CA CA - Stacy Arras, 14, Yosemite National Park, 17 Jul 1981

[BeginnerSleuther]

There are plenty of people who have gone missing in the wilderness and their cases are accepted for what they are. They attract no interest from the True Crime community. Because Stacy was a young, attractive girl, people want to link her disappearance with serial killers, sexual predators or human traffickers. Her story is a tragic warning of the danger of getting lost in the wilderness.

In fairness, I think her age is a huge component of people's interest, as is the fact that her family wasn't far away. Usually when you hear about people lost in the wilderness, it's when they went on solo hikes or the whole family disappears because they were together. I'm not aware of too many cases where a child goes missing and it turns out they got lost on their own.

 

[Betty P]

In fairness, I think her age is a huge component of people's interest, as is the fact that her family wasn't far away. Usually when you hear about people lost in the wilderness, it's when they went on solo hikes or the whole family disappears because they were together. I'm not aware of too many cases where a child goes missing and it turns out they got lost on their own.

Sadly its not unusual. Most young people lost in these conditions do so by going off on their own. It can happen very quickly.

Disappearance of Dennis Martin - Wikipedia

Here's another link to a story of a woman who got lost and died near Clingmans Dome in the Smoky Mtns National Park. She was hiking on a busy trail with her daughter. The daughter went on to the parking lot to tbeir car. The mom missed the trail turnoff to the parking lot, got lost and died.

Autopsy: Hypothermia killed Ohio woman in Smokies | wbir.com

I think thats the second time I posted these links in this thread. Kind of going in circles here.

There are probably some discussions about Stacys case elsewhere on reddit or FB, etc where people talk about alien abductions and serial killers.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Sadly its not unusual. Most young people lost in these conditions do so by going off on their own. It can happen very quickly.

Disappearance of Dennis Martin - Wikipedia

Here's another link to a story of a woman who got lost and died near Clingmans Dome in the Smoky Mtns National Park. She was hiking on a busy trail with her daughter. The daughter went on to the parking lot to tbeir car. The mom missed the trail turnoff to the parking lot, got lost and died.

Autopsy: Hypothermia killed Ohio woman in Smokies | wbir.com

I think thats the second time I posted these links in this thread. Kind of going in circles here.

There are probably some discussions about Stacys case elsewhere on reddit or FB, etc where people talk about alien abductions and serial killers.

But we don't know if Dennis Martin got lost. I think that's my point. These stories will and should provoke interest and speculation because relatively speaking, they don't happen with huge frequency. MOO.

 

[Laughing]

But we don't know if Dennis Martin got lost. I think that's my point. These stories will and should provoke interest and speculation because relatively speaking, they don't happen with huge frequency. MOO.

They don't happen with huge frequency because few people use these areas of our National Parks and wilderness areas.

To be in the location of Stacy Arras' disappearance, you need to travel to a remote area, arrange for your back-country permit, arrange for horses, and ride a breathtakingly beautiful trail (and see what few humans have seen. ) Planning and $$$.

Most people who go to that kind of trouble plan ahead. They listen to safety advice. They plan the materials & methods needed to suit the site. They plan to keep the group together. They follow park/wilderness are/site rules.

We know that Stacy Arras walked away from the group & the campsite alone. This was apparently a big mistake.

Without blaming the young victim -- stay with your group, follow rules & recommendations for the site you are visiting!

Not linking, born into a Park Service family.

jmhexperience ymmv lrr

 

[ekardh]

Since we're on the subject, I remember a case of a missing boy in the woods. He was lagging behind his mother and siblings. When they looked back he'd vanished.

Any ideas?

 

[beubeubeu]

In fairness, I think her age is a huge component of people's interest, as is the fact that her family wasn't far away. Usually when you hear about people lost in the wilderness, it's when they went on solo hikes or the whole family disappears because they were together. I'm not aware of too many cases where a child goes missing and it turns out they got lost on their own.

The way how this story is told: group hike, her dad in sight, she goes back to take pics, accompanied by older man, who sits for a bit, but has her in sight, then suddenly loses her, alerts everyone, so everyone starts searching, massive search right away finds nothing but cover from lense of her camera. No tracks, no answers.

It's almost always strongly implied in narrative that there was no forseen, logical, understandable reason or a even a way that she could get lost without third party involvement. That causes interest.
Another thing about her age: seeing adult on trail is not as striking as seeing lone kid or a teenager. Lots of adults hike alone, kids and young teens rarely do that so whoever whitnesses that is much likely to remember that than just another passing by an adult. But nobody saw her, despite of some groups of hikers being around.

Served like that, it's not a story to forget.

 

[beubeubeu]

We know that Stacy Arras walked away from the group & the campsite alone. This was apparently a big mistake.

Without blaming the young victim -- stay with your group, follow rules & recommendations for the site you are visiting!

We know that she did that with at least her father's knowledge, and no implication that rest of the group was under impression that they don't see her around cause she's or may be resting in tent. So responsibility not only on her, but others as well.

In early 80's people may not be that safety conscious, and if that trip was expensive, then whoever could/should share the safety rules with the group might get shut down with someobodys knowing-all-better, entitled attitude or tragically assume, that almost all adults, somewhat experienced in hiking know what to do and will keep each other in check.
The odds that she wasn't aware of the danger in that area are pretty high and to truly lack victim blaming it should be more of "stay with your group, make sure that group stays together, follow rules and let others know about the reccomendations for the site".

 

[Laughing]

Not a hike at all.

Not a fan of Paulides, but the OP quotes him:

Stacy was 14 when she went on a horse pack trip with her dad and seven other people in the Sunrise Meadows area up in Yosemite, and what happened was her dad, her and this group of people, all got on horses and they rode for six, seven miles into the back country.


I've been in wilderness areas. Areas reached by 2 to 3 hour horseback rides are remote.

Stay with your group. Follow park rules & policies.

(OT, but reminds me of the JonBenet Ramsey 'intruder did it' theories.)

jmhexperience ymmv lrr

 

[Betty P]

The way how this story is told: group hike, her dad in sight, she goes back to take pics, accompanied by older man, who sits for a bit, but has her in sight, then suddenly loses her, alerts everyone, so everyone starts searching, massive search right away finds nothing but cover from lense of her camera. No tracks, no answers.

It's almost always strongly implied in narrative that there was no forseen, logical, understandable reason or a even a way that she could get lost without third party involvement. That causes interest.
Another thing about her age: seeing adult on trail is not as striking as seeing lone kid or a teenager. Lots of adults hike alone, kids and young teens rarely do that so whoever whitnesses that is much likely to remember that than just another passing by an adult. But nobody saw her, despite of some groups of hikers being around.

Served like that, it's not a story to forget.

Try to keep in mind that most of what you read about Stacy's case online is inaccurate. Her father saw her head out, but he couldn't keep her in his line of sight. To get to the lake she had to climb a hill and descend, mostly over granite rock. Check back a few pages to Google Maps links and you'll see the terrain.

The elderly man on the trail also didn't keep her in his line of sight. He was a stranger, he didn't know that he was supposed to be responsible for watching her.

Skeptics often assume these trails are similar to going to their local national park where they can drive up, park their car and take a hike into some woods and have a picnic. It's not like that at all. The area they traveled in was several thousand feet high, almost at the tree line - the place on the mountains where oxygen and temperature are low enough that trees don't grow.

The park guides are very good. They would have given clear instructions and offered assistance to anyone who asked. They know better than anyone how dangerous it is to hike in those mountains, how easy it is to get lost.

 

[Betty P]

Here's a link to a post I made a long time ago with links to Google Earth showing the location of the lakes and the camp site. View in 3D to see there was a large hill between the camp and the lakes.

CA - Stacy Arras, 14, Yosemite National Park, 17 Jul 1981

I also noticed Tenaya Lake and Tenaya Creek and Canyon are just beyond the Sunrise Lakes. Here's a photo of Tenaya Canyon

So what's the speculation about Stacy's fate at the other web sites?

I only recall reading one several years ago that proposed these missing persons in national parks had been abducted by aliens from other planets. Is that still the most popular theory?

 

[beubeubeu]

Try to keep in mind that most of what you read about Stacy's case online is inaccurate.

I know that, I just pointed out that it how Stacy's story is told and repeated - and not coincidentally most of these "famous" disappearances are told in a way that adds mystery and makes it seem like no easy or reasonable explanation exist.

 

[beubeubeu]

So what's the speculation about Stacy's fate at the other web sites?

I only recall reading one several years ago that proposed these missing persons in national parks had been abducted by aliens from other planets. Is that still the most popular theory?

I meant that story which goes like: "young girl, unexperienced in hiking, goes alone on a longish walk in unknown, dangerous and risky terrain, she doesn't have any equipment with her, just camera, sometime on her way she meets elderly man but he has to rest and she goes further, hours pass before her group realizes that she's not back, wide search is launched but due to weather conditions and dangers in the area no tracks of her are found (apart from camera lens cover that was located near the lake that she wished to take some pics of) but tragically cause the area is very remote and challenging even for the most experienced hikers, disappearances like that are not unheard of" likely won't spark many alien/alternate universes theories as previously mentioned:
"group hike, her dad in sight, she goes back to take pics, accompanied by older man, who sits for a bit, but has her in sight, then suddenly loses her, alerts everyone, so everyone starts searching, massive search right away finds nothing but cover from lense of her camera. No tracks, no answers."

With first only the most devoted followers of supernatural theories would come up with aliens and dimensions as likely scenarios of the events. With second, as some youtuber's narrative suggests that area looks like:

and at least one whitness (in some versions her dad too) is watching her walking, then she turns to the side, and disappears forever as soon as she reaches the tree line... it strongly encourages people to go for some pretty weird explanations.

 

[theshadow45]

Stacy has been missing for 41 years today.

 

[Laughing]

I meant that story which goes like: "young girl, unexperienced in hiking, goes alone on a longish walk in unknown, dangerous and risky terrain, she doesn't have any equipment with her, just camera, sometime on her way she meets elderly man but he has to rest and she goes further, hours pass before her group realizes that she's not back, wide search is launched but due to weather conditions and dangers in the area no tracks of her are found (apart from camera lens cover that was located near the lake that she wished to take some pics of) but tragically cause the area is very remote and challenging even for the most experienced hikers, disappearances like that are not unheard of" likely won't spark many alien/alternate universes theories as previously mentioned:
"group hike, her dad in sight, she goes back to take pics, accompanied by older man, who sits for a bit, but has her in sight, then suddenly loses her, alerts everyone, so everyone starts searching, massive search right away finds nothing but cover from lense of her camera. No tracks, no answers."

With first only the most devoted followers of supernatural theories would come up with aliens and dimensions as likely scenarios of the events. With second, as some youtuber's narrative suggests that area looks like:

and at least one whitness (in some versions her dad too) is watching her walking, then she turns to the side, and disappears forever as soon as she reaches the tree line... it strongly encourages people to go for some pretty weird explanations.

The area does NOT look like that!

Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Places To Go - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

travelyosemite.com




hikingproject.com


sierranevadageotourism.com

 

[beubeubeu]

The area does NOT look like that!

And neither her disappearance looked like it was retold in countless sources.

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Stacy’s birthday.

 

[theshadow45]

Stacy has been missing for 42 years today.

 

[Crizz71]

Stacy has been missing for 42 years today.

I know it is so sad

 

[Crizz71]

Not a hike at all.

Not a fan of Paulides, but the OP quotes him:

Stacy was 14 when she went on a horse pack trip with her dad and seven other people in the Sunrise Meadows area up in Yosemite, and what happened was her dad, her and this group of people, all got on horses and they rode for six, seven miles into the back country.


I've been in wilderness areas. Areas reached by 2 to 3 hour horseback rides are remote.

Stay with your group. Follow park rules & policies.

(OT, but reminds me of the JonBenet Ramsey 'intruder did it' theories.)

jmhexperience ymmv lrr

I know that you are from a national park family, can you give me your take on why the NPS won't release her file, apparently Yosemite won't release any of their files not just Stacy's.

 

[Laughing]

I know that you are from a national park family, can you give me your take on why the NPS won't release her file, apparently Yosemite won't release any of their files not just Stacy's.

No idea, beyond that iirc, the available information was released previously or release is currently not possible.

I don't know the regs for records retention, particularly of paper records. It's also possibly that any "file" was microfilmed or scanned in an early process that now is unrecoverable.

OT for Park Service, but spot on for records storage: The Federal census is to be released to the public 73 years after the year it is enumerated. The 1950 was released this year.

There is a problem with the 1960 census, scheduled for release in 2033. The data was stored on large magnetic tapes, about the diameter of a record album. At the time, this was an excellent storage medium. When I was an undergrad in the late '70's/early '80's these machines were in use by the university & many levels of government for program storage & records storage.

Fast forward to today -- the machines are no longer manufactured. Replacemtn parts are not available. Computer techs are not trained to maintain them -- most have never seen one. The OMB/Bureau of the Census has no way to read the magnetic tapes, now way to release the Census.

If Yosemite's 1981 files are on mag tape -- they may be released after OMB solves that census problem?

I have completed extensive genealogy over decades. I have files in at least 3 unreadable formats in a safe deposit box. Safe, all right! Anyone have a SyQuest drive that works? Lost mine in a lightening storm in the 90's.

jmho ymmv lrr