A celebrity of the rock climbing world may be a violent, serial predator.  A survey posted in several outdoor magazines and the special agents of the National Park Service put together a case that showed  just because you can climb so high, doesn't mean you wont go down HARD.

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GET HELP
National Sexual Assault Hotline1-800-656-4673https://www.rainn.org/ 
National Domestic Violence Hotline800-799-7233https://www.thehotline.org/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=domestic_violence 
 
Sources:#SafeOutside Survey
US District Court, Eastern District of California, United States V Charles Barrett, 1:22-cr-00213-ADA-BAM-1, 7-13-23
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/professional-rock-climber-convicted-sexual-assaults-yosemite-national-park
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/climber-charles-barrett-assault-trial/?scope=anonhttps://www.climbing.com/gym-climbing/sexual-assault/

A woman was found dead below a 140-foot cliff at Miner’s Castle in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore after her husband reported that she had fallen while he was away using the restroom. What initially appeared to be a tragic accident quickly unraveled as investigators uncovered shifting stories, troubling behavior, financial pressure, and a long history of emotional and physical abuse within the marriage. This is a case that highlights how intimate partner violence, coercive control, and deception can hide in plain sight, even in the most breathtaking wilderness settings.

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Sources
https://www.nps.gov/piro/learn/news/richardson-sentenced.htmhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-miwd-1_14-cv-01250/pdf/USCOURTS-miwd-1_14-cv-01250-0.pdfhttps://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25443664https://www.newspapers.com/article/lansing-state-journal/26563548/

Bringing this one out from the Ranger Vault!  This is one of our favorate early episodes and it was Nancy's debut as a "guest" host! A brutal crime was committed at Ft Eustis Military base in Virginia, and the suspects fled to Shenandoah National Park.  A cool headed ranger lead the chase involving  multiple law enforcement agencies to bring the bizarre criminals to an ending no one could have expected.

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Also...We've Got Merch!!

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Check out Duane Martinz!
https://www.duanemartinz.com/

Sources:
US v Montowski; US District Court for the Western District of VA, October 9,2009
https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/norfolk/press-releases/2010/nf051710.htmhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/gunman-dressed-as-the-joker-shot-by-police/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/13/police-shoot-man-dressed-as-jokerhttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/12/FBI-joins-inquiry-into-soldiers-shooting/44071236879818/https://wfcreport.com/2009/03/13/not-just-a-rumor-iraq-vet-killed-on-skyline-drive-loved-the-joker/

A Utah father’s “family hike” up the steep and strenuous Broads Fork Trail in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest turned into a horrific, life-threatening ordeal for his three young children when he refused to turn back as a storm rolled in, ultimately leaving them exposed, injured, and stranded overnight at high elevation. Search-and-rescue crews later found the children hypothermic and unresponsive, and investigators uncovered disturbing details, including the father ignoring repeated warnings, pushing the kids toward a nearly 9-mile summit, and even leaving his 8-year-old to perform CPR on her brother in the dark. This episode breaks down the timeline, the rescue, and the shocking decisions that turned a mountain trail into a nightmare.

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Sources:
https://www.ksl.com/article/51411042/extremely-selfish-dad-charged-with-taking-young-kids-on-dangerous-hike-that-ended-in-a-rescue 
https://gephardtdaily.com/local/father-who-took-children-on-mountain-hike-in-snowstorm-arrested-for-alleged-child-torture-intentional-abuse/ https://www.abc4.com/news/crimes-against-children/father-big-cottonwood-hiker-missing-toture/amp/
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/northern-utah/utah-father-who-went-missing-with-3-children-on-hike-charged-with-child-torture-abuseources:

In May 2005, a quiet corner of Wolf Lodge Bay near Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, became the center of one of the most disturbing true crime cases in Pacific Northwest history. When a neighbor discovered blood on the porch of the Groene family’s rural home, it triggered a massive investigation that soon uncovered a brutal triple homicide—and the disappearance of 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan. What followed was a 7-week search spanning Idaho and the remote Lolo National Forest of Montana, leading authorities to serial predator Joseph Edward Duncan III. This episode explores the Groene family murders, the kidnapping that shook Kootenai County, the heroic rescue that finally brought Shasta home, and the long criminal history that exposed severe failures in the justice system. A heartbreaking but important case that forever changed how the region views safety, wilderness, and the dangers that can lurk in even the most peaceful landscapes.  

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Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26300428
https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/duncan-joseph-edward.htm https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article262213562.html#storylink=cpy  

Thanksgiving Day, 2001: deep in the quiet forests of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, searchers made a grim discovery — the body of 52-year-old Canadian hiker who had vanished after setting out for a short afternoon hike. What unfolded in the days before and after her death paints a chilling picture of a random, violent attack in one of the Northeast’s most popular hiking corridors.

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Sources:
WMUR — “White Mountains Mystery: The Killing of Louise Chaput” https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-white-mountains-mystery-louise-chaput/42126315
Concord Monitor — “Twenty years later, Chaput murder is still unsolved” https://www.concordmonitor.com/2021/11/29/twenty-years-later-chaput-murder-is-still-unsolved-43696199/
Boston.com — “On 10th anniversary, N.H. authorities seek clues in slaying of White Mountains hiker” https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2011/11/22/on-10th-anniversary-n-h-authorities-seek-clues-in-slaying-of-white-mountains-hiker/

Listen to Nancy share one of her Ranger Tales with special guest, Ranger Kristin.  The two of them were crime fighting partners one night in Yellowstone and proved that no one is above the law.

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In the shadow of the world’s largest trees, a midnight encounter between park rangers and an intoxicated camper spirals into a chaotic and violent confrontation. What begins as a routine DUI investigation in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks turns into a desperate struggle for control, pepper spray flying, and a suspect fleeing into the darkness of the Kaweah River

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Big Bend National Park is a place of vast beauty and haunting isolation—where the desert meets the Rio Grande and desolation and silence stretches for miles. But in February 2022, that silence was broken when rangers discovered an abandoned truck deep in the backcountry. Inside were the belongings of a man and his daughter—but no sign of either of them. What followed was a desperate search through one of the harshest landscapes in Texas, uncovering a story of survival, heartbreak, and the thin line between devotion and danger.

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Sources:
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/missing-dad-daughter-found-in-mexico-weeks-after-going-missing-in-big-bend-national-park-bexar-father-9-year-old-child-alive-well   https://bigbendsentinel.com/2022/05/18/june-trial-date-set-for-hector-flores-jr-man-indicted-on-child-endangerment-charge-after-going-missing-with-daughter-in-big-bend-national-park/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/22-50910/22-50910-2025-02-20.html   https://bigbendsentinel.com/2022/11/16/hector-flores-jr-re-arrested-as-he-appeals-judgment-in-bbnp-child-endangerment-case/
U.S. District Court 
Western District of Texas (San Antonio)
CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 5:21-cr-00245-XR-1

In the news: an arrest is made in the case of 2 teens found dead in an Arizona National Forest; Convictions for illegal BASE jumping in Yosemite; Hikers take cover as shots fly over their heads in a wilderness area in California; Seeking information for an assault at an NPS campground; Justice served for the murder of a man found dead in a wilderness area in Colorado; A man arrested for murdering his girlfriend and disposing her body in a National Forest.

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In Yosemite National Park, Tenaya Canyon is known as both stunning and cursed. Legend says Chief Tenaya, the last leader of the Ahwahneechee, placed a curse on the land after his people’s destruction. Ever since, hikers and explorers who enter the canyon have met with strange accidents and misfortune — earning it the name “the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite.”

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Sources:
Tempting the Curse of Chief Tenaya - Tahoe Quarterly
The Far Side of the Sky - Christopher E. Brennen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaya_Canyon

Deep in Alaska’s Wrangell–St. Elias National Park, the abandoned Kennicott Mines stand as a ghost town frozen in time. Once a thriving copper operation, it now draws visitors for another reason — the echoes of those who never left. From mysterious footsteps to ghostly figures in the windows, this is the haunting story of Alaska’s most famous mining town.

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Sources: 
https://www.adn.com/features/article/teeth-chattering-tales-kennecott-copper-mines-keeps-government-officials-away/2013/10/31/  
https://www.cnet.com/culture/ghosts-of-kennecott-exploring-an-abandoned-copper-mine-in-alaska/
https://www.nps.gov/wrst/learn/historyculture/kennecott-mines-national-historic-landmark.htm
https://www.adn.com/features/article/teeth-chattering-tales-kennecott-copper-mines-keeps-government-officials-away/2013/10/31/

Deep beneath the crystal-blue waters of Lake Crescent lies one of Olympic National Park’s darkest secrets. In 1940, a body surfaced—wrapped in blankets, bound with rope, and perfectly preserved by the icy depths. Locals called her the Lady of the Lake, but investigators would uncover her true identity as a woman who vanished three years earlier.  Left behind are whispers that still haunt the lake today. Join us as we dive into the eerie beauty, grim history, and ghostly legends of Lake Crescent—the lake that doesn’t give up its dead.

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Sources: 
https://www.historylink.org/File/8599 https://www.myolympicpark.com/park/history/the-lady-of-crescent-lake/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/23/lady-of-the-lake/ https://thebadassintrovert.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/weird-history-part-5-washington-state-and-the-lady-of-the-lake/

Ranger Butch Farabee shares a post script to his Ranger Tale.  In other words, the Rest of the Story! 
PS, this is part 2. Don't listen to this until you listened to the first part.

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A plane carrying 3 tons of marijuana crash in a lake deep in the high country of Yosemite.  Listen to the ranger in charge of the dive operations that recovered 2 tons of the wet weed, the bodies, as well as his role as a deputy coroner on scene.  And wait until you hear what happened to the other ton of weed!

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Ranger Chris shares his tale of rescue at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area where a dramatic fall from the sky should have meant a young woman didn't survive.  But Chris and his partner arrived in time, and one year later, they learned the real circumstances surrounding the incident.

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The stories in the news this month include a huge bust in the illegal marijuana cultivation of a popular National Park, an update on a murder (a push off the cliff) in a southeastern National Preserve, a ranger faked his own attack in a Colorado State Park, an unusual thief on the lamb in Grand Teton NP, and an update on the Travis Decker manhunt.


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Learn more about Nicole 
https://www.nicolesnell.com/
https://www.nicolesnell.com/girls-fight-back

Join the conversation with Nicole Snell, an award-winning international speaker, CEO of Girls Fight Back, founder of Outdoor Defence, trainer, TEDx speaker, self defense expert, backcountry adventurer, super fun badass, and oh so much more, as she shares her strategies feel and be safe and confident in the great outdoors. Listen and share this episode with someone you know who recreates in outdoor and wild places!

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Learn more about Nicole 
https://www.nicolesnell.com/
https://www.nicolesnell.com/girls-fight-back

This week, we’re joined by the hosts of the Locations Unknown Podcast, Joe and Mike, as our special guests on Crime Off the Grid. Together we dig into the darker side of the outdoors—where disappearances and true crime quite possibly collide. You won’t want to miss this crossover conversation!

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A woman, who’s an inexperienced hiker, goes on a “thigh killing” trail to the top of Bear Mountain. She goes off the edge resulting in her death. What really happened? Was it an accident or the perfect crime in the wild? You decide.


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https://nypost.com/2024/06/29/us-news/womans-brother-claims-husband-behind-fatal-fall-off-mountain-cliff-just-a-cruel-man/

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/07/25/police-try-to-unravel-mysterious-death-of-huntington-beach-woman-on-arizona-hiking-trail/

https://idahonews.com/news/nation
-world/mother-falls-to-her-death-from-cliff-arizona-mountain-sedona-yavapai-county-sheriffs-office-40-year-olf-zaynab-joseph-california-airbnb-husband-infant-hikers-helicopter#

https://www.facebook.com/658670549/posts/10163657103765550/?mibextid=WC7FNe&rdid=HEIldu90XMlkrIV3 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/202004/how-many-people-who-die-suicide-first-kill-their-pets  

RESOURCES: National Domestic Violence Hotline https://www.thehotline.org/
Call 800.799.SAFE T
ext START to 88788