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  • The Boot on the Post: How Julie Walked Out of the Woods

    The Boot on the Post: How Julie Walked Out of the Woods
    2026/07/26
    The Boot on the Post: How Julie Walked Out of the Woods

    A dry hiking boot sat upright on a four-foot marker post at the wilderness boundary, clean as if placed there an hour earlier - after eleven days of searching turned up nothing. What could explain a boot with no pollen or dust at the edge of a mountain trail and a vanishing that left dogs stopped on a granite slab like someone had simply walked out of the woods?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and evidence from the first call to search-and-rescue through the puzzling discoveries that shifted the search outward, asking how a seasoned hiker could disappear from familiar terrain and reappear in fragments at the wilderness boundary.

    Person: Julie Erickson
    Date: May 14, 2019 (disappearance) and May 25, 2019 (boot found)
    Location: Arrowgrass Loop, Perdew, Braden County, Washington
    Status: Missing at time of initial search; boot recovered at wilderness boundary
    Case: Search-and-rescue operation lasted eleven days with grid searches and dog teams

    - Julie Erickson was 32 years old and a dental hygienist from Sutter Lane who regularly hiked Arrowgrass Loop.
    - Julie and coworker Amy Tran started the hike at 9:15 AM on May 14, 2019; Amy reached the parking area and called 911 at 3:41 PM.
    - Search-and-rescue arrived at 4:50 PM on May 14 and conducted hasty teams and grid searches from May 14-16 with no conclusive findings.
    - Tracking dogs lost scent at a flat granite shelf called the Slab roughly a mile above the creek drainage; one dog later gave a weak "ghost" indication downslope toward the creek.
    - On May 19, a volunteering searching the creek corridor found a trekking pole with Julie's initials standing upright in the creek bank about 200 yards below the culvert at the wilderness boundary.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • The Eight-Foot Silence: How a Meadow Erased a Man's Trail

    The Eight-Foot Silence: How a Meadow Erased a Man's Trail
    2026/07/25
    The Eight-Foot Silence: How a Meadow Erased a Man's Trail

    The dogs ran out of scent in the middle of a dry meadow-an eight-foot patch where two independent tracking dogs stopped dead, twice, on different days and in different weather. A sock packed with gray-blue clay from a drainage eleven road miles away turned up at a meter lid, and Kevin Barnes’s organized, dry pack was found untouched two hundred meters from a fresh heel impression-what erased his trail and why did the scent simply end?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of discoveries and the factual anomalies that baffled searchers and investigators, from the Sellner Trailhead sign-in to the exact locations where scent and evidence diverged. What could make a live trail stop at one eight-foot patch while scattered items and a matching heel print point in different directions?

    Person: Kevin Barnes
    Date: April 7 sign-in; April 26 meter discovery; missing for 19 days
    Location: Sellner Trailhead, Bench meadow, drainage two hundred meters below the Bench
    Status: Found alive; anomalous trail evidence
    Case: Grid search activated April 10; dogs lost scent twice at same spot

    - Kevin Barnes signed the Sellner Trailhead register at 6:14 AM on April 7 and did not sign out.
    - Two bloodhound teams tracked a consistent scent corridor about four miles from the lot and both stopped at the same eight-foot patch in the meadow.
    - Kevin’s pack was found latched, organized, and dry on April 15, containing a water filter, rain shell, headlamp, two energy bars, and an emergency bivy.
    - A wool sock turned up under a cast-iron lid on Sycamore Loop Road on April 26, inside-out and packed with gray-blue clay and subalpine pine needles from a drainage eleven road miles away.
    - A forensic cast of a heel impression in gray-blue clay found in a creek bank on April 17 matched Kevin’s trail runners.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • Boots on the Boulder: How She Vanished Without Footprints

    Boots on the Boulder: How She Vanished Without Footprints
    2026/07/24
    Boots on the Boulder: How She Vanished Without Footprints

    The sight was impossible: a pair of tan leather hiking boots, laces tucked, sitting side by side on a flat granite boulder above tree line with exactly two upright sole impressions in frozen snow-and no other footprints for yards around. Who carried those boots up four hundred feet in the night, set them down with deliberate care, and vanished without leaving a trace?

    In this episode, we walk through the first five days of the search and the puzzling scene that drew teams uphill while the missing woman lay nearly a mile and a half away. What do the boots, the sealed snow, and the dogs that lost scent at the same spot tell us about what really happened?

    Person: Michelle Schultz
    Age: 44
    Location: Varney (boulder at 9,200 ft, drainage valley ~1.5 miles away)
    Date: March 9 (boots found at 8:45 AM; call at 8:52 AM)
    Status: Missing with fractured leg and dead phone found in drainage valley

    - Two upright boot-sole impressions were frozen into the crusted snow with no other footprints nearby.
    - The boulder with boots sat at 9,200 feet, just above the tree line, approximately 400 feet uphill from where Michelle was later found.
    - Michelle had last been seen by neighbor Pat Isley around 5:50 AM on March 8 and did not answer work emails the next day.
    - Search dogs tracked uphill from Michelle’s unlocked Subaru and both stopped losing scent at roughly 9,000 feet, two hundred feet below the boulder.
    - The left boot was placed about one inch closer to the edge than the right, suggesting a deliberate right-handed placement.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Boot Standing Upright: Why Angela Vanished Between Stands

    The Boot Standing Upright: Why Angela Vanished Between Stands
    2026/07/24
    The Boot Standing Upright: Why Angela Vanished Between Stands

    A single blaze-orange-laced boot, size eight, was found standing upright twelve feet off a trail in February with no tracks within eight feet-an impossible scene in packed winter snow. Angela Padgett’s neatly staged daypack, sealed supplies, and the bloodhound that pulled northwest from the planned grid all point to an unsolved disappearance that began in sixty yards of ridge between two hunting stands-what happened in that short walk?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and physical evidence recovered during the first four days of the search and the accounts from family, volunteers, and SAR personnel. You’ll hear where Angela’s truck left the trailhead, what was found at both stands, and why the search patterns shifted when the dog led away-could those clues answer how she vanished?

    Person: Angela Padgett
    Date: February 8-9
    Location: Clearwater Range, Ferris National Forest
    Status: Missing (unresolved question in SAR final report)
    Observer: Craig Dempsey

    - Angela sent a text at 5:47 AM from Tanner's Back trailhead saying "Should be back by noon."
    - She had two hunting stands about 400 yards apart; Stand Two was 60 feet lower in elevation.
    - Angela paused at Stand Two for roughly 40 minutes before leaving toward Stand Two.
    - At Stand Two, her daypack contained two sealed granola bars, a frozen water bottle, a knife, unopened hand warmers, and her hunting license; missing were one glove, her radio, and her left boot.
    - The left boot was found standing upright at the base of a Douglas fir, twelve feet off the trail, with no snow tracks within eight feet; the nearest human sign in the snow was 31 feet away.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • She Came Back From Where No Tracks Could Lead

    She Came Back From Where No Tracks Could Lead
    2026/07/24
    She Came Back From Where No Tracks Could Lead

    The shoes were dry at nine degrees Fahrenheit, six inches of open water next to her feet, and no mud or ice on the laces - a detail witnesses could not stop repeating. How did Sandra Keller, in canvas low-tops and a fleece vest, end up propped against a water diversion marker four miles and 1,400 feet above where her family last saw her?

    In this episode, we tell what happened over the forty-eight hours after Sandra went missing and why experienced searchers found her location impossible to reconcile with the known facts. What path could take a meticulous, non-technical hiker across fractured granite in winter without leaving the tracks her rescuers expected?

    Person: Sandra Keller
    Date: January 14-16, 2017
    Location: Stillwater basin, near Ridgeback Arm
    Status: Found alive with body temperature 91 degrees
    Search director: Pamela Olson

    - Sandra Keller was 54 years old and lived in Billings, Montana.
    - Family last saw her leaving the trailhead at 11:40 a.m, on January 14, 2017.
    - Distance between last known point and where she was found: 4.3 miles and nearly 1,400 feet of vertical elevation.
    - Frank O'Connor found her propped against a water diversion marker before sunrise on January 16, 2017.
    - The shoes were dry despite ambient air at 9 degrees Fahrenheit and six inches of open water next to her feet.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • Left Boot, Empty Camp: The Quiet That Ate Kessler Flat

    Left Boot, Empty Camp: The Quiet That Ate Kessler Flat
    2026/07/24
    Left Boot, Empty Camp: The Quiet That Ate Kessler Flat

    A dead calm settled over an otherwise windy high-desert slope when a county surveyor found an upright tent, a canister stove balanced on a stone, a half-open sleeping bag-and a single left boot with its lace neatly tucked. The campsite lay four hundred meters inside a restricted closure, invisible from roads and inspection ridges; who built it and why they disappeared into the burn scar remain unanswered. What happened in the dead calm at Kessler Flat?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discovery and the search that followed, tracing the last confirmed actions of a methodical college student and the precise field notes that puzzled searchers. How did a campsite appear intact with evidence pointing inward, and could the debris and a swept fire ring reveal what followed?

    Person: Curtis Powell
    Date: December 9
    Location: Kessler Flat, above Sagehorn Valley
    Person: Scott Mason
    Status: Missing then rescued with fracture (as later described)

    - 9:51 AM: Curtis Powell stood very still for four minutes before reaching for his radio.
    - Campsite location: four hundred meters inside a restricted closure with no roads or inspection ridge visibility.
    - Scott Mason camped at Kessler Flat for three nights and on the fourth morning slipped and fractured his left fibula.
    - Search dogs tracked northeast about six hundred meters from the campsite before the signal became uncertain at a rocky drainage crossing.
    - Fire ring: sixty-centimeter stone circle with interior swept; parallel striations pressed from center outward.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 分
  • Found West of the Map: The Jacket That Shouldn't Exist

    Found West of the Map: The Jacket That Shouldn't Exist
    2026/07/24
    Found West of the Map: The Jacket That Shouldn't Exist

    Cold, isolated, and two hundred miles out of place: a faded canvas jacket labeled R. Marshall turned up on a woman found eleven miles west of where every search model, dog, and map expected her to be. How did Linda Marshall, an experienced hiker with a planned route and a signed return time, end up wearing a jacket that should have been hanging in a Boise closet?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Linda Marshall's departure to the discovery, laying out the timeline, the search methods used, and the three perplexing details that remain unresolved. What explanation fits the facts-and which question still sits open in the official record?

    Person: Linda Marshall
    Date: November 10-14, 2019
    Location: Garrard National Forest, Idaho
    Status: Found alive eleven miles west of expected area
    Case: Search filed under the name of Connie Ybarra's best search dog

    - Linda signed the Tenmile trail register at 8:17 AM on November 10, 2019 listing Willet Plateau and return time 4 PM.
    - Linda fed her classroom ferrets at approximately 6:15 AM and left school at approximately 6:45 AM the morning she disappeared.
    - Search dogs given Linda's scarf included two air-scent dogs and one trailing bloodhound; the trailing dog stopped 30 yards north of the trailhead and refused to continue.
    - The faded canvas jacket found on the woman had "R. Marshall" written inside the collar in black marker and matched a jacket Robert Marshall had left at a backcountry camp in Boise years earlier.
    - The search and rescue grid model, built from 15 years of Garrard terrain data, predicted the missing hiker would be east, but Linda was found eleven miles to the west.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • Twenty-Three Cairns, One Straight Line, No Signal

    Twenty-Three Cairns, One Straight Line, No Signal
    2026/07/24
    Twenty-Three Cairns, One Straight Line, No Signal

    The trail of twenty-three quartzite-capped cairns stretches in a perfect north-northeast line for 11.2 miles through the Hargate - but nobody saw who built them, and no distress call was ever sent when a sixty-two-year-old woman vanished. The markers are spaced about 230 yards apart and the scent dogs stopped cold on a bare granite shelf; what happened next?

    In this episode, we walk the corridor Frances Callahan had been following, hear how experienced trackers and a search coordinator mapped the scene, and trace the routine that made her disappearance so baffling - can a measured, engineered heading explain a disappearance with no signal?

    Person: Frances Callahan
    Date: October 10-16, 2019
    Location: the Hargate wilderness, eleven miles north-northeast from the southern trailhead
    Case: disappearance with twenty-three quartzite-capped cairns on a straight transect
    Status: missing; search dogs lost scent on granite shelf

    - Frances Callahan was sixty-two years old and had been placing quartzite markers every 230 yards along an 11.2-mile heading.
    - Gloria Stein, age sixty-three, found the first cairn on October 14, 2019, and reported it to the Custer County sheriff.
    - Frances missed a precise weekly phone check with her daughter at 9:15 PM on Wednesday, prompting a welfare check the next day.
    - Two bloodhounds tracked from clothing obtained at Frances's house for roughly four miles before both stopped at an exposed granite shelf.
    - Search teams counted twenty-three cairns total, each with a transported quartzite capstone that does not naturally occur in that part of the Hargate.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分