I am a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have never found a missing person.

I’ve been an SAR Officer for nearly ten years now. I’ve helped locate dozens of injured people, and even more lost individuals. But never have I found a person that was considered truly missing. Fugitives, yes, but they don’t count. I once found a very injured young climber who had fallen from a ledge. He was missing for nearly two days before we located him in a small gulley, where he had tumbled to rest. His injuries were so bad we had to helicopter him out. He didn’t make it. There was the case of a little boy who had wandered from his campsite. He didn’t know where his parents were, or where he was going. We found him a few miles down the road, walking hand in hand with some other campers who had found him. There was the truly disturbing case of a murdered young woman whose body we found deep in the forest after her former boyfriend had put a bullet in her brain. I will never forget the sight of her body decomposition for as long as I live. But those are just a handful of the hundreds of calls I’ve worked over the years. I recall the very first case I worked as if it were yesterday. It was for little Jackson Barnes. A five year old boy who was out berry picking with his mother and two siblings. His mother had told me that Jackson had been there just a moment before she called out for him, but he was gone. They searched the woods, called out his name until their voices were hoarse, but he was gone. Jackson was a sweet looking red-haired boy who loved blueberry pie. He wanted to be a fireman when he grew up, just like his father. I remember his mother sobbing as she told me about how much he loved fire trucks, how he had a fire truck bedspread, fire truck pajamas, a fire truck sippy cup, and even a fire truck stuffed animal. We searched for Jackson, his family stayed at a nearby campsite, just on the off chance that he wandered out. We never found him. Four years ago a young couple went on a hike with their infant daughter strapped to the mother’s chest. She was only a few months old, and had never been outside for that long of a time. Her parents were anxious to get back to the car, and when they did, they claimed that their daughter had gone missing. They told us that they had taken the baby out of her harness, laid her down in the driver’s seat of their Jeep, and when they returned to the vehicle with their packs, she was gone. The mother was hysterical. The father seemed almost annoyed by all of the fuss. We searched the parking area for hours, and when night began to fall, we called off the search. No sign of the baby. We made national news for that one. It was a media shitstorm, and the parents were seen on television, pleading for their daughter’s safe return. The father was even awarded a grant from a private American Citizen who was deeply touched by their story. I’m not saying the parents were guilty of anything, I’m just saying that with the amount of money they received, they won’t have to worry about anything ever again. Three years ago we got a report of a newlywed couple who had decided to go hiking in the forest just after their wedding. The husband went into a nearby convenience store to report his wife missing. He said that they had been walking along a stream, and while he was looking for a place to lay out a picnic, she had apparently been swept away by the water. She was a truly beautiful woman, with long dark hair and big green eyes. We searched the streams for hours, and even called in underwater divers to search the deeper areas of the rivers. We never found a trace of the missing woman. But the strangest part about that case was that the husband refused to leave the forest, he even refused to go back to civilization to answer further questions. He insisted on staying at a nearby hotel that was located just on the outskirts of the park, and when he called to check in with us, he claimed that he had seen his bride out a hotel window, walking in the forest. She was still in her white wedding dress. He insisted that he was going to go find her, and was desperate to get out of the hotel room. We urged him to stay, and let trained professionals do the hard work. Ultimately though, we never did end up finding his bride. I can’t tell you how many cases exactly it has been, but I’ve been an SAR Officer now for nearly ten years. Open or closed, missing or found, tragic or miraculous. Hundreds. And every single time without fail, when you least expect it, that phone is going to ring, and on the other end is going to be someone who is terrified to use the word “missing.” I’ll never forget the sound of the phone ringing that night. I say night, because it was the middle of the night. We didn’t even have word of a missing person. Just a report of strange noises and lights emanating from an abandoned mine shaft on the outskirts of the forest. I grabbed my gear, rifle first, and headed out in my Ford F-150 to meet the Sherriff out on Gooseberry Hill. It was pitch black out, but the beams from the patrol car spot lights lit up the surrounding trees like they were stage lights. The Sherriff waving at me through the window as I parked behind him on the dirt road. “Strange report” he said, as I approached. “Lady on the phone claiming her and her son were out collecting firewood, and then her son just disappeared.” He paused. “What makes it strange?” I asked. “She says that her son wasn’t in the car with her when she left the forest.” He shook his head. “Look, I already rolled some guys out this way, but with how late it is, and the weather sorta being what it is, I didn’t think it’d be a waste of your time to come out, check it out, make sure it’s safe.” I nodded. “You talk to her?” He nodded back. “I did.” “Asked her to stay on the line. I’ll call back in a few.” He nodded, walking back towards his car. I walked up the dirt road a few hundred feet before the trees parted and the mine shaft came into view. It was an old structure, steel beams holding with all their might to keep from caving in. I flashed my light into the windows of the shaft. It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything. I turned my radio on and called back to dispatch. “Things look good out here.” I said into the microphone. The voice on the other end was garbled. “What was that Barb?” I asked. “...the least of your worries.” “Say again, I couldn’t copy you Barb.” “...call the Sherriff...” I clicked the radio off, bewildered as all hell and walked the few feet back to the Sherriff’s car. He was sitting with his arms crossed staring at me. “You just get a weird call from Barb?” “Yeah.” I said, with a puzzled look on my face. “Did you just hear that?” He nodded. “I think it’s interference from the storm.” He pointed into the sky. I followed his finger, and saw a thick green mass of clouds forming close to the tree line. “Shit, I have no signal.” I tried to call Barb from my cell phone, but wasn’t able to get anything out. I turned and walked back to my truck. “You going to check on the mine?” He yelled after me. “Nope.” I called back. “I’m going to go check on the mom who called this all in.” The Sherriff waved and got in his car, calling out the window as I was putting my truck into gear. “I’m gonna go check on the mine.” I pulled into the nearest rest stop, which thankfully had a payphone. An ancient thing, with a funny rotary dial and a booth to stand in. I deposited two quarters and punched in 0, asking the operator to connect me to the Forest Service. Barb answered on the first ring. “Forest Service, this is Barbara.” She said it in such an automated fashion, I wasn’t sure if she had just answered, or if I was in some sort of time loop. I realized I had no idea what I was going to say to her. I didn’t write down her call back number, I didn’t even know her last name. “Barb, it’s Officer James, from just a few minutes ago. I lost your call, can you tell me exactly what you said?” “Officer James, I’m so glad you called back. I was in the middle of telling you something important.” “What is it?” I asked, putting another quarter in the phone box. “She’s not the first person to call about a missing child from that forest.” She said. I was taken aback. “What do you mean, we have a lot of calls about missing people.” The voice on the other end was cold, and monotone. “No, Officer James. I mean this specific woman, calling to report a specific boy missing in that specific location. She’s called before.” “Are you trying to tell me something Barb?” “Yes, Officer James. I am.” “Well, you need to spell it out

I am a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have never found a missing person.

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