Park Predators

A young father is gunned down in the middle of the night by an unknown attacker at a popular California State Park in Malibu. The shock of his murder sends the community reeling and the person behind the attack turns out to be a serial offender.

When a 17-year-old girl is found murdered in Great Smoky Mountains National Park authorities quickly zero in on the group of young men who last saw her. Native Hope https://blog.nativehope.org/ Office For Victims of Crime: Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) https://ovc.ojp.gov/topics/missing-murdered-indigenous-persons/state-resources U.S. Department of Justice: Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Homepage https://www.justice.gov/tribal/mmip Sovereign Bodies Institute https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/ National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center https://www.niwrc.org/

In July 1976, a young couple camping in a Wisconsin state park were both shot dead. For forty years, investigators had a sketch, a plate number, a blood type — and not enough DNA to test. The investigation would span decades until the truth eventually surfaced. View source material and photos for this episode at: parkpredators.com/the-decades

In June 2020, park rangers at Gifford Pinchot State Park in York County, Pennsylvania found an abandoned car, a dead dog, and two missing campers — Jolie Harris and Lauren Gallagher. One of them would be found dead. What investigators pulled off the other woman's phone took four years to turn into a guilty plea for a charge most people have never heard of: causing suicide as criminal homicide. View source material and photos for this episode at: parkpredators.com/the-searches

When a quiet Thanksgiving Day morning is shattered by the senseless murder of a wildlife resources officer, the question isn’t what happened, it’s which of two brothers actually pulled the trigger?

A teenage girl disappears while on a horseback riding trip in Yosemite National Park during the summer of 1981. Park rangers are left mystified and baffled when only the lens to her camera surfaces as a clue to what happened to her. The fate of Stacy Arras remains a haunting mystery after more than four decades.

In the middle of the night while returning home from a camping holiday with his two young sons, a father is gunned down in a violent execution-style murder at a quiet rest area. Evidence of a ruthless assassin emerges, but resolution evades law enforcement in two separate countries.

In 2004, 9-year-old David Gonzales vanished from his mother's sight in San Bernardino National Forest. In 2006, 8-year-old Samuel Boehlke disappeared from his father's line of vision over a hilltop in Crater Lake National Park. Though the stories of these two boys are not connected, their fates remain mysteries that haunt the recreation spaces they were last seen in. Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit parkpredators.com

When a hand is unearthed in a popular meadow in Yosemite National Park, investigators hunt for answers for years. When an ID is finally made, even more questions emerge.

When a family is slaughtered inside their tent at a popular Iowa park during the summer of 2022, news of the tragedy spreads far and wide. The killer spared one lone member of the Schmidt family, a young boy. The motive behind the crime surprised even those closest to the perpetrator.

A summer resident of Great Smoky Mountains National Park vanishes without a trace. The mystery surrounding how she disappeared and why grows with every passing decade.

When two friends sitting on a bench in an Ohio park are gunned down in cold blood, the investigators responsible for solving they murders are left dumbfounded. Few clues lead to concrete answers and more questions surround this 2019 crime than ever before.

A wildlife officer fishing with his son is gunned down on Labor Day weekend in game lands in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest…and the case becomes one of the most hotly contested crimes at the time.

When a young man’s body is found in a picnic pavilion in Tulsa’s Mohawk Park stripped of clothing and belongings, law enforcement is left with many questions. But within a matter of weeks, clues begin to emerge and authorities zero in on not one…but two killers

A fight between a couple at an overlook in Arches National Park ends with one of them dead, a family of good samaritans over a cliff, and a car on fire.

When a young man vanishes from a campground in Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest, his family is quick to arrive on scene with law enforcement. Yes, answers about what happened to him have remained out of reach. What happened to Michael Bryson and do more people know the truth?

When three Minnesota game wardens are gunned down in front of multiple witnesses, a small town is split on one pivotal question…could a popular catfish be to blame?

When young people start turning up dead or missing in New York state’s Adirondack Mountains in the summer of 1973, police have a suspect in their sights rather quickly. The motive behind the madman’s crime spree may never fully be known.

Two friends go camping in a California national forest, but only one returns alive. A wildfire, confusing accounts, and buried evidence nearly stand between authorities and the truth…but despite a young man’s best efforts to conceal his actions, justice prevails.

When a man’s body is found in a national park in Ohio with an execution-style gunshot wound to the head, authorities are quick to zero in on a female suspect. But the case is far from simple.

When a talented, vibrant young woman is abducted from her apartment in Maryville, Tennessee, time is of the essence to find her. When the worst is revealed, authorities discover that the human predator behind the vicious crime had been lurking far longer than anyone knew.

Two friends set off for a walk along a set of railroad tracks in Wisconsin, but only one returns alive. Exactly what happened on a snowy winter’s day in 1920 near a once bustling limestone quarry is as difficult to grasp as the wind.

When a woman vanishes while traveling in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, law enforcement and her family act quickly to try and figure out what happened to her. After her skeletonized remains are eventually found in a popular camping area, investigators across multiple states begin searching for a man who they would eventually learn went by many names.

A couple’s trip to a pharmaceutical conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania turns into a husband’s nightmare when his wife vanishes without a trace. Then, months later, a perplexing discovery hundreds of miles away in a national forest presents law enforcement with one of the most confounding cases they’ve ever seen.

A father of two vanishes into the woods near Pemberton, British Columbia, in the winter of 2019, but few people close to him realize he’s missing until months later. By then, a suspicious discovery at the site of another missing man’s burned up truck raises eyebrows and begs the question: Where are Daniel Reoch and Marshall Iwaasa?

A 26-year-old man from Calgary vanishes after visiting his mother. Days later, his truck is found burned up nearly 14 hours away in the wilds of British Columbia. What happened to Marshal Iwaasa and is his case possibly linked to more strange disappearances?

When a bright, young woman living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is found brutally murdered along a popular running trail in the city, everyone who knew her is shocked. Then, as the case drags on, it becomes clear that women are being killed at an alarming rate in Tulsa…but the question still remains, were any of the crimes connected?

When visitors discover a man shot dead at a campground along the Idaho-Oregon border, law enforcement swiftly zeros in on not one, but two suspects who are close to home.

When authorities in Georgia respond to a body being found in a national park, they realize the victim is from hundreds of miles away…and he's a missing person.

Two park rangers in Oregon are kidnapped and marched down a rugged trail along the Pacific coast. One survived and the other didn’t. The hunt for their attacker leads authorities down one man’s disturbing path of murder, kidnapping, and robbery dating back decades.

A father and experienced bow hunter goes for an annual hunting and camping trip to the Santa Rita Mountains but fails to return. When his loved ones discover he’s been murdered at his campsite, the hunt for his killer or killers begins. But to this day law enforcement remains diligently searching for the predator who took his life.

When a weekend camping trip along the Applegate River in California turns suspicious after a man’s body is found wrapped in a tent and shoved down an embankment, law enforcement investigators from two states work quickly to unravel a web of lies involving sex and fatal drama.

When two teenage boys vanish in 1989, their whereabouts are a mystery for years until skulls start popping up in British Columbia’s Stanley Park. What happened to Ramsey Rioux and Kenneth Lutz is a mystery that still haunts Vancouver.

When two sisters vanish after walking to a neighborhood convenience store their family is immediately alarmed. The urgency of the case ratchets up when their skeletonized remains are found weeks later in the heart of a federal recreation area. The unsolved murders of 16-year-old Vickie Stout and 14-year-old Carla Atkins need your attention.

When a gun-wielding man emerges from the Smoky Mountains and menaces visitors on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, a dedicated park ranger responds… Only to discover he will have to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect innocent lives and the parkland he swore an oath to.

When a pregnant teenager vanished after heading to Joshua Tree National Park, time was of the essence to figure out where she was and who might have wanted her dead. Turns out, a violent marine who had a life full of secrets held all the answers.

When two children’s skeletons are discovered in one of Vancouver’s premier urban parks in 1953, the mystery of who they were and how they were killed haunts residents. Decades later, curiosity and cutting-edge science solve the enduring question: Who were the Babes in the Woods?

When a veteran Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy vanished while exercising in a remote county park near Angeles National Forest, alarm bells went off right away. However, the investigation into the missing deputy’s disappearance has been anything but a straightforward task.

When a Jeep is found wrecked over an embankment in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, red flags go up right away for investigators. The twisted saga of events and acts of betrayal they uncover next lead them to the doorsteps of two lovers.

When a man comes forward claiming his friend gunned down two Idaho game wardens, a massive manhunt ensues to find the notorious trapper who pulled the trigger. Then, the case takes a series of twists that no one saw coming.

When a dedicated Idaho game warden vanishes into the forest, its all hands on deck to find him. Then, nearly 90 years later the mystery is finally solved. The legacy of a fallen Texas game warden endures despite a questionable conclusion in court for his killer.

In 1980 when two violent crime scenes erupted near a popular boat ramp on Anna Maria Island, Florida the small island community was tossed into chaos. As time ticked by, leads were few and the case developed a sense of mystery unlike anything residents had seen before.

Authorities in western North Carolina discover a gruesome double homicide in a missing couple’s home and track their prime suspect into the unforgiving forest of Appalachia. When a seasoned tracker and his four-legged partner are getting close, tragedy strikes yet again.

When a young British photojournalist vanishes in a well-known Kenyan reserve, questions swirl around what happened to her. After her remains are found at a grisly crime scene, her father sets out on a decades-long hunt to bring her killer to justice, but is faced with bizarre roadblocks from two nations on different continents.

A newlywed husband is found dead while on a hunting trip in Colorado’s Uncompahgre National Forest. Initially, all signs point to a tragic hunting accident, but a closer look reveals something far more calculated and sinister.

In October 2003 a young couple ventures into the desert north of Phoenix to go camping but never returns. When the worst is discovered, a years-long hunt for their killer or killers begins.

When a well-known attorney and prominent cattle rustling investigator vanishes without a trace in White Sands National Park along with his young son, alarm bells go off right away. However, the road to justice would be a long and complicated one.

When a forestry student is brutally murdered while conducting research in a forest park at the University of Florida, law enforcement scrambles to find leads that prove fruitful. As the decades have passed, the mystery of who killed Julie Ann Cohen has endured much to investigators dismay.

When a bright and beautiful young woman from coal country in Kentucky fails to return home from her jog, a tight knit community is rocked to its core. Then, when another young woman who was related to the first victim is violently murdered in the same county less than two years later, public concern skyrockets.

When a wife and mother is brutally gunned down while strolling through a popular Tennessee park with her husband, three persons of interest materialize quickly. However, just as fast as authorities learn those identities, the case goes cold.

When two beloved mothers vanish after a night out, their families quickly grow concerned. Within hours of their vehicle being spotted near a Mississippi national forest, a violent young man is apprehended but the case would never fully come to an end for several more decades.

When a burning car is found in Prentice Cooper State Forest in February 2020 with a body inside, law enforcement is quick to zero in on two suspects who were people the victim trusted as friends.

In 1960, three housewives from Chicago never make it out of Starved Rock State Park alive and police in Illinois quickly realize a piece of nature itself might be the murder weapon. The investigation zeros in on a predator who was hiding in plain sight. In recent years, his guilt has come into question and new evidence emerged that only deepened this enduring mystery.

When a night-time drive into a national park in Georgia turns into the brutal scene of a stabbing, the FBI is quick to identify their prime suspects. When all is said and done, the truth of who really murdered Anthony Lee Miller in April 1991 remains a matter of whose story you believe.

In April 1995, two troubled teens on the run from the law in Payette National Forest encounter an innocent forest service worker and commit the unthinkable.

Five so-called friends go camping together in the Trinity Alps in California, but only four return. The 1998 slaying of Lora Sinner is a case that made headlines for years because of its brutality, but in this episode, Delia explores more about the sweet young woman whose life was ripped away from her and the web of bad decisions amongst a group of young people that led to cold-blooded murder.

An abandoned campsite, a crashed car, and a trail of ominous clues. What really happened to Sandra Johnsen Hughes in the summer of 2020 in Sierra National Forest and Yosemite National Park? That’s the enduring question Madera County Sheriff’s Office needs help answering.

When a 38-year-old waitress vanished on a weekend trip to Mount Rushmore in August 2013, red flags went up right away for her friends and family. But the road to justice for her case would take many winding turns until finally it ended with a long-awaited conviction.

When a husband and wife from New Hampshire vanish on the beach of Padre Island National Seashore in 2019, all the red flags go up about the vibrant couple’s disappearance. Then, concerning clues begin to emerge that lead investigators to a violent predator bound by love to an accomplice.

When a Central California businessman vanishes while on a fishing trip in Kings Canyon National Park with friends, few clues emerge as to what happened. When his background reveals a substantial windfall decades earlier in his life, the mystery only deepens.

When two soon-to-be newlyweds are found dead on a scenic Northern California beach, the mystery as to why they were killed and by whom is baffling. But when a familiar name to authorities resurfaces, the truth of what happened at Fish Head Beach finally unravels.

Two young people are found brutally shot to death on a remote Canadian beach in 1972, and one man quickly becomes the center of the investigation. However, he manages to elude capture for nearly 40 years and leaves a wake of devastation and other violent crimes in his path.

When a young woman witnesses the cold-blooded execution of her hiking companion on the Appalachian Trail and lives to tell the tale, her chilling story is almost too much for law enforcement in 1974 to believe. Then, as the pieces start to come together, police are faced with a human predator whose criminal career is the stuff of nightmares.

On a quiet mountain in eastern Tennessee, three men ride off on all-terrain vehicles for an evening of exploring, fishing, and swimming but never return. When foul play is revealed, what seemed like a straightforward murder mystery turns into a bizarre puzzle that local law enforcement spend nearly a decade trying to untangle. This is the story of the July 1988 Signal Mountain murders.

When a celebrated Colorado musician disappears in February 2020, law enforcement quickly connects dots between him and a gruesome discovery in Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. The web of violence that surrounds the victim and a woman he was planning to meet unveils a dangerous third party who carried out the unimaginable.

When two bodies are discovered in the sand dunes of Indiana Dunes National Park, it doesn’t take authorities long to identify the victims as young people who’ve been missing for nearly a week. In a matter of days the mystery of their murders unravels, but the killer is someone who was right in front of investigators all along.

Harold Henthorn loses his first wife in a tragic car accident on the side of a rural mountain road, then his second wife falls off a cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park. Authorities in Colorado feel something is terribly wrong, and a closer look at Henthorn’s past reveals disturbing clues as to how his wives met their deadly fates.

When a mother of three suffers a horrific attack at the hands of her partner while on a family camping trip, her sons witness the unfathomable, and law enforcement is determined to find justice for the victim.

In 1969, when a young boy vanished in a matter of minutes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, his case set off a series of events that forever changed the way search and rescue operations in the United States and around the world are conducted. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Dennis Martin is as baffling today as it was all those decades ago.

When a devoted family man and avid hunter disappears while tracking deer in the Sierra National Forest, there are few clues as to what happened to him. Then, when his vehicle surfaces, investigators are faced with even more frustrating questions. If you have any information about the disappearance of Robert Willis IV, please contact the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office at 559-600–3111.

A man on the run lures a Mesa Verde National Park visitor to a tragic end and then flees to the West Coast only to find that the consequences of his lawlessness have followed his trail from the mesas of Colorado to the coast of California.

When a beloved mother and grandmother working part-time as a gate attendant at a popular Atlanta-area park is gunned down during a late-night robbery, authorities are quick to make an arrest… But somehow, 20 years later, her case remains unsolved.

When a woman’s body was found at the base of a 350ft canyon in December 1987, authorities in Yosemite National Park were quick to write it off as an accident. But an important witness comes forward who helps federal investigators nab a cunning killer who had a lot to gain from the woman’s untimely demise.

When a hiker emerges from the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee claiming he murdered a woman with a hatchet, it seems unfathomable… But when investigators discover the brutal truth, they realize they’re dealing with a dangerous man who has a disturbing past in multiple U.S. states.

When a 43-year-old medical student’s body turns up in Big Bend National Park, authorities begin to unravel a bizarre case that leads them to a young man with an unbelievable story of death, destruction, and destiny.

When an entire family is nearly annihilated while camping in the French Alps, it takes a team of international detectives to search for an elusive killer. Questions about the victims' backgrounds swirl, and rumors about who the gunman could be abound. This is Part Two of a two-part series detailing the 2012 Lake Annecy murders in France.

When an entire family is nearly annihilated while camping in the French Alps, it takes a team of international detectives to search for an elusive killer. Questions about the victims’ backgrounds swirl and rumors about who the gunman could be abound. This is Part One of a two-part series detailing the 2012 Lake Annecy murders in France.

When a rancher and early settler of Minnesota’s Itasca State Park is shot and killed during a hunting trip, suspicion falls on his partner in the woods who claims a peculiar sequence of events resulted in his buddy’s death. An ominously named ridge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a backstory so unsettling, that it takes diving through a trove of historical documents to settle on what is truth and what is fiction.

When two young girls vanish while out for an evening swim in May 2000, police in a southern Norwegian city scramble to find them. As the truth behind what happened to them begins to surface, one man’s story is pitted against the other's.

When a botched home invasion leads law enforcement to pursue two dangerous men into the Idaho wilderness, the fallout is fatal for the one forest service officer who dared to face the fugitives head-on.

When two hunters are murdered within days of one another in nearby popular Florida hunting grounds, law enforcement realizes they may be dealing with a serial killer. Their journey to catch the elusive killer spans years and multiple U.S. states.

A devoted indigenist and a journalist set off into the depths of the Amazon to report on corruption and criminal activity but are never seen alive again. The murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira rocked the international community and revealed dark secrets hiding in one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders.

When three fur trappers in Oregon disappeared from their rural outpost in 1924, their family members sounded the alarm about a bizarre scene left in the snow. Authorities launched an investigation that was months behind a killer and found themselves hunting a career criminal who may have pulled off the greatest caper of his life.

When a 21-year-old woman’s lifeless body is found in a popular Toronto neighborhood park, authorities are hard-pressed to find her killer. A mysterious shoeprint becomes a key clue for investigators, but somehow the suspect eludes their grasp.

When a couple is viciously murdered in a shelter on the Appalachian Trail in 1981, their killer is caught…However, two best friends on a fishing and camping trip more than 20 years later discover in the worst possible way that he returned to a familiar hunting ground.

When two women vanish from the same Texas city in the summer of 2006, little attention is focused on their cases. But when a federal probe puts the city’s police department and one officer in particular under the microscope, everyone’s attention shifts. When human remains start showing up in nearby Angelina National Forest, even more questions arise.

When five teens visit a remote Iowa preserve but only one leaves alive, authorities are determined to catch three killers who have seemingly gotten away with a brutal crime.

When a 15-year-old girl vanishes while riding her bike near Indiana Dunes National Park in August 1995, it’s all hands on deck to find her. However, just like the ever-shifting landscape beneath law enforcement’s feet, an elusive predator blends into an alarming wave of violence in northern Indiana and northeast Illinois during the summer of 1995.

When a trio of men enter Cherokee National Forest but only two come out, law enforcement works fast to figure out what exactly happened that left so much bloodshed on the riverbanks.

When two well-known fishermen are gunned down in a secluded state park in Florida, authorities are stumped for clues, but then a theory emerges that leads them to yet another victim of foul play in the same tight-knit fishing community.

When a man vanishes on Christmas Day in 2015, his family’s alarm bells go off, and authorities launch an investigation that reveals a web of violence and a grisly scene in Cherokee National Forest.

When a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother sets out on a life-long dream to conquer the Appalachian Trail, her plans abruptly change. The mystery of what happened to her reveals a harrowing series of events that remain puzzling to those closest to her.

When a 4-year-old girl vanishes from a family picnic in a popular Montana recreation space, authorities stop at nothing to try and find her. Then, years into the investigation, law enforcement gets the break they’ve been waiting for. Someone takes credit for the abduction.

When a Navy veteran and recent transplant to Oklahoma is found stabbed to death at a popular fishing spot, authorities are quick to investigate a mysterious angler seen fleeing the crime scene. What their investigation revealed was not what anyone expected.

When an investment banking analyst is stabbed to death on a fall morning along a popular hiking trail in Wisconsin, his murderer seemingly slips out of sight despite multiple eyewitnesses seeing him. To-date the killer remains at-large and authorities need your help. Less than a year later, another family suffers a similar loss when an avid photographer and newly-wed is gunned down by a sniper while hiking outside of one of the busiest cities in the world. Though these two cases are not connected, both victims’ family members all want the same thing: justice.

When a young British photojournalist vanishes in a well-known Kenyan reserve, questions swirl around what happened to her. After her remains are found at a grisly crime scene, her father sets out on a decades-long hunt to bring her killer to justice but is faced with bizarre roadblocks from two nations on different continents.

When a husband and wife are gunned down at their campsite in Ouachita National Forest, the hunt for their killer leads authorities to a man with a peculiar collection of homemade hunting gear.

When a beautiful co-ed is brutally murdered on a popular hiking trail in Prescott National Forest in the summer of 1987, authorities are stumped on who the killer could be. The investigation drags on for decades until finally advances in DNA technology link a serial predator to multiple cases of sexual assault and murder. This is the second of two episodes covering the murder of Cathy Sposito and the identification of Bryan Scott Bennett.

When a beautiful co-ed is brutally murdered on a popular hiking trail in Prescott National Forest in the summer of 1987, authorities are stumped on who the killer could be. The investigation drags on for decades until finally something breaks. This is the first of two episodes covering the murder of Cathy Sposito.