- [Dispatcher] 911, do
you have an emergency? - [Caller] Hi, yes.
(suspenseful music) There's somebody stuck in a
sewer over here on Atlantic. - [Narrator] What is up, EWU Crew? Today, we will be exploring
three unbelievable cases of missing people, discovered in extremely
bizarre circumstances that will leave you wondering just how these events could happen. Let's get into it. The first case we have
for you today is one that you may have stumbled across in recent headlines. Though you may not have realized just how bizarre the story truly is. Around 9:00 AM in Delray Beach, Florida on Tuesday March 23rd, 2021, a pedestrian passed over Atlantic Avenue. They paused and their walk as
something appeared to be off. Though, they weren't quite sure what it could be at first. Then they heard it. The muffled noise of what
sounded like someone yelling. Somehow, the voice seemed to be coming from below the street. The pedestrian realized in shock that someone had to be
trapped in the storm drain below the busy Delray Beach thoroughfare. Realizing that something
was seriously wrong, they began shouting for help. Another passer-by saw the commotion as she drove through the area. And with her window of
her car rolled down, she heard the trapped person screaming. This passer-by called 911 to
report the bizarre situation. When told that someone
was trapped in the sewer, the 911 operator can be
heard incredulously asking, what is going on? In the background of the call, the woman who is trapped
in the storm drain can be heard shouting up
to those who found her. She yells that she is not hurt. - [Dispatcher] 911, do
you have an emergency? - [Caller] Hi. Yes. There's somebody stuck
in a sewer over here on Atlantic and 11th Avenue.
- I'm sorry, there's somebody stuck in the sewer?
- There's a lady stuck in the sewer, yes ma'am. She cannot get out. She's screaming for help. - [Dispatcher] How did she get in there? - [Caller] I'm not sure. I don't know. She was just screaming for help and the lady was walking and like, I had my window down. I was driving. And she heard her screaming we heard her screaming so- - [Dispatcher] All right, we have help that already on the way. Can you see any visible injuries on her? - [Caller] Are you hurt? Hey! - No.
- No, she ain't hurt. She just don't got on no clothes. - [Narrator] Police and the
Delray Beach Fire Rescue responded to the scene where they began trying to move the grate over top of the storm drain in order to see what was going on below. By this time, a small crowd
had gathered at the scene. What they found inside the drain was a naked 43-year-old woman. Using a ladder and harness, the rescue team was able to get access to the eight-foot-deep
drain underneath the road and carefully bring
the woman up to safety. When she was finally raised
up to the ground level, the gathered crowd cheered.
(suspenseful music) The woman appeared relatively
unharmed, though dehydrated. Dani Moschella from the
Del Ray Beach Fire Rescue said that the woman's struggled when she attempted to stand up and ultimately was unable to stand on her own. Moschella described that,
"She was very dirty. "She had some superficial wounds. "Her knees were all scraped up." When taken to the hospital, the woman explained to
police how she ended up trapped in the drain
in the first place. Police documents reveal that she claimed to officers
she had been swimming in a canal that was located
near the housing complex where her boyfriend lived. While swimming, she said
that she noticed a doorway in the shallows of the canal,
which opened to a tunnel. She then became curious to
see where the tunnel led. Following into the first tunnel, the woman found another and then another and soon she realized that she had become lost and couldn't find her way out again. According to police documents, the woman claimed that
while in the tunnels, she found an unopened can of
ginger ale, which she drank. But it is currently unknown if she had anything to
eat while she was trapped. At first, it was believed that
the woman had been trapped in the drains for a few days,
perhaps a little longer. But what is most bizarre about this case is that the woman claims that she first went into
the tunnels on March 3rd, almost three weeks before she was found. If she was correct, that would mean she had
been wandering around in the tunnels for about 20 days. This seems almost unbelievable. What brings credence
to her story, however, is that some new sources
say that she was reported to be missing in a different
county almost three weeks prior to her discovery. The woman finally found her way out when she saw a glimpse of light, which would turn out to be the grate from which she was eventually pulled out. Police say that she saw people
walking by through the grate and decided to sit down and call for help. The spokesperson for the
Delray Beach Police Department, Officer Ted White, said that
officers at the scene agreed that this event was by far
the most bizarre incident they ever responded to. The woman's situation could
have easily become critical if the area had received
any significant rain or if she had wandered
into a smaller pipe, which could have resulted in her drowning or seriously injuring herself. According to police documents, the woman has since been released from the hospital to recover at her home in the care of her mother. Her mother described her
daughter is having a history of doing odd things and
making bad decisions. While the police officers noted that the woman appeared
lucid after she was rescued, they are still unsure of the
accuracy of her statements and exactly how long she really was within the tunnels. Police sources reveal that
it is entirely possible that the truth of how she
ended up in the storm drain or just how long she
was trapped down there may never be known. Though her story leaves
many questions unanswered, one thing is for certain, the woman is lucky to be
alive under the circumstances. The next case we have for you is one that is likely every
parent's worst nightmare. In 2013, a two-year-old little
girl mysteriously vanished. On October 8th, around 2:00 PM, Amber Smith was reported missing after she was said to have wandered out of her family's house
in Newaygo County, Michigan. Her family included several
siblings and her parents, Dale and Diane Smith. At the time that she
made it out of the house, her mother had been at work, while her father was in a different room. When he returned, he found Amber missing. Her panicked father set
out in search of her. He looked for half an hour to no avail before contacting authorities and reporting that she was missing. What was most concerning was that the Smith family
home was near dense woods and it appeared that Amber
had wandered into the trees. It wasn't entirely unusual that Amber had made it out of the house. As she was reportedly
known to have done so on previous occasions in the past. Those times, however, she hadn't become lost. At first, suspicion turned to the father, but the possibility of him being involved in the little girl's disappearance
was quickly ruled out. Police were clear that they were unaware of any previous incidents when they had been
called to the Smith home or have any past trouble
regarding the parents or any children. As news spread about the
missing two year old, volunteers crowded onto a bus at Hawkins Township Hall to aid in the search for the little girl. Just under 300 people in total showed up to help in the efforts. Police employed the use of a helicopter, off-roading vehicles, and a
tracking dog in the search, hoping that it would be
able to backtrack her scent and determine the path that she would have taken from her home. The woods that Amber wandered into are described as being pitch-black
at night and 42 degrees. And so the search and rescue efforts were intent
on finding her before dark. Despite a coordinated and
intensive search effort, there was no sign of Amber
anywhere in the woods. In fact, it appeared as if she
had vanished into thin air. But 24 hours later, miraculously
Amber was found by police and Department of Natural
Resources conservation officers the next afternoon, near 12
Mile Road and Cedar Avenue. This area is within the boundaries of the Manistee National Forest When they discovered her, it was reported that the little girl was
simply standing alone in the middle of the woods
next to a fallen tree. Reportedly, Amber was crying
when she was first found, but calmed down as soon
as she was approached by a conservation officer
and realized she was safe. Amber was reportedly
dressed in only a tank top, without shoes or pants. It was reported by news outlets that her father had been the one to find her pants outside of their house on the day that she went to missing. The police have stated publicly that they believe she
took them off herself. Amber's mother spoke to a news outlet and said that
the discovery of Amber alive and safe was the best
day of the family's life. And that her mind had been racing over whether or not she's
going to be alive or dead. The Newaygo County undersheriff, Brian Boyd, described the discovery as a welcomed surprise. While at the hospital for evaluation, Amber appeared to be surprisingly calm and simply asked for some hot chocolate. When Amber was examined,
scratches were found on her body which the Undersheriff Boyd described as being consistent with
her walking a long distance through the woods. Though the conclusion to
the case was a happy one, it was unexpected and uncommon. Speaking to this, Undersheriff Boyd said, "It's hard to imagine how
a two and a half year old "can survive that
distance through the woods "with that kind of temperature." To make from her house
to where Amber was found, she would have had to walk about one and three quarter miles and crossed at least one road. However, what was most troubling for those who found Amber was trying to figure out not only how
the young girl had managed to survive the night alone in the woods, relatively unharmed, but also how had those
looking for her not found her when they went over the area earlier? If Amber had been there, it was assumed that they would have found
some clue indicating it. Undersheriff Boyd
described the circumstances as very suspicious. When he interviewed Amber, he hoped to see if she could explain how she had managed to get to the place where she was located on Wednesday. However, he said, "I don't
think she's old enough "to really comprehend things. "I don't think she can formulate reason." Amber's parents have
a theory of their own, one that they believe
could explain how Amber had survived 24 hours alone
in the cold and dark woods. - What I get from talking
to some of the officers, they said that does happen a lot. Well, in certain circumstances that if someone takes the
child or abducts them, they get scared later, seeing how much law enforcement was after them and everything. They might get scared and drop them off. - [Announcer] They wonder how Amber could have just a few scratches after spending the night in the woods. An abduction, they say, makes more sense. - I think so.
- You think so? - Because it don't make no sense. - Yeah.
- Especially her being two and walking that distance.
- Mummy, it's hot out here. - Yeah.
- Don't seem possible. - [Narrator] Amber's father Dale went on to share that the police had told him that they discovered evidence of tire tracks near where Amber was found. However, that lead hasn't
resulted in anything conclusive. For now, many questions remain
about what happened to Amber over those 24 hours when she was gone. Where she had been, and most importantly,
had someone taken her? Currently, there are no definite answers. The final case we have
for you today is one that may be the most bizarre of all. 23-year-old Steven Kubacki was a student attending
Hope College in 1978. As an avid outdoorsman, the student often liked to spend days at a time out in the wilderness. In February of 1978, Steven decided to go
solo cross-country skiing near Saugatuck, Michigan for a few days. When he didn't return at the time that he told his parents he would, they became concerned
and alerted authorities to the fact that they believed
their son could be missing. An investigation uncovered
something very odd. The investigators found
200 yards of footprints, but no sign of Steven. His parents told authorities where Steven had claimed he would be exploring. And footprints were discovered exactly where Steven had said he would be. But, concerningly, the
footprints led all the way to the edge of the frozen
lake where they stopped. There was no sign that
Steven had walked away. Rather, it looked like he had paused at the edge of the water
and then simply vanished. There was also no evidence
that the ice had been broken. So where had Steven gone?
(eerie music) Despite the evidence, the
main conclusion had been that Steven had simply lost his balance and fallen into the lake
where he became trapped under the sheet of ice and drowned. On February 21st, his abandoned skis and
backpack were found. The case was never closed. And though he wasn't stated
to be officially dead, he was presumed to have
died in that icy lake. Then, one year and three
months later, Steven returned. On May 5th, 1979, Steven reportedly claimed
that he had woken up and realized that he was laying in the middle of a field in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was 700 miles from
the location where he was believed to have vanished. Later, when speaking to reporters, Steven told them that when he woke up, he found that he was
wearing strange clothes that were not his own.
(eerie music) And that he had a backpack with him that was filled with maps, which he reportedly interpreted to mean that there had
been extensive hiking or traveling done since
he had disappeared. As well, it was reported that
he found he had a t-shirt from a marathon in Wisconsin that he had no recollection of ever run. Apparently after he woke up, Steven had no idea how
much time had gone by since he vanished until he
walked to find a newspaper. According to various news outlets, Steven claimed to have absolutely
no memory of what happened to him over those 15 months, nor any idea where he had been. The last thing that he claims to remember was his footprints in the snow. The ones that investigators discovered. At the time, Steven's story made headlines and fascinated the public. Steven only added fuel
to the speculative fire when he frequently
declined to talk publicly about what had happened to him and often outright refused
to give any interviews. One main theory was that Steven had simply chosen to run away and later changed his mind and returned. But rather than admit it, he had come up with an elaborate hoax. On the odd occasion when
Steven spoke to reporters, he insisted that he had no reason to choose to disappear. Steven said that before he had gone on his doomed cross-country skiing trip, everything in his life was going well. He said, "My father was going to sign "over the house to me. "I had three courses at
school and no trouble. "I left a romance in Germany. "There was no trouble with girls. "I had a job lined up with the
Holland Sentinel newspaper." He also reiterated that he
has no memory whatsoever about those 15 months. There has been much speculation about what happened to Steven. Some of the theories, more
outlandish than others. The possibilities of UFOs and alien abduction
have been tossed around. As well as the chance
that Steven hit his head and suffered brain damage or that he blacked out for over a year and wandered around the
wilderness as another person. Divine intervention has been posited as a possible explanation. Other theories focus on the
area where Steven went missing and assumed that he was a victim of a geographical phenomenon known as the Lake Michigan Triangle. This area has become
infamous for disappearances similar to those of the Bermuda Triangle. What is apparent is that any of the numerous theories could be true, as there is so little evidence to prove or disprove any of them. And Steven doesn't appear
to have any answers himself. Steven even eventually
went back to Saugatuck in an attempt to bring back any memories about what happened to him. But he said that while there, nothing came back to him. Steven eventually earned his PhD. Today, he reportedly works
as a professor of psychology and runs a clinical practice. It appears that soon after he returned, he stopped speaking publicly
about what happened to him. Is this because he simply cannot remember and wants to move on with his life? Or is there a chance that Steven
has slowly pieced together what happened over those 15 months and the events are too troubling for him to acknowledge publicly? We may never know. To this day, Steven Kubacki's
bizarre disappearance has never been solved.
(eerie music)
