Ecuador - August Reiger, 18, US student, Banos, 16 June 2013

New Posts

I am not sure he didn't walk away, though as the days slip by, am less convinced of this. I have no problem with the notion an 18 year old kid could choose to simply walk away- even when doing so seems completely counter to his character. What makes me question that theory at this point is that he has not left any sort of trail, nor has he been spotted. I don't know how an 18 year old vanishes in a foreign country with no resources, and manages to remain unseen, unheard from for this long. His family seems well traveled, but still. It's a bit of a stretch to imagine. Equally difficult to imagine, however, are both of the other possibilities: foul play and falling off a cliff. Neither are impossible, but both seem unlikely. He obviously didn't vanish off the face of the earth, so what happened? I am completely at a loss. Initially believing he probably chose to walk away, I am no longer convinced. I just can't make myself lean any more towards injury vs. foul play vs. anything else. It's baffling.
 
I can't really see why he would walk away. I know people do it, but it does not sound right for this point in his life. I also am having trouble with kidnapping. I am aware of how it happens in SA counties (and others) but this does not "feel" like that to me. Still thinking accidental fall as of now.
 
missgulfsouth said:
I'm trying to imagine kidnappers laying in wait at that very moment, as if they knew that August would walk ahead on his own. Not only did he have to disappear without a trace, but so did the people who took him. I don't think it would be a one person job.
Click to expand...

I don't know of a paramilitary abduction in S/C America where they worked alone. Usually they DO lie in wait. They wait for a suitable victim to come by and ambush them. Or they set up roadblocks and stop vehicles.

As for disappearing, they're guerrillas, the forest is their cover. They often can navigate the rainforest the way a Bostonian can navigate the hell that is Boston roads. What seems like total chaos to people unaccustomed to it is home to them.

I do wonder if he could have heard some sort of fauna and gone to investigate. Are their monkeys around? Tourists love monkeys.

Are any of the waterfalls on the trail? Have bodies of water been searched?
 
As for disappearing voluntarily without money, water, etc: maybe in the days before he disappeared he befriended a local and that person supplied him with the needed things. Maybe they were to meet up there. Just speculating.

I can't make up my mind, I can see all 3 scenarios possible: kidnapped, walked away, or fell.
 
CMac2 said:
I am not sure he didn't walk away, though as the days slip by, am less convinced of this. I have no problem with the notion an 18 year old kid could choose to simply walk away- even when doing so seems completely counter to his character. What makes me question that theory at this point is that he has not left any sort of trail, nor has he been spotted. I don't know how an 18 year old vanishes in a foreign country with no resources, and manages to remain unseen, unheard from for this long. His family seems well traveled, but still. It's a bit of a stretch to imagine. Equally difficult to imagine, however, are both of the other possibilities: foul play and falling off a cliff. Neither are impossible, but both seem unlikely. He obviously didn't vanish off the face of the earth, so what happened? I am completely at a loss. Initially believing he probably chose to walk away, I am no longer convinced. I just can't make myself lean any more towards injury vs. foul play vs. anything else. It's baffling.
Click to expand...

Remember this story?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...tt-found-mexico-faking-death-article-1.163863

It took them 5 years to find him.

And this one:

Eric Rudolph - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It took them 5 years to find him, as well, because he hid so well.

August may not be found if he doesn't want to be.
 
Elainera said:
As for disappearing voluntarily without money, water, etc: maybe in the days before he disappeared he befriended a local and that person supplied him with the needed things. Maybe they were to meet up there. Just speculating.

I can't make up my mind, I can see all 3 scenarios possible: kidnapped, walked away, or fell.
Click to expand...

I have always thought that if he disappeared voluntarily he had to have had help.
 
necco said:
I don't know of a paramilitary abduction in S/C America where they worked alone. Usually they DO lie in wait. They wait for a suitable victim to come by and ambush them. Or they set up roadblocks and stop vehicles.

As for disappearing, they're guerrillas, the forest is their cover. They often can navigate the rainforest the way a Bostonian can navigate the hell that is Boston roads. What seems like total chaos to people unaccustomed to it is home to them.

I do wonder if he could have heard some sort of fauna and gone to investigate. Are their monkeys around? Tourists love monkeys.

Are any of the waterfalls on the trail? Have bodies of water been searched?
Click to expand...

Why not ambush the whole family, then?
 
missgulfsouth said:
Why not ambush the whole family, then?
Click to expand...

Maybe they thought he was traveling alone. Maybe they wanted someone young and strong enough to march all the way to Colombia. Maybe they didn't want to deal with an entire family.

As for the two cases you listed, Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend already HAD a separate identity set up. Eric Rudolph was a survivalist, not some city kid just out of high school.
 
missgulfsouth said:
Why not ambush the whole family, then?
Click to expand...

It's much harder to kidnap 4 people, 2 of them men, one an adolescent male. If you do it for ransom, you don't get any more money for the whole family. The family back home will already pay everything they have to get August back. There won't be more for the rest of the family, just a bigger hassle to keep up with four people. More hassle for no more gain. People are not usually kidnapped in groups.
 
necco said:
Maybe they thought he was traveling alone. Maybe they wanted someone young and strong enough to march all the way to Colombia. Maybe they didn't want to deal with an entire family.

As for the two cases you listed, Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend already HAD a separate identity set up. Eric Rudolph was a survivalist, not some city kid just out of high school.
Click to expand...


Maybe he has an ID set up as well.
 
missgulfsouth said:
Maybe he has an ID set up as well.
Click to expand...

Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend had a birth name he reverted to using.

There is NOTHING that says this kid bolted on his parents. Nothing. He could have left in the middle of the night from his hotel room and brought all his stuff. Money. Passport. Water. Clothes. He didn't.

You are clearly convinced he took off on his own. And that's your right. I hope you're right because then this bright kid is safe somewhere.

But he didn't just bolt. He didn't. Not where he was. Not how this went down. I just can't see how a smart kid would do it that way.

The reality is that Americans and people who appear to be of European descent (Read that as "white" or "caucasian") face such dangers when they travel in certain countries. They are assumed to be wealthy. I've come >< close to being a crime victim in 2 Latin American countries myself. And that's situations that I was aware of. Once, I was pulled into a store by a shop owner who saw that I was being followed and once I actually felt the person trying to rob me and they disappeared into the crowd when they realized they had been made.

There are VERY real dangers in these countries. Just like there are anywhere, but you are far more likely to be targeted if you're of European descent there.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1106.html#crime

There's the crime profile for Ecuador on the State Department's website.
 
Would he have been the type of person that would have helped somebody if they seemed hurt?
I know he just cant vanish into thin air, but what if he had been set up - and was taken off the mountain track without a struggle by being led off somewhere quickly. What if he was still on the mountain when his parents came past. If was kidnapped either at knife or gunpoint they may have threatened to harm his family.

I have been to Ecuador (a while back) and also been surrounded by 3 soldiers with guns at the Cuenca airport because the taxi driver told them I hadn't paid my cab fare (which I had). I had my green pass kept from me until an US journalist intervened on my behalf. My friend had his entire luggage taken from under his nose as we checked into a motel. But with that said, seriously, it was a beautiful place with helpful people - but there are risks there - and being abducted is one of them.

Prayers for August, his family and friends. I hope they are reunited again soon.
 
I have another idea: what if he fell somewhere or hurt himself - just not in the location on the mountain where he was expected to be and which was search extensively? Maybe he felt his family is following too slow and got tired of waiting, or he wanted to explore an area off the track that attracted him for some reason and he wandered away, thinking he will be back on the track by the time his family arrived at the cross. And then he had some kind of accident much further away where nobody is looking for him.

I was also thinking of the American student who disappeared on a trip in Germany a few months back (forgot her name, sorry, we had a thread here on WS). She was supposed to fly back to the US at a certain date but didn't. Her mother filed the report and police in Germany was searching for her for weeks. A facebook page was set up, her mother was very worried. Well she was found safe and sound some weeks later in a different city in Germany. She had simply decided to travel around for a bit longer and postpone her flight back. It did not occur to her to let her family know of the change of plans nor that they would worry and report her missing!

I know that August's situation is somewhat different, as he traveled with his family, but I just mean to say, teens sometimes don't think about the consequences of their actions and decisions to their family. They are carefree and curious about the world and are often surprised when parents worry about them.
 
Alright. I want to be careful here, because I'm not trying to imply anything. I just have a clarifying question.

I inferred from most of the news articles that August walked ahead of his family, and that his parents and younger brother were walking TOGETHER behind him. However, I just noticed a quote in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-Valedictorian-18-vanishes-hike-Ecuador.html

'We assumed that he'd be sitting there waiting for us,' he [August's father] told News9.
'In fact, the second son had gotten there before us, and he was sitting there waiting &#8230; but he hadn't seen his brother.'

This makes it sound that the family was more spread out - August and his brother going out in the front, and then his parents behind both of them. Do we know if August's brother was the last one to have contact with him?
 
hannah1988 said:
Alright. I want to be careful here, because I'm not trying to imply anything. I just have a clarifying question.

I inferred from most of the news articles that August walked ahead of his family, and that his parents and younger brother were walking TOGETHER behind him. However, I just noticed a quote in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-Valedictorian-18-vanishes-hike-Ecuador.html

'We assumed that he'd be sitting there waiting for us,' he [August's father] told News9.
'In fact, the second son had gotten there before us, and he was sitting there waiting &#8230; but he hadn't seen his brother.'

This makes it sound that the family was more spread out - August and his brother going out in the front, and then his parents behind both of them. Do we know if August's brother was the last one to have contact with him?
Click to expand...

August was about 50 yards ahead of his folks and his 11 yr old brother also ahead of them--but not walking with August. They probably told them to go ahead a bit due to tha altitude alowing the parents down. But they apparently also had as part of that the plan to wait for each other at the top. That's why they asked the younger son if he had seen him.
 
So we really don't know how far ahead August and his brother were. If they were out of their parents' sight then we just don't know, right?

Anyway, I wonder what his brother thinks happened to him...I feel like he may have a good sense of what may have happened since he was also walking alone on the trail and he was the closest behind him.
 
danzn16 said:
If he was going to willingly disappear then why bring your parents along with you for that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Well, maybe his parents going along was THEIR idea, and not his. Perhaps he saw it as a great opportunity to break free. Let's face it, he can speak the language fluently. I don't imagine it would be difficult to find someone willing to help him hide. It's not like he's running from the law, all he has to do is say "I'm sick of my parents and I want to be left alone", I'm sure someone would take pity on him and let him hide out for a while.

Obviously, this is best case scenario. No one wants this to be a kidnapping. I personally don't believe he was. MOO
 
While I still think it's possible August fell somewhere not yet searched, I don't believe he willingly left his family, for whatever reason. He is characterized by all who know him (family, teachers, friends) as unusually compassionate and close to his family. Such a person would never voluntarily 'go missing' on Father's Day (and during a graduation present family trip, no less).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 143 more.
Total: 1,239 (members: 144, guests: 1,095)

Online statistics

Members online
144
Guests online
1,095
Total visitors
1,239
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
596,493
Messages
18,048,781
Members
230,015
Latest member
squidsquidsquid
Back
Top