatee and survivalist rhetoric, Carr rubbed many the wrong way. On the phone he is well-spoken. Squirrels are going to be stuffed, one poster wrote. On forums like NWHikers.net, locals offered likely scenarios, stories of their own misadventures around Vesper, their own accidental wanderings down to Spada Lake or the Sultan River. Those moats haunt Kevin too; he knows theyll never really be able to search the bands between ice and rock that fill up with snow every winter. Some accuse Bud Carr of these same tactics. Among them is a former Marine, who days after Rachel Lakoduk went missing on Oct. 17, 2019, spent an entire night searching for her. Could it be you or one of your friends?" He remembers Sams mother Lisa asking him what he really thought, around day four. Dares insisted on paying Carr $500 a week during the heat of the Sayers search. Other day trippers would recall seeing the solo hiker stripped down to her bra and hiking pants. Many took issue with the supply bags full of energy bars, not a common SAR technique. It went viral. An Eagle Scout whod earned almost every merit badge, Carr was raised by a father who introduced him to both search and rescue and a defiant, self-sufficient ethos. Hearing that, Kevin can only give a scornful laugh. Adams established operations bases at nearby Big Four ice caves and at Spada Lake far below Vespers southeast side. Someone, somewhere, saw something that may help authorities. Samantha Sayers was last seen Aug. 1, 2018, while on a solo day-hike up Vesper Peak in the North Cascades. Samantha "Sam" Claire Sayers. Hes proud of his German heritage, he said, although he believes the Nazis are disgusting. A background check revealed the burglary charges in Missouri, a warrant for arrest, stemming from that burglary charge, a failure to pay child support allegation and a marijuana possession charge. Her scrawl is the last concrete sign of the 27-year-old day hiker whose disappearance launched one of the biggest search and rescue operations in the state's history. Theyd planned to do it together in 2018 but hed worried they werent in good enough shape, and they pushed it a year. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. A Nazi? He lowered himself into an abandoned mine shaft and tromped through thick underbrush. What color was Rachels pad, backpack and sleeping bag?. Do you know how its going to look if you die out here with an ice ax to your head and its just me and you? Kevin asked him, grasping at dark humor. Tripp buys Carr dinner occasionally. You owe me 99.999 percent of those royalties, hed tell her. As the camera trains on Vesper Peak, a figure ascends the scramble route, passing other climbers at a determined pace. I consider that theft. Kevin made several more solo trips through November 14. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Flashlight in hand he started up the dirt path around 10pm, quickly through the first third of the hike, which rambles through thick forest. A big open space where it looks like you can see everything. for someone to post these public records on Reddit - or provide access for others who aren't on FB - and so we can read them? Its hot, humid and even he a Louisiana native is sweating. The Cascades retain pockets of remote wilderness, enclaves that feel as raw as when Western civilization first mowed a passage to the Pacific, yet are a casual drive from Seattle. It's a dangerous hobby for someone not really experienced, or competent, or truly prepared. Seven years of Dateline's Missing in America: 156 still missing. Efffff that now as far as am I concerned. He watches crime shows, so he tells me, Theres always a dungeon where they lock them up. Search-and-rescue teams, assisted by dog teams and drones, searchedthe area for three weeks before suspending operations. They call the sheriff. Thanks if anyone can do that! 70-year-old, Karen Sykes, headed for the wilderness around Owyhigh Lakes in Mount Rainier National Park in June 2014. It had never happened before. Sam Sayers [Handout] The Theories With nearly 1,600 people missing in national forests and on public land, it is difficult to speculate about the causes of all these missing people. In October the occasional snow flurries turned to regular snowfall, and temperatures continued their plunge. But since moving to Seattle in 2012, and spending months of his life living on Vesper Peak, hes accustomed himself to the Pacific Northwest lifestyle. 1 Be Kind and Courteous We're all in this together to create a welcoming environment. But something catches his eye to the right, in a depression beneath a tree, a flash of orange out of place in the rain-fed greenery. He was accused of being a chauvinist. By 4 p.m. Oct. 17, Lakoduk had made it about 2.5 miles up the trail and was at 5,500 feet. Denice Rochelle, a Seattle real estate broker and woman of color, messaged Carr in August asking if hed teach her how to travel safely in the backcountry after following his exploits online. Idk, I am not there. Yet, when after 10 days, the Skagit County Sheriffs Office suspended the search for Rachel Lakoduk, the only person who kept searching, and never stopped, was Carr. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. No one exactly knows. Snow fell and Carr and Dares stopped searching, although they went back in 2019. Shortly after her brief encounter, the trail takes a hard turn to the hikers left. There was nothing down there, he says. People whod donated to the GoFundMe, which Kevin says was used entirely to fund the private search, wanted to know if the men had been goofing around up there, having a drug holiday around the campfire. I said, 'I know you may not like this but I think shes dead. Why? 509 Olive Way, Suite 305, Seattle, WA 98101 Phone: 206-957-2234 Fax: 206-447-3388, By Hed recently graduated. Samantha Sayers is still missing. Such as did LE look into this and do DNA testing, etc. Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Bud Carr, with his drive and determination, was a godsend for a grief-stricken Dares when his girlfriend went missing in 2018. Super driven. He couldn't accompany Sam because he was working. Go to the creek. Ellinor hike in the Olympics about a month before she went missing. While his dad worked at the mine, Carr played and explored in the mountains. The tattoos on her scalp, Kevin says, were armor. Sam Sayers, described by her family and friends as an experienced hiker, set out on the morning of Aug. 1 for a solo hike in the North Cascades. Eventually, Kriegers son asked him to stop. The U.S. Forest Service denied access for their helicopter, and Kevin rallied Sams Army to make phone calls to USFS offices, politicians, anyone who could make noise. I just do not know what to think, but I am guessing she fell, and the area that required technical climbers was not searched properly? The videos, the posts, the paramilitary theatrics, all that makes Goins and others roll their eyes and in his view undermines Carrs mission. The two men sit together, uphill from the remnants of a life. They flag evidence, pink tape hanging limply from branches. As a child, strangers in the store would comment on how beautiful her red hair was, to which she would only growl. And please don't get me started on the multiple GFM accounts. There is a woman from Spokane who met Lakoduks husband in community college and felt compelled to help. Everyones gonna say, a boyfriend, whatever, fly-by-night, who cares, he says. Steve Monchak, an area drone photographer, reported that hed been at the Big Four ice caves the day Sam went missing, just a few miles away; he told deputies he spotted two suspicious men there. Sam's mother, Lisa Yax Sayers, declined to be interviewed for this story. Granite Falls, Washington. Interactive Map in Progress as of August 31, 2018. I had my flashlight going, banging, screamingno word, Kevin says to the 911 operator. Volunteers brought up snacks, so many grocery store fried chickens that the team joked about the tidal wave of drumsticks. He peeks under logs and behind boulders. I know theres some crazy shot going down now. They know the chances of finding her are slim to none. Date of Birth: August 13, 1990 Erie, Pennsylvania. The wrong side of the mountain, he later told a sheriffs office sergeant. Now, his body is covered in ink, including a swastika, although its oriented in the traditional Buddhist way, not the Hitler way, he said. He drove to the trailhead, a little over an hour and a half from Belltown, stopping at a gas station to buy a flashlight. The aircrafts FLIR, an infrared camera, scanned for heat signatures, but the pilots also stuck their heads out windows. Sayers, a 2008 graduate of Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, left on the morning of Aug. 1, 2018, for a day hike at Vesper Peak in the North Cascade range, northeast of Seattle, where she lived. In videos posted to his own YouTube channel, he is combative and confident about his mountain experience. No way, he said in a comment, because women need more protection than men do. Even though in the decade hes done this work, hes never found a single person. At 1 a.m., her family reported her missing. The trail was hard to follow, obscured by snow, above the tree line and exposed to the elements. So forgive Kevin for being a bit antisocial sometimes. As clues go, it's not much, just a name: Sam Sayers. Copyright 2023, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy, Three years, and thousands of hours and dollars later, she remains missing, National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, already overtaxed system dependent on an aging volunteer base, Bill Gillespie, president of the Washington State Search and Rescue Volunteer Advisory Council told a reporter in early August, county and state agencies spent 22 days searching for her, the founder of the Jon Francis Foundation, The Hidden Lake trek is 8 miles round trip and steep, publishing three short books on the topic, he posted a photo of a note hed placed on the car, told a reporter that hed never seen anything like it, Carr posted a 30-minute live YouTube video during which someone called him ridiculous., whose husband Tom disappeared and died hiking alone this year and was later found by a friend, a Seattle real estate broker and woman of color, of a bearded man with a Pinocchio-length nose, wearing a do-rag and smoking a cigarette, Heightened interest in Moscow killings by true crime consumers could be harmful, Man who exchanged gunfire with Spokane police downtown in October faces federal drug charge , Man accused of killing four UI students agrees to be extradited to Idaho in Pennsylvania hearing , Hayden man arrested after firing weapon in apartment building , 'There's not much doubt': Families of UI students react to suspect's initial court appearance and new details released, Investigators believe DNA of accused killer found on sheath at home where 4 UI students were slain, 'She was living the life that she deserved': Maddie Mogen's father braces for first Christmas without her, 'People could be charged': Social media rumors about Moscow case leading to doxxing, harassment. Over the course of the next days the Skagit County Search and Rescue team will gather up Lakoduks remains and her things. Dares looks closer, careful not to disturb anything. On his foray into town that first night, Kevin had posted a plea on Facebook. Hi. Kevin swiftly moved into the next stretch, where hikers emerge into Wirtz Basin, a box canyon with a smattering of squat trees. Meanwhile, some of the grieving family members were publicly coming to his defense. "Please take a moment to look at their faces and read and share their stories. Follow the river to civilization. With his tattoos, felony conviction, self-promotion and a penchant for paramilitary theatrics, hes a lightning rod for criticism and a frequent topic of discussion in online hiking and climbing groups. Where did she go? Then he began to rally Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue through his radio. So forgive Kevin for being a bit anti-social. Published in the May 2019 issue of After she passed the two hikers, Lakoduk continued up. She planned to meet a friend in Bellingham the next day. It's a sad shame. He took off up the trail toward Vesper, leading Cheryl Phillips, a dog handler from South Carolina, and her search dog Raven. When asked if he was a racist, she said in a text Ive seen/heard/have no data point to support such accusations. They havent met up but they plan to, for which she is so grateful., Still, Carr remains a villain in many circles. He believes the county search and rescue crews should talk more about what they do, to be held accountable for their successes and failures. At a Unicorn bar drag brunch in 2017, Turner remembers Sams cheers at the flamboyant performance, the loudest person there, giving the biggest tips. NBC News asked in an article published Friday. But thats cold comfort for the families left behind. A search organized. By and large, the United States depends on a patchwork of volunteer search and rescue teams organized and run by county sheriffs offices. Vieira said Sayers wore a wig in high school, but one . His girlfriend, Samantha Sayers, also disappeared while hiking. The hiker turns his camera in a blurry panorama, catching blue sky over boulder fields, the sharp peaks that circle Lake Elan.