1.Garrett Bardsley On a Friday, August 20, 2004 while on a Boy
Scout’s Camping Trip, Garrett Bardsley, age 12, and his father Kevin, were camping
in the Utah woods on Uinta (You in-tA) Mountains. The pair were fishing on the lake, 140 meters
from the Troop’s campsite. Garrett got a little too close to the water
while fishing, completely soaking his shoes and socks. He decided to walk back to his campsite to
change. The Scout Troop’s tents were a mere 140
meters , or 450 ft, away, so Garrett’s father allowed his 12-year-old son to go back to
his tent alone. For comparison purposes the distance between
the lake and the campsite was only that of the length of 1 and a half Football fields. There was no need to worry because they had
walked that trail several times before and Garrett had also completed the Boy Scout’s
wilderness survival training. Kevin kept his eyes on Garrett as he walked
around the lake and even shouted directions, reminding Garrett which path would lead him
straight back to camp, bfter 20 minutes, Kevin wondered what was taking his son so long to
return to him. The now concerned father returned to the camp,
but Garrett was nowhere to be seen. Trip coordinators say they picked the spot
because it was sheltered, had easily identifiable natural landmarks and was seemingly difficult
to get lost in, so his dissaperence was even more puzzling. Although an official search began less than
40 minutes after he was last seen, the boy was no where to be found. . After about 5 days, the search was no longer
slated to be for a missing person. Instead, it became a recovery mission. Family members, neighbors, friends and church
goers aided officials in the search for missing Garrett Bardsley but he was never found. Garrett was last seen wearing a t-shirt, black
hooded sweatshirt, red sweatpants and Converse tennis shoes. The only evidence that searchers found was
the boy’s Nike sock 0.8 kilometers (0.5 mi) away from the spot where he disappeared. The local police decided that there was not
enough evidence pointing to a kidnapping. They believe that he got lost and died of
exposure. However, Kevin Bardsley says that he will
never give up hope of finding his son. 2.Patti Krieger
Patti had been hiking with her boyfriend Larry Pressley, her Rottweiler (Bear), James Pressley,
Nichole Gardner, Troy Robinson, Chrissy (Jones) Bumgarner, and Matt Robinson. According to those Patti was with, they had
been on the mountain that day to spread the ashes of Larry's deceased parents who had
passed away several months earlier. The group Patti was hiking with says that
Patti became emotional after the "ceremony" and that she headed down a different trail
than the rest of the hikers. They say they figured the trails would reconnect
and that they would meet Patti and her dog Bear back at the trail head. Patti and Bear never showed up. Pattis' car keys and drivers license were
found to be in possession of the individuals that she was hiking with. Pattis cell phone was in the possession of
one of Larry Pressleys friends back at Pattis house. It is unclear if there were any other personal
items in Patti's possession at the time of her disappearance. It should be noted that Patti used hearing
aids. After Learning that their 65 year old Friend,
Patti Krieger, had not made it back to the trail head, the hikers Patti was with decided
not to wait for her and instead, LEFT THE MOUNTAIN. Larry Pressley (Pattis boyfriend) went with
some of the other hikers to a local gas station and bought burritos and beer. Some of the other hikers went to a local supermarket
and went grocery shopping. 4 hours later, Larry and some of his friends
went back to Sauk Mountain and at that time, reported Patti missing. When Larry Pressley and his family and friends
reported Patti missing, they claimed to be Pattis family and her actual family was not
notified of her disappearance. According to her son he was not alerted to
her missing status until the next day, a Sunday, when she didn't show up for her job. She had worked for Fred Meyer's for thirty
years and when she was absent her boss immediately called her and then her emergency contact
(her son). Her son after not being able to contact his
mother went to file a police report and found that one had already been opened the day before. Patti Krieger and Bear were officially missing. Within 48hrs search teams for four counties
arrived and by foot searched the mountain and trails with no results. The day after a helicopter search was started
using Forward Looking Infrared Technology with no results. Search and Rescue dogs were used at some point
within the first 48hrs. They hit on the parking lot and on the main
trail, which lead Police to believe she had in fact gotten off the mountain, perhaps after
her group had left. By 10th april, Police had officially stated
they did not believe she was on the mountain. 26 days after she disappears Bear is found
in poor condition, malnourished and emaciated in the area of Sauk Mountain. After her dog was found, police changed their
theory, believing that she may not have left the mountain. There are several theories on patti's disappearance. There's a possiblity that she could have easily
fallen and injured herself, eventually succumbing to the elements. And then there one which suggests that Larry
Pressley Krieger's boyfriend killed her and disposed off her body. It is mentioned several times in various news
articles that Pressley is a felon, but only one source from K5 News states that he had
been sentenced previously for "child rape, drive by shooting, and assualt on police officers". According to The Concrete Herald, Krieger's
son, Alan Patterson, stated that two days after Krieger had gone missing he was aiding
in the search when along Sauk Mountain Road (not the trail) he encountered Pressley, who
thus far had not aided in the search of Krieger. He claimed Pressley was acting suspiciously. While family and friends of patti claim that
Larry Pressley has been very non-cooperative with the family; he was very upset when they
started a Facebook page after her disappearance and confronted the family about it. When he found out a longtime friend/coworker
of Krieger was running it he confronted him as well. He was also seen many times driving Krieger's
luxury vehicles around town as opposed to his own vehicle. The family was having a court dispute over
their rights to Krieger's house and belongings. Rather than cooperate, Pressley decided to
vacate the house. When the family finally gained entrance, Krieger's
house and belongings were described as "trashed". Titles to her cars were left out on kitchen
counters, her safe and safety deposit box had been opened and rifled through with items
missing. The family moved Krieger's vehicles to another
location where they were involved in a drive-by shooting, they believe Pressley to be behind
this as retaliation. It's also worth noting that less than a year
after Krieger's disappearance Pressley was married to another woman. He is currently serving ten years in prison
for charges unrelated to Krieger's disappearance. Her son, friends, and family of Krieger believe
that she is deceased and still regularly search the mountain for her remains. 3.Diana Robertson
On December 12, 1985, 36-year old Mike Riemer, his 21-year old girlfriend, Diana Robertson
and their two-year old daughter Crystal left their home in Puyallup, Washington for a trip
into the woods to find a Christmas tree. Mike worked as a trapper during the winter
months and was also planning to use this opportunity to check his traps. Later that afternoon, Crystal would be found
wandering alone outside a Kmart in the town of Spanaway. Since her parents could not be located, Crystal
was placed in temporary foster care and was not identified until her photo was placed
in the newspaper and her maternal grandmother recognized her. Mike and Diana had vanished without a trace,
and all Crystal could tell police was that "Mommy is in the trees". Two months later, Mike Riemer’s pick-up
truck was discovered on a remote logging road in the woods, 30 miles away from the Kmart
where Crystal was found. Diana Robertson’s body was lying on the
ground. She had been stabbed 17 times and a tube sock
was wrapped around her neck. There were bloodstains inside the truck, but
since two months of winter weather had caused the evidence to degrade, forensic tests could
not match the blood to a specific person. An envelope was found under the windshield
with the words “I LOVE YOU DIANA” written on it. Although her mother believed that it was his
handwriting, it could not be confirmed. A search of the surrounding woods turned up
no trace of Mike. Police explored the possibility that Mike
could have killed Diana before dropping Crystal off at the Kmart. He had a history of domestic violence and
Diana had filed a restraining order against him two months before her death, though the
couple eventually reconciled. Another complication was that Four months
earlier, the forest area where her parents disappeared had been the scene of two brutal
murders. 27-year old Stephen Harkins and his 42-year
old girlfriend Ruth Cooper were murdered while camping near a lake 15 miles away from the
logging road. Stephen was shot to death inside his sleeping
bag while Ruth’s remains were found a mile-and-a-half away months later. Like Diana Robertson, Ruth had a tube sock
tied around her neck with the same type of knot, suggesting they were both killed by
the same person. Since Mike Riemer was known to check his animal
traps in the same area where the couple was found, police wondered if he might have been
a serial killer who was responsible for both murders. Police had not been able to determine if he
was alive or dead, or if he was the killer or a victim. Mike’s whereabouts remained unknown until
March 2011 when a hiker discovered a skull fragment in a wooded area located a mile from
where Diana was found. When police searched the area, they found
a human mandible and dental records confirmed it belonged to Mike. The rest of Mike’s remains were never found
and his exact cause of death could not be determined, but the condition of the skull
fragment seems to indicate he was not killed by a gunshot to the head. While it’s possible Mike could have murdered
Diana, drove Crystal to the Kmart, returned to the murder scene and gone into the woods
to commit suicide, the most likely theory seems to be that an unknown killer murdered
both couples and dropped Crystal off. Police have since ruled him out as a suspect
in the double murder. 4.Jaryd Atadero
In October 1999, Jaryd Atadero, 3, went on a hike up the Big South Trail in Podure Canyon,
CO with a group of adults and his 6 year old sister. His father, Allyn Atadero stayed at the lodge
he owned and operated. Allyn knew the adults from a Christian group
that stayed at his lodge, Poudre River Resorts, and trusted the 10 adults. The group chose to hike Comanche Peak on a
trail that goes deep into the heart of the massive 260-square-kilometer (100 mi2) wildlife
reserve. While on the trail, the ten adults were split
between two groups, and the kids were running between the groups. Jaryd most likely ran ahead to catch up the
lead group, and then ran past them to ‘surprise’ them on the trail. This was the last time he was spotted by his
group. Each member of the group gave The New York
Times drastically different estimates as to how long they were hiking before anyone noticed
that the toddler was gone—ranging from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. A search party with over 50 people brought
dogs to look for Jaryd for several days, but was thwarted by a SAR helicopter crash on
Oct 5th, and snow that rolled into the Rocky Mountains. Jaryd was believed to be spotted by two fisherman
on the trail, who he approached and asked them if there were bears nearby. The fisherman confirmed that they were in
bear country, and Jaryd then left. Searchers found a set of 'prints' that were
initially thought to be Jaryd's, but were later identified by wildlife experts as bear
tracks that were interwoven as the bear went up and down the trail. During the search, a park ranger at Mesa Verde
National Park filed a sighting report at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, a 9-hour
drive from Poudre Canyon, after seeing Jaryd’s photo on the news while eating dinner. He was certain he had seen the boy that day,
and stated that the boy kept trying to hold his hand. A man who he had seen walking with the boy
kept calling him something like “Gerald”, but thought nothing of it at the time. His statement fell on deaf ears. A friend of Allyn’s named Cindy investigated
the area where Jaryd had gone missing. She happened to come across a family staying
at a cabin way back in the sticks, who she said was acting suspiciously. They were painting their VW van a different
color when they noticed her watching. One of them jumped into a truck and sped over
to her, screaming at her to leave. She told a friend, who reported it to the
sheriff. But It was ignored. Despite the extensive search, none of Jaryd’s
remains were found until 2003. A staggering 170 meters (550 ft) above the
trail in a location that is difficult even for adults to climb, they found Jaryd’s
sneakers . They appeared to be brand-new, though he had been missing for years. They also found his sweatshirt, which was
fully intact, and his pants, which were inside out as if they were pulled off of him. Around 45 meters (150 ft) away from his clothing,
they found one tooth and a piece of his skull. Some people have theorized that a mountain
lion carried his body up the steep trail, but many others believe that he was murdered. If he had been attacked by a mountain lion
or a bear, his clothing would have been torn to shreds. To this day, Jaryd’s case remains unsolved.
5.The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Disappearances
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park borders Tennessee and North Carolina and is the most
visited national park in the US. Therefore, it’s probably inevitable that
the park has its fair share of unsolved disappearances. On June 14, 1969, Dennis Martin was a seven-year-old
boy on a camping trip with his family. He was developmentally disabled, so his mental
age was behind other children of his chronological age. His older brother, Douglas, and two other
boys were playing together in an open field that was surrounded by a forest. The adults were sitting several yards away
from the kids, but the adults did not let the children out of their sight.Nine-year-old
Douglas told Dennis and their friends that it would be funny to prank the adults by going
into the woods and sneaking up behind their parents. So the children split up. Three of the boys went in one direction, but
Dennis ran off on his own in the opposite direction.Dennis’s father, William, could
see everything from where he sat. After the three other boys pranked their parents,
Dennis did not reemerge from the woods with them. Only five minutes had passed, but William
got up and began running to the spot where he had last seen Dennis. He screamed his son’s name and ran into
the woods for 3 kilometers (2 mi) without seeing any trace of the boy. A massive search was organized which turned
up nothing. A nearby witness recalled hearing a frightening
scream sometime that afternoon before he saw a rough-looking man running through the woods. Years later, a man found what appeared to
be the skeletal remains of a child in the park but did not inform the authorities because
he was hunting illegally at the time. When he finally reported it during the 1980s,
the remains could no longer be found. No one knows if either of these events had
any connection to Dennis Martin’s disappearance. In the end, Dennis Martin was never found,
and absolutely no trace of him has ever turned up. His odd case remains open to this day. Dennis Martin is joined by a long list of
people who have vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances in the Great Smoky
Mountains. Another unsolved Smoky Mountains disappearance
involved 16-year-old Trenny Gibson who vanished during a school trip to the park on October
18, 1976. While the students were hiking, Trenny somehow
became separated from them and disappeared, never to be seen again. Another strange disappearance occurred on
September 25, 1981, when 58-year-old Thelma Pauline Melton was hiking through the park
on Deep Creek Trail with two friends when she got way ahead of them and disappeared
after walking over a hill. Her friends searched the area where Melton
had been just moments before, but could find no sign of where she had gone. Making the whole scene even more bizarre was
that Melton was overweight, and suffered from high blood pressure and nausea for which she
took medication, making it bizarre that she could have gotten so far away from her friends
so fast. In fact, Melton’s friends had been playfully
teasing her about her slow pace not long before she vanished. In 2008, 51-year-old Michael Hearon waved
goodbye to his family and went out in his 4-wheel-drive truck to some forestland near
their home in Blount County, Tennessee, which lies within the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park. When the man did not return home as scheduled,
a search was conducted and Hearon’s truck was found in a clearing, with the ignition
oddly still turned to the “on” position, and the mystery would only deepen from there. In the vicinity of the truck there could be
found no trace of where Hearon could have gone or what had become of him. No footprints could be found, nor any trail
through the dense underbrush that he could have used to go off on his own. Additionally, dogs could not pick up a scent
and authorities could find no torn bits of clothing, no blood or tissue, no bones, no
sign of a struggle, and indeed no sign that Hearon had ever even been there at all. It was as if he had just spontaneously ceased
to exist. More recently, 24-year-old Derek Joseph Leuking
went missing on March 17, 2012. His vehicle was found in the Newfound Gap
parking lot. All his gear had been left behind, but there
was a note on the windshield which read: “Don’t try to follow me.” No trace of Leuking could be found anywhere
in the park, adding his name to the list of people who have mysteriously disappeared into
the Great Smoky Mountains.
