CRIME HUNTER: Netflix's Untamed sheds light on National Parks missing, murders

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The new Netflix thriller Untamed examines a true crime phenomenon that gets little light.

Murders and missing people in America’s National Parks. Largely because the rural locales of the parks are immune to the media spotlight, these cases generally slip through the cracks.

About a year ago — before the Eric Bana thriller was released — whilst headed down the rabbit hole, I came across the National Parks Service cold case page.

The wilderness can be a place of foreboding, darkness and myth. Despite the gigantic leaps in human knowledge over the last century, these spectacular locales remain largely unknown.

And the job itself is dangerous. Nearly 140 NPS law enforcement rangers have been killed in the line of duty since 1916 via car and plane crashes, drowning and murder.

Here are some of the biggest mysteries still haunting the National Parks. Some of the cases are so vexing that even Bana’s Kyle Turner character couldn’t solve them.

ROBERT ‘BOBBY’ BIZUP

Bobby Bizup was just 10 years old when he vanished from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado in August 1958. His remains were later recovered inside the park in 1959, but there were big questions from the beginning. The circumstances of the little boy’s demise were never clearly established. When Rangers, military and local police went through the area where he disappeared, they found nothing. Less than a year later, there was the body. The investigation into the little boy’s death has now been reopened and has been deemed suspicious.

ARMAN B. JOHNSON

Johnson, 44, moved to Hawaii from Seattle in 1984 and was a popular local radio host. On April 13, 2005, his body was discovered by a tourist at the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. He died from a single gunshot to his upper back/neck area and investigators believe Johnson was murdered where he stood. The NPS and FBI are continuing the investigation and there is a $10,000 reward. FBI Special Agent Paul Delacourt said: “We are hoping that the passage of time may embolden a witness to come forward and tell us the truth about how and why this tragic act of violence occurred.”

PAUL FUGATE

A U.S. Park Ranger, Fugate, 41, vanished on Jan. 13, 1980, from the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona. Feds suspect that Fugate was murdered while taking a break and going for a hike. According to investigators, new information has led the FBI and NPS to offer a $60,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person responsible. At the time of the disappearance, Fugate was working in the monument’s visitor centre in southeastern Arizona. At about 2 p.m. that day, he left the building to hike a park trail and was never seen again.

DENNIS LLOYD MARTIN

Martin was just 7 years old when he vanished in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on June 14, 1969. The boy was with his father and grandfather for their annual Father’s Day hike. He was last seen playing with other children at the Spence Field area of the Appalachian Trail. According to investigators, the most likely theory is that Dennis became lost and died of exposure. A second theory posited that he had been killed and eaten by a bear or wild boar. The most chilling possibility is that he was kidnapped out of the park. On the afternoon he disappeared, another park visitor heard an “enormous, sickening scream.” Shortly after, the tourist witnessed an unkempt, shaggy, rough-looking man running up the trail.

SAMUEL BOEHLKE

On Oct. 14, 2006, 8-year-old Samuel Boehlke disappeared at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Around 4 p.m., the young boy ran up a cinder slope into the woods and vanished, never to be seen again. Despite an extensive search, no trace of Sam or his remains has ever been found. The stunning area has been synonymous with bizarre incidents since the park opened in 1902. Foul play has been ruled out in Sammy’s disappearance.

STACEY ANNE ARRAS

Arras, 14, disappeared on July 17, 1981, in California’s famed Yosemite National Park. The teen was on a four-day trip with her dad and 10 others on the High Sierra Loop. The group were riding mules to the Sunrise High Sierra Camp. After a shower and settling into her cabin, Arras went on a short hike with an elderly man who soon became tired and sat down. A guide noticed Arras standing on a rock about 50 yards south of the trail. He was the last person to see her alive. Despite a massive search, no trace of Stacey was found.

Among the theories is that she died via misadventure, an animal attack or foul play, unlikely given how remote the location where she vanished from.

ADAM CLAYTON LYLE JONES

Investigators found Jones’ vehicle in Grand Canyon National Park at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center on May 5, 2011. Jones, 23, was last seen by his family in Gulf Breeze, Florida, on March 31, 2011. Jones had not been reported missing at the time, but his parents filed the report after the park ranger told them about the car. Inside the vehicle was an itinerary with a route including various California cities and Denver, Colorado. Death by misadventure?

RUTHANNE RUPPERT

Ruppert, 49, disappeared from Yosemite National Park on Aug. 14, 2000.  Ruppert’s backpack was found in 2008 in the Fireplace Creek drainage, an area consistent with the hiking route from Yosemite Falls to Foresta. She had a prosthetic eye and an infection in her good eye, both may have played a role in her disappearance.

bhunter@postmedia.com

On X: @HUnterTOSun

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