At Least Ten Missing Person Cases in National Parks Remain Unsolved

At least ten people have disappeared without a trace from United States National Parks since 2016.

The New York Post discovered that “between 2018 and the first two months of 2023,” 1,180 people were reported missing from national parks, according to records obtained from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

While most of the missing have been recovered safely or their remains were found; there are some missing cases that just cannot be explained. Search and rescuers are often racing the clock to discover bodies and those still alive who face exposure to extreme weather conditions.

Some of those who vanished were on excursions with friends and others were completely alone.

The Grand Canyon reports having the most missing cases and deaths than any other national park. In 2021, authorities found Scott Walsh’s remains — who went missing in 2015 — while searching for a Hungarian national, CBS News reported.

 

“It happens every once in a while here during searches that we end up finding people we weren’t expecting,” park spokeswoman Joelle Baird said.

One of the most chilling missing person cases surrounds the disappearance of John Squires during a rafting trip with friends on the American Creek in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. On June 20, 2018, their raft overturned and he and his friends were thrown into the water. He was last seen by his friends attempting to swim to shore, and five years later his remains are still missing.

In two separate missing person cases, authorities located vacant cars parked at Grand Canyon’s South Rim. Charles Lyon, 49, from Texas, was last seen at a hotel in Tusayan, Arizona, two years ago. The following day, on June 11, 2021, authorities discovered his vehicle. Four years prior, Jonghyon Won’s car was found on the South Rim. He did not tell anyone of his plans to visit the canyon.

“When you’re looking for a person, you truly are looking for a needle in a haystack,” longtime search-and-rescue expert Ken Phillips told the Post.