Locations Unknown EP. #47: Sam Sayers - North Cascades - Washington (Audio only)
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2021
- August 1, 2018, 28 year old Samantha Sayers set off on a solo hike of Vesper Peak in the remote North Cascades wilderness of Washington State. As an experienced hiker who’s traversed this route multiple times, it should have been a routine day hike. However, Sam was never heard from or seen again. Sam's disappearance would kick off one of the largest search and rescue operations in state history that ultimately failed to uncover any clues about what happened. Join us this week as we investigate the disappearance of Samantha Sayers.
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Intro/Outro Song:
Cornfield Chase by Cinematic Waves & by Rafael Krux (orchestralis.net)
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Born and raised in Washington forests. Too many "expert hikers" fall victim to our fast changing weather conditions.
Probably need to check under the glacier ice cap ponds/lakes on the mountain itself. Drones covered the mountain area and it looks like a hiker could slide underneath those glacier ice caps pretty easy.. The water would be very cold and basically paralyze the body and death after 10 to 15 min. No trace of her, no blood, nothing. Need to use those pipe cameras so no divers needed.
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Her fiance and the controversial searcher found Rachel Lakoduk a few weeks ago. Reportedly Kevin, after finding the remains of Rachel, collapsed in tears and asked "Why can I not find Sam?" :-(
Lol I’ve lived here all my life and drive those passes all the time, I could teach you the language;)
Great show
I have never found Kevin's behavior suspicious. Even when hiking with other people, my ex-husband and I had an agreement. If I was an hour late and he hadn't heard from me or couldn't get ahold of me, he started right out to look. Kevin not being prepared...we're talking about a guy who hiked in jeans so there's that aspect of me thinking he was never that prepared. But also, when my ex would set out to look for me, it was never panicked at first because he always thought broken down car, flat tire first. When he arrived at the trail head, he likely would have started up the trail looking for me with his head lamp (we carry gear in our cars) but not gone too far before turning back and calling for help. My current boyfriend, however, runs on adrenaline and emotion and is NOT an "expert" hiker by any means. He would have gone as far up as Sam did driven by his sheer panic and need to find me. He wouldn't be thinking clearly, he would only be feeling.
As for my theory, I think she's there close and just wasn't found. I feel she was going for one of her precarious instagram selfies and something gave way under her. Like Paul Miller, they probably got very close to her but didn't quite find her. She wasn't wearing anything bright that would stand out in the terrain. I look at the case of Saylor Guilliams -- her bright red hair being spotted off the trail by another hiker is the only reason she's still alive. She was too weak by morning to call out to anyone for help. I think calling Sam an "expert" hiker is misleading as well. Expert hikers carry the 10 essentials ALWAYS. When they hike, they're prepared to stay overnight even on a day trip. Because you never know what can happen out there. I think far too many people who enjoy hiking, hike a certain area repeatedly, are called 'experts' by friends and family when they are, in fact, just hobby hikers. Sam loved nature and loved to hike. I don't think she was an expert. I'm just so sad that a bright light was extinguished far too soon and my heart really aches for her mom, for Kevin, for all of her family and friends.
Great show guys! Loving these episodes and all your other content as well.
Because I'm an overthinker, I wanted to come back to add: I don't think any essentials would have helped in this case nor do I think being an expert would. Despite wilderness training, carrying the 10 essentials, always have a plan A, B and C on any hike or backpacking trip, and growing up spending summers wandering Eagle Cap with my family, I still have done things that I will think after the fact 'that was not very bright, Jenn.' I think we can get complacent and do things that we realize could have gone really sideways after the fact sometimes especially at the end of a 15-20 mile day. Or during the next one when we're tired. Or even on a super short day hike. It's why I never hike alone. I need people to save me from me. This is my long way of saying that what happened to Sam was not her fault. What happened to her probably wouldn't have happened 9 times out of 10. She just hit that spot in the exact moment at the wrong time and she fell or slid resulting in very bad injury or death (in my opinion). If Sam had been able to get out, she would have. She had a strong spirit, strong will, and the critical thinking/problem solving skills to do so. I just don't think she was in the position to physically do that. Just my two cents (or more like two dollars at this point...in pennies...I'm so longwinded. I'm sorry!!!)
I went to school with Sam, and I still remember seeing her post about going on this hike if anyone wanted to join and I wished I could go. This case is definitely a tough one to cover since I believe there was some drama between the different players at different points (intentionally vague to not name any names). I do think someone had reported seeing Sam having lunch at the peak and the guy there had been a suspect and was questioned, but was cleared. The strangest part for me was always that NOTHING was found. She had hiking poles with her, and I have to think that if she fell, she would’ve tried to use them to slow her fall, resulting in her losing one or both along the course of her path. I do think her sliding under the ice is probably the theory that makes the most sense, but I also really don’t want to consider the idea of foul play. I do think though, if she was one of the last down and there was a struggle in the parking lot, if she was incapacitated wouldn’t it be easy enough for her attacker to quickly shuffle around and cover that up? Since so much time has passed, all I can really hope for now is that if she did die up there on the mountain, I hope it was quick and painless, and over before she even knew what happened.
I am leaning towards foul play. I just don't think there would be no evidence of any of her belongings. There's a lot of places to fall up there, but hard to see how she would not be spotted. Vesper lake is small etc...
She was definitely abducted but not by a guman! Im sorry but she is not on the mountain! This is happening all over the country and people need to acknowledge this and stop sweeping it under the rug!! This is a 411 case for sure! This should scare the hell outta anyone who hikes alone!!
There was a video of her reaching vesper peak.
Link?
They installed the pay phone because of all the people who died on the Ice caves
Samantha is a missing 411 case!! People need to STOP saying she fell into some unaccessible place!! She is NOT on the mountain!! She was taken elsewhere the same day she went missing!!
She was attacked. Body and belongings driven away. If she couldn't have mistaken the trail then that must be the answer.