Found Deceased OR - Anna 'Annie' Schmidt, 21, Columbia River Gorge, 16 Oct 2016

[DogRescuer]

I wonder some of the same things and I found it interesting the text less than 24 hrs of her missing asking if she is alive. I just think if my friend was missing I'd be asking if they are okay and I'm worried...blah blah (but then she seemed surprised anything might have been wrong when her mom arrived).

RSBM
I must have sent numerous "Are you alive?" texts in my life to people of whom I couldn't get a hold (most likely not even 24 hours into trying.) I don't think I ever thought any of them were actually dead, it was just a nudge.

 

[Gardener1850]

A Mormon's belief of heaven is too broad a subject to discuss here. Lol. However, Mormons believe that suicide is a sin, equal to that of taking someone else's life. Man did not create himself; God did, so therefore he has no right to destroy that which he had nothing to do with creating. However, having said that, only our Heavenly Father knows what is truly in our hearts and minds. Therefore, if someone is suffering to the extent that they feel that suicide is their only option, we believe that He will take into consideration the person's mental state, genetic and chemical makeup, intellectual capacity, the teachings they have received and their health, before passing judgement on that person and their salvation. In order to keep this strictly about finding Annie and not necessarily about her's or her family's beliefs, I invite you to visit www.LDS.org, where you can search for all of the information you like. [emoji5]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks. I wasn't trying to get into a Spiritual conversation. The reason I asked is that others had speculated maybe Annie left a suicide note and that's why her mother so quickly said they were sure she was dead. Her mother also said she had peace knowing Annie is in Heaven. Many other religions believe that a person who commits suicide will not go to Heaven. So I was merely trying to gauge whether her mother's reaction revealed anything. IMO, there was no note and if there was a note I don't know if we would hear such statements about having peace coming from her mother. In my opinion foul play or accidental death are more likely than suicide in Annie's case. But we can't rule out suicide completely because she has not been found and may have gone someplace on purpose where it would be hard to find her.

 

[dodgerchick]

Thanks. I wasn't trying to get into a Spiritual conversation. The reason I asked is that others had speculated maybe Annie left a suicide note and that's why her mother so quickly said they were sure she was dead. Her mother also said she had peace knowing Annie is in Heaven. Many other religions believe that a person who commits suicide will not go to Heaven. So I was merely trying to gauge whether her mother's reaction revealed anything. IMO, there was no note and if there was a note I don't know if we would hear such statements about having peace coming from her mother. In my opinion foul play or accidental death are more likely than suicide in Annie's case. But we can't rule out suicide completely because she has not been found and may have gone someplace on purpose where it would be hard to find her.

Oh I totally agree with you. I think she was either abducted coming down from the mountain or even before getting there or she slipped and fell. Her lack of preparation for an experienced or even intermediate hiker puzzles me though.

There have been some other posts in this thread where others have asked questions that I have felt compelled to answer -- just to set the record straight. It's natural for one to question what one has no knowledge of. And the LDS church and our beliefs are confusing to some. [emoji4] ok, many. Lol. However, after answering, I felt like I was guilty of getting "off topic" so I thought I should post a kind of "disclaimer," this time, just to cover myself. I probably should've worded it better to convey that!

I was slightly confused about her mother's comments about Annie being in heaven as well. I mean, I am LDS and I just don't know that I could finalize my daughter's status by accepting that she is in heaven after such (in my opinion) a short search and time period. In fact, I even remarked in an earlier post about her mother's strength and testimony. I myself would never be able to find comfort in that belief -- I would be a basket case and always wondering where my daughter was. I'm not saying that she isn't feeling that way as well, But I can only comment on my own feelings.

I think that so many people have a vested interest in this search at this point, that perhaps her parents would divulge if there had been a note found. I would hope at least. Not to overshadow the urgency of finding Annie, but to focus on areas where one might go to take one's life. Like you said, she might've gone someplace where nobody would find her. I mean, if I were going to take my life, I wouldn't do it out in the open where someone would find me!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[dodgerchick]

The Tooth Rock Trailhead parking lot is about 1/3 mile to the NE. According to OregonHikers.com, there is no overnight parking allowed. If one wanted to stay overnight that would be a reason to park elsewhere.

Regarding suicide and religion: the reason suicide is highly frowned upon among many religions is that a person who commits the serious sin of suicide cannot confess that sin and have it removed from their soul. So not only are they committing a serious sin, but they carry it with them forever, and it generally does, therefore, prevent them from going to heaven.

I think at this point this case does seem like one of misadventure. Suicide or foul play can not be ruled out, though. I wish we had more solid information. For example: did she have her hiking gear with her, or not? We have reports she didn't have it with her, other reports she wanted to try out her new gear, and yet other reports her new gear had not arrived yet. Which is it?

There are also reports the last cell phone ping was from the Tooth Rock Trailhead, which is 1/3 mile from where the car was found. Are these reports accurate, or are they generalizing? Did the last ping come from where the car was parked, or not? I don't think the pings actually contain GPS data, they only give the nearest cell tower, but who knows? She could have had some GPS tracking turned on.

There were early reports that the police did not suspect foul play, and did not think Annie was suicidal. These reports were not properly sourced, though, so I'm not sure if the police actually said that or not.

The reporting on this case has been extremely unreliable... I feel like we actually know almost nothing...

Amen Ace. It's so frustrating and difficult to theorize because of the reporting. I wish they would release an update of the facts they actually have.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Onebest]

They need to call in a professional SAR group.

If you look back on the original posts they had some of the most qualified SAR teams and dogs on this with LE. SAR is highly trained and skilled but they are volunteer so eventually have to go back to life and work. If LE had a new lead they would call them out again. JMO

 

[DexterMorgan]

Could the reason for the family being so sure Annie is deceased and searches being called off be that they found a note? Maybe in the car, on her phone, or in her room?

Unless they secretly burried her already; Then why not still want her body to be found?

Most searchers are looking for a body anyways. So why would a parent not want searches continued even if it was a suicide

 

[AceDetective]

There is an interview with the roommate here. Some interesting points:

- The roommate said, "She was really happy that morning. She said, 'dude I love you so much. I love our apartment. I love living in Portland.'" Is it just me, or does that sound a little off? Overcompensating?

- The roommate says, "she doesn't have her camping gear." According to the reporter, the roommate also said that she bought new gear, but it hadn't shipped yet. It's possible, I would think, that Annie could have picked up the new gear the day she went hiking without her roommate's knowledge.

- The roommate says, "She didn't say anything. She wasn't, like, I'm going hiking today. She didn't say anything like that. She just said, 'do you want to hang out?' I said I couldn't." That's interesting. So she didn't tell her roommate she was going hiking.

- There is a timestamp visible on the text messages Annie Schmidt sent. It's 9:52 PM. Unfortunately, no way to tell what date.

 

[bluesneakers]

There is an interview with the roommate here. Some interesting points:

- The roommate said, "She was really happy that morning. She said, 'dude I love you so much. I love our apartment. I love living in Portland.'" Is it just me, or does that sound a little off? Overcompensating?

- The roommate says, "she doesn't have her camping gear." According to the reporter, the roommate also said that she bought new gear, but it hadn't shipped yet. It's possible, I would think, that Annie could have picked up the new gear the day she went hiking without her roommate's knowledge.

- The roommate says, "She didn't say anything. She wasn't, like, I'm going hiking today. She didn't say anything like that. She just said, 'do you want to hang out?' I said I couldn't." That's interesting. So she didn't tell her roommate she was going hiking.

- There is a timestamp visible on the text messages Annie Schmit sent. It's 9:52 PM. Unfortunately, no way to tell what date.

Without knowing her or how she usually talked about her life it's hard to know. Some people are happy and grateful and comfortable expressing themselves.

 

[Elainera]

There is an interview with the roommate here. Some interesting points:

- The roommate said, "She was really happy that morning. She said, 'dude I love you so much. I love our apartment. I love living in Portland.'" Is it just me, or does that sound a little off? Overcompensating?

- The roommate says, "she doesn't have her camping gear." According to the reporter, the roommate also said that she bought new gear, but it hadn't shipped yet. It's possible, I would think, that Annie could have picked up the new gear the day she went hiking without her roommate's knowledge.

- The roommate says, "She didn't say anything. She wasn't, like, I'm going hiking today. She didn't say anything like that. She just said, 'do you want to hang out?' I said I couldn't." That's interesting. So she didn't tell her roommate she was going hiking.

- There is a timestamp visible on the text messages Annie Schmidt sent. It's 9:52 PM. Unfortunately, no way to tell what date.

bbm - it might have been a spur of the moment decision later on when roomie was not around. That might also explain why she was not well equipped for a hike as some have said.

 

[AceDetective]

There's another interview with Annie's roommate on youtube. According to this report, the roommate last saw Annie on Sunday morning.

The roommate says, "The weirdest thing is that she wasn't taking snapchats, she wasn't posting anything on Instagram. She's super social. Especially if she's somewhere pretty, she'll take pictures of it."

The roommate talks more about the lack of gear. "She didn't bring any gear. Her tennis shoes are at home. Her jacket is at home. Her beanies. Her backpack. She has this little backpack that she calls her adventure backpack. She didn't take it. And so, it's weird."

According to another report, the last cell phone ping was Sunday at 2:30, from the Tooth Rock Trailhead. So she was home Sunday morning, and around 2:30 her battery dies. Or did it? I suppose it's possible it wasn't fully charged. But on the other hand, it certainly seems possible that it was turned off, or damaged. Do we know for sure if the phone was in the car?

 

[AceDetective]

To answer my own question, there's this: (source)

"Inside her car, police found Annie’s cell phone and camping gear."
"Michelle said her daughter’s phone is old, and the battery dies quickly. She said it’s entirely possible it was out of power when Annie arrived at the Gorge."
"If that were the case, she might have left the phone and gone for what she assumed would be a short walk."

Isn't it interesting that Annie allegedly didn't take any camping gear, but in her car the police found camping gear?

And the last ping was at the Tooth Rock Trailhead, 1/3 mile away from where the car was found. So Annie brought her phone back to her car?

Is any of this information reliable? It doesn't make any sense.

One thing seems sure, though: she didn't have any camping gear with her when she went missing. She either didn't bring it, or left it in her car. Either way, it wasn't with her.

 

[EA18G]

IMO, she would not have ordered new hiking gear if she was suicidal. My thoughts are abduction or accident.

 

[dodgerchick]

The roommate talks more about the lack of gear. "She didn't bring any gear. Her tennis shoes are at home. Her jacket is at home. Her beanies. Her backpack. She has this little backpack that she calls her adventure backpack. She didn't take it. And so, it's weird."

Does one not wear some type of boots when hiking as opposed to tennies? Could she have taken another jacket or beanie? I mean does she literally have ONE hiking outfit? I have a hard time taking the roommates word as law. I mean, did she actually see Annie leave and what she took with her?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Elainera]

IMO, she would not have ordered new hiking gear if she was suicidal. My thoughts are abduction or accident.

Don't be so sure. We've seen it here many times, people behave completely normal, make plans, set up appointments and meetings, and then go and kill themselves.

Not saying this applies to Annie.

 

[MissUnderstood]

To answer my own question, there's this: (source)

"Inside her car, police found Annie’s cell phone and camping gear."
"Michelle said her daughter’s phone is old, and the battery dies quickly. She said it’s entirely possible it was out of power when Annie arrived at the Gorge."
"If that were the case, she might have left the phone and gone for what she assumed would be a short walk."

Isn't it interesting that Annie allegedly didn't take any camping gear, but in her car the police found camping gear?

And the last ping was at the Tooth Rock Trailhead, 1/3 mile away from where the car was found. So Annie brought her phone back to her car?

Is any of this information reliable? It doesn't make any sense.

One thing seems sure, though: she didn't have any camping gear with her when she went missing. She either didn't bring it, or left it in her car. Either way, it wasn't with her.

And why wasn't any of those things stolen if the car was ransacked? Even a dead phone is worth some cash!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Oregonsleuther]

So you think Annie killed herself. What makes you think so? That seems like a stretch speculatuon and an odd thing to post after someone lists very specific, verifiable info. I haven't seen ANYTHING from the family/close friends that point towards suicide or struggles with life. In fact, the roommate indicates Annie was seeming ecstatic that day. Please post links or verifiable info that back your view about Annie possibly being suicidal. Annie deserves to not be generalized as a suicial person, just because, and especially while... she is missing.

 

[Humdrop]

Since they have her phone I would think they would have checked for pictures taken that day if any. And her search history may tell when she last used her phone. This case does not have enough details. Frustrating

 

[roadrunnermt]

There is an interview with the roommate here. Some interesting points:

- The roommate said, "She was really happy that morning. She said, 'dude I love you so much. I love our apartment. I love living in Portland.'" Is it just me, or does that sound a little off? Overcompensating?

- The roommate says, "she doesn't have her camping gear." According to the reporter, the roommate also said that she bought new gear, but it hadn't shipped yet. It's possible, I would think, that Annie could have picked up the new gear the day she went hiking without her roommate's knowledge.

- The roommate says, "She didn't say anything. She wasn't, like, I'm going hiking today. She didn't say anything like that. She just said, 'do you want to hang out?' I said I couldn't." That's interesting. So she didn't tell her roommate she was going hiking.

- There is a timestamp visible on the text messages Annie Schmidt sent. It's 9:52 PM. Unfortunately, no way to tell what date.

Roommate makes me highly suspicious. Which day was Annie Schmidt saying on text the coming home to me part? Annie Snyder then asks her on Monday if she was alive. Obviously no response but yet that didn't ring a bell to become worried? How about nothing from Annie on Tuesday? No not even on Wednesday until Annie's mom arrived. Surely Snyder knew when Schmidt's mom was due to arrive. Snyder then shared location with Schmidt on wed. Still no response.

If she went hiking, I think she would have been interested in the Machleilla falls hike. I know I'm not spelling it right. Via google, it's an easy hike to two gorgeous waterfalls about 2 miles.

Why has no info come out about her phone? Pictures? Search history? Texting? Did she meet up with someone to hike together? What was she doing in Beaverton?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[DogRescuer]

Isn't it interesting that Annie allegedly didn't take any camping gear, but in her car the police found camping gear?

And the last ping was at the Tooth Rock Trailhead, 1/3 mile away from where the car was found. So Annie brought her phone back to her car?

Is any of this information reliable? It doesn't make any sense.

One thing seems sure, though: she didn't have any camping gear with her when she went missing. She either didn't bring it, or left it in her car. Either way, it wasn't with her.

RSBM

I am not sure that "camping gear" means the exact same thing to both girls. If Annie's roommate is not a hiker, maybe she assumes camping gear is the whole nine, large tent and all. An earlier report said they had found two sleeping bags in Annie's car, and that's what they kept referring to as "camping gear." Is it possible that that's something she has in her trunk most of the time?

I am not aware of how many cell towers there are in the area; a phone pinging 1/3 of a mile away from where it is found doesn't necessarily mean it was moved between the last ping and the found-location, simply that the cell tower 1/3 of a mile away was the nearest one whose signal it used, if I am understanding it correctly.

The way I see it, the phone could have simply been left in her car because the battery was almost dead so she saw no reason to bring it with her, she could have gone for a "brisk hike," not some big thing, and overnight hike or anything like that, hence the lack of serious hiking gear, then something happened (based on what local sleuthers have said about the weather, on this thread, as well as a few daredevil photos on her FB, I am leaning towards an accident,) and poor Annie passed away.
Her abandoned car was later ransacked by the type of people others have mentioned before, also on this thread, the kind looking for fast cash, so they wouldn't be interested in a dead, old phone and two used sleeping bags (they could have easily taken the change Annie might have kept in the car to feed the meter and such, we wouldn't know) and within a couple minutes, they were gone.

I am not seeing the roommate's behavior as suspicious at all.
Just having read trough this thread, the suspicion has been based on a couple things:
- the text messages. I am 40, so I am not exactly Annie's generation, but I am quite OK when it comes to understanding "text talk." I saw nothing strange about the texts for a young girl these days, and there were others here who interpreted those texts the exact same way as I did (yes, you seem like you're talking to yourself because you keep being tricked by autocorrect. There are entire websites dedicated to funny autocorrect mistakes because they're so common.) The roommate shared her location with Annie on Wednesday because she was getting worried and unsure of what to do, so she wanted to make sure that Annie knew where to find her if she needed to.
- her not being worried "enough." I don't think we know enough about her personality to be able to tell that; some people are "great" at worrying and talking about being worried and acting on being worried. (I am a fullt-time worrier. It's awful. Those who aren't, are so lucky.)
I had two roommates in my twenties; one, a friend from before we shared a small apartment, so we were together all the time, and knew one another very well.
The other one, a nice girl with whom I coexisted. We weren't friends, we only shared information necessary to be able to share an apartment. I still think she was a great girl, I know she was a devout Baptist, and I know she was very tidy and neat. I couldn't tell you anything negative about her, but I knew very little about what she did outside the apartment. If she had disappeared, I would have tried to reach her after a while, most likely would have concluded that I had misunderstood something and she had been away, and wouldn't have been awfully alarmed until days later or when someone who knew her much better came looking for her. If she had disappeared, I would have also told authorities that she was a great girl, that she seemed perfectly fine the last time I saw her and she was happy (she always seemed to be,) and I had no idea where she could be. I would have said very similar things to what Annie's roommate did, and trust me, I wouldn't have had anything to do with my roommate's disappearance.

I really didn't mean to write so much, so excuse this lengthy babbling. I just kind of feel like the things that are supposed to make the roommate suspicious are simply things that others might have done differently. I just don't feel like any of those should make her seem guilty.

There is very little information available in Annie's case, but I was just wondering: is it possible that this is all there is? I mean, a seemingly well-adjusted, adventurous girl goes on a hike, leaves her car... and she vanishes. No suicidal tendencies, no abductor hiding behind a tree, no psycho roommate. Is is possible that this is pretty much all that LE - and the family - have to work with, and it's not necessarily about either or both knowingly hiding facts from the public? Just a thought.

MOO

 

[Gardener1850]

RSBM

I am not sure that "camping gear" means the exact same thing to both girls. If Annie's roommate is not a hiker, maybe she assumes camping gear is the whole nine, large tent and all. An earlier report said they had found two sleeping bags in Annie's car, and that's what they kept referring to as "camping gear." Is it possible that that's something she has in her trunk most of the time?

I am not aware of how many cell towers there are in the area; a phone pinging 1/3 of a mile away from where it is found doesn't necessarily mean it was moved between the last ping and the found-location, simply that the cell tower 1/3 of a mile away was the nearest one whose signal it used, if I am understanding it correctly.

The way I see it, the phone could have simply been left in her car because the battery was almost dead so she saw no reason to bring it with her, she could have gone for a "brisk hike," not some big thing, and overnight hike or anything like that, hence the lack of serious hiking gear, then something happened (based on what local sleuthers have said about the weather, on this thread, as well as a few daredevil photos on her FB, I am leaning towards an accident,) and poor Annie passed away.
Her abandoned car was later ransacked by the type of people others have mentioned before, also on this thread, the kind looking for fast cash, so they wouldn't be interested in a dead, old phone and two used sleeping bags (they could have easily taken the change Annie might have kept in the car to feed the meter and such, we wouldn't know) and within a couple minutes, they were gone.

I am not seeing the roommate's behavior as suspicious at all.
Just having read trough this thread, the suspicion has been based on a couple things:
- the text messages. I am 40, so I am not exactly Annie's generation, but I am quite OK when it comes to understanding "text talk." I saw nothing strange about the texts for a young girl these days, and there were others here who interpreted those texts the exact same way as I did (yes, you seem like you're talking to yourself because you keep being tricked by autocorrect. There are entire websites dedicated to funny autocorrect mistakes because they're so common.) The roommate shared her location with Annie on Wednesday because she was getting worried and unsure of what to do, so she wanted to make sure that Annie knew where to find her if she needed to.
- her not being worried "enough." I don't think we know enough about her personality to be able to tell that; some people are "great" at worrying and talking about being worried and acting on being worried. (I am a fullt-time worrier. It's awful. Those who aren't, are so lucky.)
I had two roommates in my twenties; one, a friend from before we shared a small apartment, so we were together all the time, and knew one another very well.
The other one, a nice girl with whom I coexisted. We weren't friends, we only shared information necessary to be able to share an apartment. I still think she was a great girl, I know she was a devout Baptist, and I know she was very tidy and neat. I couldn't tell you anything negative about her, but I knew very little about what she did outside the apartment. If she had disappeared, I would have tried to reach her after a while, most likely would have concluded that I had misunderstood something and she had been away, and wouldn't have been awfully alarmed until days later or when someone who knew her much better came looking for her. If she had disappeared, I would have also told authorities that she was a great girl, that she seemed perfectly fine the last time I saw her and she was happy (she always seemed to be,) and I had no idea where she could be. I would have said very similar things to what Annie's roommate did, and trust me, I wouldn't have had anything to do with my roommate's disappearance.

I really didn't mean to write so much, so excuse this lengthy babbling. I just kind of feel like the things that are supposed to make the roommate suspicious are simply things that others might have done differently. I just don't feel like any of those should make her seem guilty.

There is very little information available in Annie's case, but I was just wondering: is it possible that this is all there is? I mean, a seemingly well-adjusted, adventurous girl goes on a hike, leaves her car... and she vanishes. No suicidal tendencies, no abductor hiding behind a tree, no psycho roommate. Is is possible that this is pretty much all that LE - and the family - have to work with, and it's not necessarily about either or both knowingly hiding facts from the public? Just a thought.

MOO

Your observations on the roommate make a lot of sense. At first I thought something was "off" about the roommate--not that I thought she harmed Annie but just that I thought she wasn't very emotional about Annie being missing. But when I think about when I was Annie's age and some of the roommates I had that I did not know very well at all it makes sense she might not be super close to her roomie. We don't know anything about how they met, how long they knew each other, how long they lived together, etc. For all we know, Annie's Roommate could have advertised a room for rent and Annie answered the ad. Annie had not lived in Portland very long. This is probably not a "best friends" living together situation.

Your last paragraph nails what I think is most likely--I think it is just that we see abductions and suicides all the time here. So we automatically question a story when we are not given enough info or info we are given is conflicting. I still wonder why they did not release what type of car she drove so they could ask if anyone saw her car or saw her getting out of her car and walking a certain direction. I also wonder why her clothing description was just that she was wearing a beanie--nothing else. I guess her father knew she had a beanie on when she snap-chatted him to tell him she was going on hike. But why didn't her roommate who saw her Sunday morning know what she was wearing? I think it is just the lack of info that is frustrating and making us question if she really went for a hike. Normally, there would be people who saw her on a trail somewhere and we have not heard any witnesses say they saw her. That could just be due to the bad weather keeping people away from that area but lack of info given tot eh public does not help. JMO.