It was easy for fellow hikers to remember the young woman with the bald, tattooed head and the wide, easy smile. A search ensued unlike anything the state of Washington has ever seen. Kevin began referring to himself as Sams fiance. Then the radio crackles, interrupting Carrs monologue. The day was hot, the faint haze from far-off wildfires hanging in the air. Carr continues talking about his tattoos, all of which (except for the ones on his back) he did himself, Yes sir, Im ambidextrous, he says. Now that I've heard more theories on that front, his story sounds weirder and weirder. She told him she would just walk up the trail a bit and be right back. His baby girl, spunky and brave, wouldnt have given up without a fight. Sayers' family and friends vow to keep searching for her until she is found. That was nine months ago. The duo spent 126 days on the mountain. Between Carrs military mindset and Kevins own stint in the Navy, they approached the mountain with a tactical eye. Nine months later, the mystery has consumed the lives of thousands. They told her theyd turned back at 6,200 feet. Dares looks closer, careful not to disturb anything. And so, 667 days after a 28-year-old Moses Lake woman vanished into these hills and 657 days after the Skagit County Search and Rescue team suspended their search, a ragged group of volunteers pauses to take a breather. On August 23, Deputy Teske was sitting with Kevin when word came that the county was officially suspending its search. Soon hes ahead of everyone else. Soon after meeting Kevin, she left a gig at Seattle Repertory Theatre to work entrepreneurial hustles, pursuing a real estate license and marketing intriguing products shed found online, like an inflatable lounger. Where did she go? All she had on her was "three sandwiches, some chips and water" and no cold weather gear for nighttime. One saw her eating a sandwich. At least, he says, the man was looking. It was around day 50 of the search; Kevin would ultimately spend over 100 on this mountain. A carpenter by trade, who converted to Buddhism while in a Missouri prison, Carr spends months in the woods looking for missing people as a way of repaying his karmic debt to society. Back on the mountain the rest of the group makes it to Lakoduks final resting spot. No way, he said in a comment, because women need more protection than men do. He pauses and warns another search party member to watch his step. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Alopecia, an autoimmune disease, caused Sam to lose much of her hair; she shaved the rest daily. Sams trace. That first night he wandered Vesper Peak with only the gear Sergeant Adams had on hand; by this point, his personal base had a canvas tent with a peaked roof, like a homesteaders cabin made of fabric. It really is. She and Kevin, a single dad of three, moved in together. He lost weight, smoked and drank too much. Sure, but then it wouldnt be Bud, Dares said, adding At the end of the day the families that are searching dont pay attention to it. Carrs ceaseless self-promotion. A dozen PJs, or Air Force Pararescue personnel, came up from Oregon; the navy flew a mission. For everyone commenting about her mom going crazy in the aftermath of this, I can tell you for certain she's always been this way. Adams, a lawman with a chiseled face that eschews theatrics, advised the frantic boyfriend not to go back out alone in the predawn hoursbut he also wouldnt stop him. He continued up despite the plan to meet. 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. 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. So, when they stop, its relaxed. Seattle Met. The tether didnt lead back to Sam at all. Nobody took her up on it and on Aug. 1, Sayers drove alone to the trailhead about two hours northeast of Seattle. Two boots. Soon, fueled in part by Dares social media and Sayers mothers social media postings, combined with a cultural obsession with true crime shows, the case became a social-media spectacle. Eventually, even that produced a splinter group, The Truth of the Sam Sayers Case UNCENSORED. Little cold-weather gear, no headlamp, Kevin tells her. This is the stance of someone who doesnt give up. It isnt easy to utterly vanish. Still, its hot and hes tired when his radio crackles to life. Jamie hoped theyd repair the marriage. A GoFundMe page raised $60,000 for the search. Sam's mother, Lisa Yax Sayers, declined to be interviewed for this story. I was amazed. News organizations picked up the story. Brad Dad will sleep much better tonight, he says. Been trying for a week now I thought it was shut down (I'm social media challenged). Trained dogs sought scents and human trackers scoured for footprints; others examined the creek. And its possible no body was found due to wildlife in the area? They werent worried about getting caught, focusing instead on the imminent collapse of society. Theres no official count; when the U.S. Department of the Interior tried to build a database of such events, the effort drew criticism as an expensive, malfunctioning boondoggle. Date of Birth: August 13, 1990 Erie, Pennsylvania. I would just like to read at my pleasure and see what everyone else is thinking. Idk, I am not there. Society persisted and Carr spent five years in a Missouri prison although he was sentenced to seven. Been trying for a week now I thought it was shut down (I'm social media challenged) 3 Hearing that, Kevin can only give a scornful laugh. Need help ASAP, he wrote. She had given up wigs in high school, when in typical dramatic fashion she ripped one off her head during a class presentation. A hiker remembers seeing Sam veer down toward the peaks southwest side around 3pm. To my understanding, both the Truth group is no longer accepting new members. Around 10 a.m., Sayers signed her name in the logbook at the trailhead and then disappeared. That was day 106. An area is scoured by hundreds of trained searchers, dogs and helicopters, and then weeks, months or years later, a random hiker stumbles onto something everyone missed. He was accused of being a chauvinist. Lots of interesting characters. That sunny August Wednesday, a hiker stopped a few hundred feet below the top, right above the meadow where Kevin would one day erect his camp. Everyone agreed that the public would take it all more seriously if people understood their solid commitment. Local drone pilots launched flights, passing along footage that Sams Belltown crew posted online for anyone to scour for clues. For 20 years, Ron Goins has worked with county search and rescue in Western Washington in one form or another. 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 states history. Samantha Sayers went on a solo hike in Washington's Vesper Peak on August 1 and hasn't been seen or heard from since then. 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. They dont touch anything. In his book The Cold Vanish he acknowledges that its a rounded guesstimation although he believes 1,600 is wildly conservative.. Super driven. Through all this drama, Carr, Dares and others continued searching. 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. 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. I think shes hurt.. Its more than three miles from the trailhead to the shores of Lake Elan and Kevins base camp, where snow had mostly melted. She loved animals, snakes, frogs, horses it didnt matter and hated dolls, her father said. I'm happy to PM you with my FB name so you can invite me. Sam Sayers is a 5-foot-8-inch white woman who weighs 125 pounds. He looks drained. NBC News asked in an article published Friday. Ill owe Bud for the rest of my life, he said. Dares insisted on paying Carr $500 a week during the heat of the Sayers search. She was super smart, cool, funny. Missing people usually leave a signature, family members filled Ziploc bags with snacks and instructions for Sam, Cheryl Phillips, a dog handler from South Carolina, and her search dog Raven, In October the occasional snow flurries turned to regular snowfall, Ski Areas Shift to Mountain Bike Parks in Summer, The Insider's Guide to Visiting North Cascades National Park. As the August day melted into late evening, Kevin grew concerned. If you have information about Sayers, call the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office at (425) 388-3393. Kevin Dares. It's a sad shame. He cant. Flyers wrapped trees and signposts on the Mountain Loop and telephone poles in Seattle. Red hair. The Find Sam Sayers Facebook group had grown to five figures, with posters trading conflicting theories and rumors. And then there is Carlton Bud Carr Jr., the man who brought them together. That didnt go well, and he deleted his original post shortly after a friend suggested he should. Two years later as Kevin Dares hikes uphill searching for Lakoduk, snow is a distant memory. The trail was hard to follow, obscured by snow, above the tree line and exposed to the elements. Kim Turner, a Belltown community health therapist already close with Kevin, quickly befriended his new girlfriend. They married on June 29, 2011, and traveled the world doing missionary work India, South Africa, Ireland, and more. Once back in the States, they started backpacking. Follow the river to civilization. Sometime in the morning of a bluebird August day, a Seattle woman picked up a pencil and wrote her name on the register at a trailhead off the Mountain Loop Highway. If your loved one is missing the odds are low that public sector law enforcement is going to find them, said David Francis, the founder of the Jon Francis Foundation named in honor of his son who went missing in the Idaho Sawtooths in 2006. Even though in the decade hes done this work, hes never found a single person. Everyones gonna say, a boyfriend, whatever, fly-by-night, who cares, he says. Samantha Sayers is a 5-foot-8-inch white woman weighing 125 pounds. A white supremacist? For her 28th birthday in 2019, they planned to hike to the Hidden Lake Lookout. Such as did LE look into this and do DNA testing, etc. 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. Though Snohomish County had officially suspended its operation, Sergeant Adams came back up to snorkel Lake Elan in a thick dry suit. Missing: Samantha SayersPlease hurry. Back in Pennsylvania, that was how Sams mother heard the news. Tripp buys Carr dinner occasionally. Samantha Sayers, Girard Native, went missing August 1st after climbing a mountain in Washington state. Hes a journeyman carpenter, although hes worked a grab bag of blue-collar jobs. They were rarely alone. What color was Rachels pad, backpack and sleeping bag?. In a crowded restaurant you must lean in to hear him speak. Hes prone to long rants, but is also a good listener, happy to suspend a story, although he almost always picks it up later. Sam has a hiking pole in each hand, head down as she earns the last of the 4,200-foot climb. 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. The staff checks on him every 10 minutes, more motherly than waiterly. Sam Sayers Consulting. So is the consenus that she had an accident and fell? Originally from New Orleans, his leisurely drawl belying a sharp wit and quick tongue. Dont touch anything, he says. 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 couple descended. Washingtons a weird state, he says, because its possible to drive your car into the middle of nowhere, park, step off the road and suddenly be in dangerous terrain.. Carr belayed him down ropes into steep ravines. Sam was raised in the Erie, Pennsylvania area where her parents Ron and Lisa still live. Several GoFundMe campaigns popped up. And for how long? The last few hundred feet of Vesper is more of a scramble route than it is a defined path. Is it possible or o.k. Left, the private search basecamp near Lake Elan; right, Kevin Dares, Bud Carr, and Clay Olsen. I've been getting a lot messages the past few days. I submitted a request to join but it hasn't been approved yet. People made YouTube videos. The camera moves on, and Sam continues ever upward. It is frozen.. Sam had hiked Vesper Peak before, but its a rigorous trail. She was expected to return that evening and check in with family, the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office reported. Adams established operations bases at nearby Big Four ice caves and at Spada Lake far below Vespers southeast side. Three years, and thousands of hours and dollars later, she remains missing. He learned how to hunt, to build shelters, to insulate himself with leaves. Snow fell and Carr and Dares stopped searching, although they went back in 2019. Seven years of Dateline's Missing in America: 156 still missing. After she passed the two hikers, Lakoduk continued up. From Kevins first post, Facebooks role in the search metastasized. I'm just glad I'm seeing the "light" now (pun totally intended). See Photos. The 28-year-old woman was last seen on a day hike at Vesper Peak in the North Cascades on August 1. Hi. He didnt think it was likely Sam had ended up there, but it was worth a look. The first winter storm of the year was rushing in, and snow was falling. Leave no trace? 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. Three homes. Rachel, didnt miss a beat: What do you expect? As we near closer to the end (I hope, for everyone's sake), her followers expect (and are owed IMO) an explanation, but will she really be prepared to do that once the time comes? Imagining Sam bushwhacking her way through the forest around Vesper, family members filled Ziploc bags with snacks and instructions for Sam. He couldn't accompany Sam because he was working. He says, Oh, I think the fiance did it, says Kevin, his drawl emphasizing his wry amusement. discussion about Sam that won't be silenced, Press J to jump to the feed. This was Sam Sayers in her element: fired up by the theatricality, by a tight-knit community. Where did she go? Jun 2004 - Mar 20138 years 10 months. NBC News this past week pointed out that in the seven years its Dateline NBC "Missing in America" online series has been in existence, around 57% of the series'subjects have been found. None of these things were irrefutably Lakoduks, but Tripp who everyone calls Brad Dad had a feeling. As clues go, its not much, just a name: Sam Sayers. Literally nowhere else in the long history of missing persons cases do you see someone rallying up an "army" in this way. Karen hiked ahead of her partner when the two reached snow level at an elevation of about 5,000 feet, on the east side of Mt. (Courtesy of Julie Newberry) . Her online videos imply that the family is currently pursuing their own investigation into her daughter's disappearance. As for the money, Carr never asks to be paid. Hi, I'm not on Facebook, but interested in this case (I posted some thoughts about the public records recently on another Reddit thread). This week I've caught up on the NW Hikers page dedicated to her, the forum was unfortunately closed back in September, but many of those people brought up valid points. Hed recently graduated. The aircrafts FLIR, an infrared camera, scanned for heat signatures, but the pilots also stuck their heads out windows. The countys SAR spent 20,197 hours on missions in 2018, with approximately 8,000 of those hours looking for Sam. Crucially, searchers looked every place a hiker could have conceivably fallen, but some couldnt be completely ruled out. Raised in Pennsylvania, Sam took to theater in high school, passionate about vocals on stage and set construction behind it, then earned a BFA in western New York. 2023 www.goerie.com. For some reason I was having a hard time finding this on my own, Yep as above the truth group is still rolling on.. just the main group shut down. Late on that August day, a few hours after Sam wandered down Vesper, Kevin Dares sat inside Roccos, an upscale pizza restaurant in Belltown with Victorian wallpaper and novelty banh mi slices. I hold both genders to a different standard. He peeks under logs and behind boulders. Near 2 p.m. she was hiking. That was what had pinged. Published in the May 2019 issue of Handler Cheryl Phillips and her dog, Raven. Theyve found no trace of Sayers. At the request of Kriegers son, he stayed on the mountain for a month and half. He added fuel to the fire when one person asked if hed have left the note if it was a man. Too much vegetation. Francis was a victim of that. Once, while working a night shift at Dennys a customer complained that his steak was too dry. The next evening, she was reported missing, her Jeep located that night by a sheriffs deputy. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review). Dares was grateful that Carr was searching. Samantha Sayers, 28, has been missing from a solo hike on Vesper Peak, Wash., since Aug. 1, 2018. Better late than never, amiright?? Then he began to rally Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue through his radio. Once the proper trail peters out in the dirt and heather, its common for every comer to pick their own way. One day Kevin watched Clay Olsen, one of the core searchers, trip holding an ice ax, missing his own forehead by inches. Carr knew of Krieger, she was the cashier at his grocery store. Samantha "Sam" Sayers, a former Girard resident, remains among the 43% still missing. The first missing person Carr searched for was Patti Krieger in 2010 after the 65-year-old woman disappeared on Sauk Mountain, also in the North Cascades, just miles from Carrs home. Finally, the last push to Vesper: a short traverse from Headlee to tiny Lake Elan, still partially frozen, and the triangular peak half-covered in snow. Dares drops his pack. Everett Mountain Rescue, a specialized group of volunteers equipped to explore Vespers alpine environment, joined the operation. Washington is not his natural environment, growing up as he did in the swamps of Louisiana, trapping alligators and selling their hides. With his dark pointed goatee and survivalist rhetoric, Carr rubbed many the wrong way. I drink too much on occasion, I smoke too many cigarettes, he says. In addition to the swastika tattoo, Carr posted a video since deleted of himself wearing a hat with an Iron Cross. In a snowstorm, this would be easy to miss. Lean as a whip. Kevin recognized Sam from across the room before they even metthis was the girl hed matched with on Tinder; theyd chatted through the app. A Seattle hotelier and real estate developer. Impressed by Carrs careful hand-drawn maps and search experience, Francis recommended he be put in charge of the familys search operations. They called it Operation Relentless Pursuit. His girlfriend, Samantha Sayers, also disappeared while hiking. 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. Its unfair to our citizens.. Each was dutifully logged. Three years, and thousands of hours and dollars later, she remains missing. She spoke her mind. Thanks if anyone can do that! 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. On a perfect summer day, a solo hiker went missing from a Cascade trail. Most of them are found, dead or alive, rather quickly. I cannot even imagine how her poor family feels. 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? "Please take a moment to look at their faces and read and share their stories. Its hot, humid and even he a Louisiana native is sweating. 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. The system is so broke, they dont even track it, says David Francis, whose son Jon disappeared in Idaho in 2006. Thats when two hikers coming down saw her. 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. Of that first week, Kevin mostly remembers climbing and crying. It went viral. She built that fire. People def took advantage of the search, like the main guy who turned the SAR effort into a camping trip. Apparently the hat matched the description of the hat Sam had, but no one knows for sure and no one knows what happened to them after. 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. He points to the moats off the north side of the peak, where the steep bottom of the cliff meets the glacier. Go to the creek. Snohomish County Sheriffs Office. Samantha had planned to summit Vesper Peak in Washington's North Cascades, a route she'd taken before, and told family she'd be gone from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Family says Samantha Sayers . Dogs versus cats. After a $20,000 reward was announced, the trail swelled further. Using his cell phone for illumination under a moon just past full, he retreated three-and-a-half miles back to his car. The two men sit together, uphill from the remnants of a life. 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. All rights reserved. The videos, the posts, the paramilitary theatrics, all that makes Goins and others roll their eyes and in his view undermines Carrs mission. While talking, he continues searching, scanning to his left and right. Seriously they are on a power trip now. There the route passes across the south fork of the Stillaguamish River; hikers hop across boulders while the knee-deep creek rushes beneath. :-) grinchmas34 4 yr. ago I would love to be added to that group!