Episodi

  • Upright in the Snow: The Boot That Didn't Make Sense

    Upright in the Snow: The Boot That Didn't Make Sense
    Aug 1 2026
    Upright in the Snow: The Boot That Didn't Make Sense

    A single size-seven women's hunting boot stood perfectly upright in eight inches of undisturbed snow with nine feet of untouched ground around it - and no tracks led to or away from it. That boot belonged to 23-year-old Sandra Cook, who entered Dunbar-Hennessey National Forest and vanished between an 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. window; what happened at the granite shelf where her scent trail stopped?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Sandra’s routine February hunt to the discovery that set off a search, laying out the known movements, the forensic observations, and the baffling gaps in the trail. Can the shallow final prints, the bloodhound’s terminus at the rock ledge, and the solitary upright boot be reconciled into one explanation?

    Person: Sandra Cook
    Date: Monday, February 9
    Location: Dunbar-Hennessey National Forest, Fenwick Road pullout / granite shelf
    Age: 23
    Search Commander: George Armstrong

    - The boot was found standing upright in eight inches of undisturbed snow with nine feet of untouched snow around it.
    - Sandra left a detailed hunter's itinerary on her truck dashboard specifying Notch Stand first and Creek Stand if no elk sign by 10:00 a.m., the stands being 430 yards apart.
    - Temperature was 18°F before dawn, expected to reach 29°F by midday, with wind gusts up to 31 mph later in the morning.
    - Bloodhound Casper tracked Sandra's scent to the edge of a granite shelf about 200 yards southeast of Notch Stand and then sat, indicating the trail ended at the lip.
    - Tracker Iris Vance recorded that the last two prints near the drop were roughly half the depth of the approaching prints.

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    © 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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    20 min
  • The Granite Shelf Where a Tracking Dog Refused to Follow Her Trail

    The Granite Shelf Where a Tracking Dog Refused to Follow Her Trail
    Jul 31 2026
    The Granite Shelf Where a Tracking Dog Refused to Follow Her Trail

    A tracking dog led rescuers across 400 yards of clean scent and then stopped on an exposed granite shelf where photographs show undisturbed snow and mule deer tracks-but no human footprints. A size 8 Merrell Moab boot print was later found nearly a mile away, pressed into clay under a frozen overhang; how did Lori Slater get from the shelf to that drainage channel?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of what happened on Fenner Loop Trail on January 14 and the first days of the search that followed. You’ll hear the movements of Lori, her nine-year-old daughter Paige, the witness Doug Prewitt, and the search teams-ending on the one unresolved question that drives the whole operation.

    Person: Lori Slater
    Date: January 14 (initial disappearance) and January 15 (search dogs tracked)
    Location: Fenner Loop Trail, Kaskala National Forest
    Status: Missing; memory blank for three days
    Case: Tracking dog Koda stopped on exposed granite shelf

    - At 8:45 AM on January 14, hiker Doug Prewitt passed Lori and her nine-year-old daughter on Fenner Loop Trail.
    - Lori told her group she would walk about 50 yards up the trail to check rosehip canes and would return in two minutes; Phil estimated she was gone about eight minutes.
    - Four trained tracking dogs followed Lori’s scent approximately 400 yards north of the Ember Run footbridge to a flat granite shelf where one dog, Koda, sat and refused to continue.
    - Photographs taken on day two show undisturbed snow on the granite shelf with mule deer tracks crossing it and no human footprints.
    - A woman's size 8 Merrell Moab boot print matching Lori’s boots was found pressed into clay under a frozen overhang almost a mile from where the dogs stopped.

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    © 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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    21 min
  • Boots Beside an Empty Tent: The Night Melissa Walked Out

    Boots Beside an Empty Tent: The Night Melissa Walked Out
    Jul 30 2026
    Boots Beside an Empty Tent: The Night Melissa Walked Out

    A pair of leather boots, women's size seven to eight, were placed neatly side by side at the tent threshold in a sealed burn zone - laces tucked inside the shafts as if set there before stepping in for the night. Melissa Walked, 62, left a tent unzipped in eleven-degree weather with a functioning headlamp, untouched food, and a blistered heel; why would a careful planner step out without her boots?

    In this episode, we follow the documented path Melissa took to a restricted Kessler Creek clearing, trace her routine visits recorded in her journal, and lay out the last entries she wrote on December 14-15 alongside the evidence found at the campsite to ask: what happened after she unzipped that tent door?

    Person: Melissa Walked
    Age: 62
    Location: Kessler Creek drainage
    Date: December 14-15 (final entries)
    Temperature: 11 degrees Fahrenheit

    - Boots described as leather, lace-up, women's size seven to eight, placed side by side with laces tucked inside the shafts.
    - Melissa recorded counting ninety-four Geminids in two hours on December 14 and noted a blister on her left heel.
    - Her Subaru was found parked on a forest service two-track off Marker Road, roughly one mile from the locked gate.
    - Her tent had lichen on the north-facing seam and showed no fire damage; it was set in a dry creek channel used as a fuel break.
    - Dry bag contents included a damp water filter, a functional headlamp with fresh batteries, and four untouched energy bars.

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    © 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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    20 min
  • She Walked; Dogs Said Otherwise - The Tanner River Jacket Mystery

    She Walked; Dogs Said Otherwise - The Tanner River Jacket Mystery
    Jul 29 2026
    She Walked; Dogs Said Otherwise - The Tanner River Jacket Mystery

    Cold morning air held a secret: a 26-year-old woman found alive in frost wearing a man's canvas jacket "four sizes too large," and a tracking team whose dogs followed a scent that made a right-angle turn as if the woman had been carried. The jacket matched a father's description down to a taped cuff before anyone showed him a photo - so why did the dogs indicate she wasn't walking, and who gave a hypothermic 73-year-old a fleece jacket the afternoon before he was found? Which of these impossible details explains what really happened?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Melissa Schmidt's last logged check-out at 2:15 p.m. to the search-and-rescue operation that began at dawn, mapping the scene spots, the wildlife-camera evidence, and the canine tracking behavior that rerouted the search into the Tanner drainage. How do the jacket, the dogs' pivot, and a stranded rancher fit into one unfolding question?

    Person: Melissa Schmidt
    Date: November 12-14, 2011
    Location: Tanner drainage / Turk's Saddle / County Road Nine, Dellard County, Idaho
    Status: Found alive in frost; missing for 36 hours
    Person: Walter Hines

    - Melissa Schmidt was 26 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighed 122 pounds.
    - Melissa logged out of the Fish and Game office at 2:15 p.m. on November 12, 2011 and the wildlife camera recorded a single frame at 2:57 p.m. showing a wolf, not Melissa.
    - The overnight low temperature held at 18 degrees Fahrenheit.
    - Search-and-rescue was activated at 6:00 a.m. on November 13; dogs picked up Melissa's scent immediately then made a sharp right-angle turn toward the Tanner drainage.
    - Walter Hines, age 73, was found with moderate hypothermia beside the creek wearing a fleece jacket reportedly given to him the previous afternoon.

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    © 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 min
  • The Eleven Cairns: How a Perfect Line Led Him Astray

    The Eleven Cairns: How a Perfect Line Led Him Astray
    Jul 28 2026
    The Eleven Cairns: How a Perfect Line Led Him Astray

    A county surveyor found eleven pale quartzite stone towers in a straight line spanning eleven miles of roadless wilderness, made from nonlocal stone and aligned to a bearing of 172 degrees with less than two degrees deviation - and at the far end, a man was missing. Who built that perfect line, and how did it collide with the disappearance of an experienced, beacon-carrying hiker?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and fieldwork that unfolded after Darlene Mitchell's discovery and the Gallatin County search that began when Neil Christensen reported his brother missing; we cover the discovery of the towers, Richard Christensen’s planned route and habits, the tracking dog’s puzzling behavior, and the first campsite - and ask how these pieces fit together.

    Person: Richard Christensen
    Date: October 11, 2019 (signed trail register at 6:52 AM)
    Location: Ridgeback Creek trailhead / Ridgeback Shelf, Gallatin Highlands, south-central Montana
    Event: Discovery of eleven stone towers by Darlene Mitchell on October 14, 2019
    Status: Richard did not return by expected date October 16, 2019; search initiated October 17, 2019

    - Eleven stone towers found in a perfectly straight line across eleven miles, bearing 172 degrees ±2 degrees.
    - Towers were two feet tall, made of pale water-smoothed quartzite not native to the area.
    - Darlene Mitchell discovered the first tower on October 14, 2019 and followed them for two miles before calling her supervisor.
    - Richard Christensen signed the Ridgeback Creek trailhead register on October 11, 2019 at 6:52 AM, planned to return by October 16, 2019.
    - Tracking dog Pepper located a scent moving south, then sat at a creek bank refusing to cross, indicating the scent split or doubled back.

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    © 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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    21 min
  • Boot on a Locked Car, Dogs Howling at a Whispering Shelf

    Boot on a Locked Car, Dogs Howling at a Whispering Shelf
    Jul 27 2026
    Boot on a Locked Car, Dogs Howling at a Whispering Shelf

    A dry hiking boot, upright and laces tied, sat on the hood of a locked gray Toyota Camry after a night of rain-while its owner was found seven miles up the trail with one bare foot and no memory of placing it. Cadaver dogs gave sustained alerts to a bare granite shelf and searchers logged sixty-three pages before the report concluded the cause of the boot placement was "undetermined." How did a teacher who always called when plans changed end up seven miles away with her boot on a locked car?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the moment Kelly Wright left for a solo overnight hike to the search-and-rescue response that unfolded when she did not return. You will hear what the parking lot looked like, why experienced coordinators treated the alerts as serious, and why the final SAR line-"Cause of boot placement - undetermined"-keeps the mystery alive.

    Person: Kelly Wright
    Date: September 6-8, 2019
    Location: Dunmore trailhead, Garnet Range
    Status: Subject recovered, outcome favorable
    Search documentation: 63 pages

    - The boot was upright with laces tied and completely dry despite a night of rain that soaked every surface in the lot.
    - Kelly Wright was a 32-year-old seventh-grade earth science teacher from Hartfield, Idaho who had been missing since Friday and was found seven miles up the Dunmore trail.
    - Two cadaver dogs, Pepper and Scout, gave independent alerts; Pepper sat and held an alert on a bare granite shelf for four minutes.
    - Kelly's gray Toyota Camry was parked in the gravel lot, locked with windows intact and no confirmed footprints around the vehicle.
    - The final line of the search-and-rescue report reads: "Subject recovered, outcome favorable. Cause of boot placement - undetermined."

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    © 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 min
  • The Dry Index Card: How Jean Vanished From Caldwell Peak

    The Dry Index Card: How Jean Vanished From Caldwell Peak
    Jul 26 2026
    The Dry Index Card: How Jean Vanished From Caldwell Peak

    A single dry summit register card sat on a soaked knee in a forest where everything else - Jean Wilson's jacket, hair, the soil, the spruce bark - was saturated with August dew; that one dry card became the central mystery of a seventeen-hour disappearance in Granger County wilderness. How did the card remain dry after a wet night outside, and where did Jean go during those missing hours?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the physical evidence, and the unanswered statements recorded by rescuers and witnesses, and we follow the ledger of notebooks, registers, and first-hand accounts that frame the question at the heart of the case: what happened between 1:47 p.m. and 6:45 a.m.?

    Person: Jean Wilson
    Date: August 10-11, 2011
    Location: Caldwell Peak, Granger County wilderness
    Status: Case closed administratively; anomaly unresolved
    Witness: Chris Fenwick (saw Jean at summit at 1:47 p.m.)

    - Jean signed the trail register at Sable Meadow at 5:52 a.m, on Monday, August 10.
    - Jean signed the Caldwell Peak summit register at 1:47 p.m., 4,300 feet above sea level and 7.5 miles from where she was found.
    - Seventeen hours elapsed between Jean signing the summit register and being found on the ground at 6:45 a.m. the next morning.
    - Jean carried two one-liter water bottles; both were found empty beside her the following morning.
    - Jean's headlamp was on medium, batteries fully dead; that model on medium runs approximately eight hours, leaving about two hours unaccounted for in total darkness.

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    © 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 min
  • Sentry Peak's Beacon: Why the Light Was On When She Vanished

    Sentry Peak's Beacon: Why the Light Was On When She Vanished
    Jul 25 2026
    Sentry Peak's Beacon: Why the Light Was On When She Vanished

    A bright emergency beacon flashed in full daylight over Sentry Peak the morning a seasoned Forest Service lookout disappeared, though that light was only supposed to run at night; the tower’s door was latched from the outside, boots were neatly lined under the cot, dishes stacked, and the logbook’s last entry at 9:14 PM was written in an unfamiliar blue ink-so why was the beacon cycling and where did she go?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline and concrete scene details from that morning, revisit the last written entry and who noticed the oddities, and follow search-and-rescue and investigative leads as they try to reconcile a methodical woman’s routine with the baffling discrepancies left behind-what sequence of small, explainable errors and deliberate actions could produce such an unresolved disappearance?

    Person: Crystal Wagner
    Date: July 11, 2019
    Location: Sentry Peak lookout tower
    Age: 46
    Investigator: Terry Davis

    - Beacon panel was set to continuous operation though it was supposed to run on an overnight timer.
    - Logbook's last entry time-stamped 9:14 PM on July 10 and written in blue ballpoint ink.
    - Crystal’s usual Pilot G-2 black pen was missing from its slot; a leftover blue pen was later found in a desk drawer.
    - Tower door was latched from the outside and Crystal’s trail runners were gone while her heavy boots remained under the cot.
    - Satellite communicator was powered off and the emergency beacon was still flashing at 7:42 AM when paper carrier Alice Rogers noticed it.

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    © 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 min