The girl vanished, leaving only her neatly folded clothes on the shore by the waterfall.

Two years of searching yielded no answers.

But the terrible truth was revealed on a rainy morning on June 12th, 2023 when fishermen on the Capefur River spotted a human skull stuck in the roots of an old oak tree on a sandbar.

But to understand how it all happened, we need to go back to the summer of 2021 when a 23-year-old student went hiking in the mountains of North Carolina and was never seen alive again.

Courtney Miller studied biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She was passionate about ecology, often participated in student expeditions, and loved spending time in nature.

Her friends described her as cheerful and open, but sometimes too trusting.

Courtney shared a room in a student dormatory with a roommate named Sarah, who knew her better than anyone else.

On the morning of July 16th, 2021, Courtney told Sarah that she was planning to spend the weekend at Pesa National Park, about a 3-hour drive from campus.

She wanted to collect plant samples for her term paper on the effect of soil acidity on moss growth.

She planned to stay one night camp near Rainbow Falls and return on Monday.

In her backpack, she had a blue Coleman sleeping bag she had bought last year, a camping tent, a gas burner, canned food, a bottle of water, and a plant collection kit.

Courtney brought her Apple iPhone 12 in a black case and a portable charger.

She was wearing black Morell hiking boots, jeans, and a green jacket with a university logo.

According to cell phone operators, Courtney’s phone last connected to a cell tower on Friday evening around p.m.

when she was already in the park area.

GPS showed her location near the parking lot at the start of the trail to the waterfall.

After that, the signal disappeared.

When Courtney didn’t show up at the university on Tuesday morning and didn’t answer her phone, Sarah contacted campus security.

By Wednesday, the Henderson County Police Department had joined the search.

They found her car, a white 2018 Honda Civic, in the parking lot at the park entrance.

The car was locked, and the keys were under the front floor mat on the driver’s side where Courtney usually hid them.

In the trunk, police found an empty plant sample bag and a university jacket, which the girl had apparently taken off because of the heat.

There was nothing suspicious in the car.

The money in her wallet was untouched, and her documents were still there.

The search party consisted of 12 volunteers from the local mountain rescue service and four police officers.

They combed the area around the waterfall within a 5 km radius.

The trail to the waterfall is well marked and passes through a dense forest of oak and pine trees.

It takes about 2 hours to walk to the waterfall.

Rainbow Falls is a cascade about 30 m high that falls into a small lake.

The water in the lake is clear, but the depth reaches 8 m in the center.

The bottom is rocky and the current is weak.

From the lake, the river continues down through a rocky gorge.

On the third day of the search, rescuers found Courtney’s tent set up a 100 meters from the lake shore in a small clearing.

The tent was properly pitched and secured.

Inside was an unzipped sleeping bag, a hiking backpack with clothes, and an empty water bottle.

A gas burner stood next to the tent on a flat rock, but had not been used.

Footprints in the soft ground near the tent showed that Courtney had walked between the camp and the lake shore at the foot of the waterfall several times.

The size of the footprints matched her shoes.

But at the water’s edge, the footprints became indistinguishable due to the rocky ground and constant spray from the falling water.

On the shore near the waterfall, rescuers found a towel and t-shirt neatly folded on a large rock away from the spray.

It looked as if Courtney had undressed to swim in the lake below the waterfall.

Her hiking boots were nearby with her socks tucked inside as she usually did at home.

Searchers combed the entire lake below the waterfall with underwater equipment.

Divers checked every inch of the bottom, looking under every rock and in every crevice.

They found no body, no clothes, no items belonging to Courtney.

The current in the lake was weak due to its size.

So, if the girl had drowned, her body should have remained at the bottom or floated to the surface within a few days.

The rescue operation lasted 2 weeks.

Searchers surveyed every trail within a 10 km radius and checked all the caves and crevices in the rocks.

A helicopter with a thermal imager flew over the area several times.

Sniffer dogs followed all possible routes but lost the trail at the lake shore below the waterfall.

The police questioned everyone who was in the park that weekend.

The park ranger saw a Honda Civic in the parking lot on Friday evening, but did not remember the exact time.

A group of four tourists passed by the waterfall on Saturday morning around a.m.

but did not meet anyone.

Another couple with children was at the waterfall on Saturday afternoon and also did not see anyone.

Detective Mark Rodriguez, who led the case, suggested that Courtney may have slipped on the wet rocks near the waterfall and fallen into the river below the lake.

The current is strong there, especially after the rains that fell on Thursday before her disappearance.

Perhaps the body was carried downstream beyond the search area.

Investigators checked other versions as well.

They studied Courtney’s social media accounts and interviewed her friends and teachers.

The girl had no enemies, debts, or problems that could explain her disappearance.

Her ex-boyfriend, Alex, lived in another state and was at work on the day of her disappearance, as confirmed by CCTV footage.

Courtney’s family hired a private investigator and even a psychic, but to no avail.

The girl’s mother, Linda Miller, came to the park every weekend and distributed flyers with her daughter’s photo.

Her father, Robert Miller, organized a group of volunteers who continued the search for another month after the official end of the operation.

By September 2021, the case had been classified as missing.

The police occasionally received reports that someone had seen a girl resembling Courtourtney in various cities in North Carolina, but none of these reports were confirmed.

In the winter of that year, heavy rains caused flooding on the Capefir River.

The water level rose 2 m above normal.

In the spring of 2022, the flooding recurred and was even stronger than before.

The water eroded the banks, uprooted trees, and changed the course of the river in many places.

Fisherman Jim Parker and his son Tommy arrived at the Capefur River early in the morning on June 12th, 2023.

They planned to fish for trout in a quiet backwater below the old bridge.

It had rained all night and the river was swollen, carrying branches and debris.

Around in the morning, Tommy noticed something white stuck in the roots of a fallen oak tree on the shaw.

At first, he thought it was a piece of plastic or an old bottle, but when he looked closer, he realized it was a bone.

Jim came closer and immediately recognized a human skull.

They called the police right away.

The first to arrive at the scene were patrol officers from Cumberland County.

They cordined off the area with yellow tape and called in investigators.

By noon, a whole team was working by the river.

Detectives, forensic experts, photographers, and divers.

Divers found the rest of the bones 10 m from the shore under a snag at the bottom of the river.

The skeleton was almost complete.

The bones lying in a decayed blue sleeping bag.

The fabric of the sleeping bag had turned to rags after 2 years in the water, but the zipper and metal parts were still intact.

The skeletal remains were wrapped in a thin white sheet which had almost completely decomposed.

Remnants of a yellow nylon rope hung from the wrists embedded in the bones.

A red brick was tied to the feet with the same rope.

The knots were simple but strong.

Medical examiner Dr.

Elizabeth Chen examined the remains right where they were found.

She immediately noticed a gold crown on the upper left mer.

According to her, the crown was relatively new, having been placed no more than 5 years ago.

This was the first clue to identification.

The bones were taken to the morg for detailed examination.

Dr.

Chen worked with the remains for 3 days, recording every detail.

Based on the condition of the bones and teeth, she determined that the victim was a woman between the ages of 20 and 25, approximately 165 cm tall.

Dental records confirmed her identity.

The gold crown had been fitted to Courtney Miller in 2019 after she injured her tooth playing volleyball.

The girl’s parents identified the remains by this crown and by the distinctive bite pattern that was visible in childhood photographs.

Now it was an official murder case.

Detective Mark Rodriguez, who had searched for Courtney 2 years ago, was again leading the investigation.

This time he had a completely different picture of the incident.

Dr.

Chen discovered a crack at the base of the skull on the back of the head.

The crack was not caused by decomposition or damage in the water, but by a strong blow with a blunt object.

The nature of the injury indicated that the blow was delivered from above while the victim was in a horizontal position.

There were marks on the cervical vertebrae indicating strangulation.

The hyoid bone was broken which occurs when the throat is severely compressed.

These injuries occurred before death because there were no signs of healing at the edges of the fractures.

Analysis of the pelvic bones showed signs of sexual assault.

Dr.

Chen found micro fractures on the pubic bones, which are caused by forced penetration.

These injuries also occurred shortly before death.

The rope used to tie Courtney’s hands and feet was a standard nylon utility rope sold at any hardware store.

The brick was also a standard red brick used in construction.

It had no special markings or manufacturer stamps.

The sheet in which the body was wrapped was a white, tightly woven cotton fabric.

Based on the fibers, experts determined that it was medium quality bedding that could be purchased at most stores.

No unique markings or traces of laundry detergent remained.

The remains were found about 2 km downstream from Rainbow Falls.

Considering the speed of the current and the time the body had spent in the water, investigators assumed that it had been thrown directly from the waterfall, Detective Rodriguez returned to the waterfall with a new team of forensic experts.

They searched for any traces of the crime that they might have missed 2 years earlier.

At that time, they thought they were looking for a missing girl, not a murder scene.

Several stains that could have been blood were found on the rocks around the waterfall.

2 years of rain and snow had washed away most of the traces, but some remained in the deep cracks in the rock.

The samples were sent for analysis.

The analysis showed that two of the samples were indeed human blood.

The DNA matched that of Courtney Miller taken from her toothbrush, which was stored in her dorm room.

The blood stains were found at the edge of the cliff, the most convenient place to throw a body into the water.

Investigators also found fabric remnants caught on a sharp rock ledge.

The fibers were blue and matched the composition of Courtney’s sleeping bag.

This confirmed the theory that the body had been thrown from this location wrapped in a sleeping bag.

Now the picture of the crime became clearer.

Someone attacked Courtney near her camp, hit her on the head, strangled her, raped her, then wrapped her body in a sleeping bag and sheet, tied it with rope, attached a brick, and threw it off the waterfall to drown the evidence.

But important questions remained.

Who did it? How did the perpetrator end up in the same place as Courtney? Why did they choose her? And most importantly, why did it take so long to find the body? Detective Rodriguez studied the search reports from 2021.

Divers thoroughly searched the lake below the waterfall, but did not check the river below.

They thought that if Courtney had fallen into the water, the current would not have been strong enough to carry the body so far.

But the killer knew the river better.

He understood that a body with a weight tied to it would sink to the bottom and get stuck in one of the underwater carsted pockets that had formed in the limestone bedrock.

There, the body could lie for years until a strong flood washed it out of its hiding place.

Rodriguez realized he was dealing with a criminal who knew the area well.

This was not a random tourist or a passing maniac.

The person who killed Courtney had studied the area and knew the characteristics of the current and the bottom relief.

Investigators compiled a list of everyone who could have had such knowledge.

It included local residents, park employees, guides who took tourists to the waterfall, fishermen who frequented the area, and everyone who had participated in the search for Courtney 2 years earlier.

In parallel with the investigation at the crime scene, detectives began working on digital evidence.

Courtney’s phone was never found, but the police had data on her calls and messages received from her cell phone provider in 2021.

At the time, this data did not attract attention because in the last days before her disappearance, Courtney had only communicated with close friends and family.

But now, investigators have studied the archive more closely and discovered messages that were sent to her phone after she disappeared.

On July 15th, the day before her trip to the park, Courtney received a message from an unknown number.

I care.

I’ll wait for you.

You’re not alone.

The girl did not respond to this message and did not even open it, judging by the marks in the system.

Another message came on July 17th when Courtney was already in the park.

I know where you are.

Don’t be afraid.

And a third message on July 18th, Saturday morning.

I’m close.

See you soon.

The phone number from which the messages were sent was registered under a fake name and purchased with cash at a cell phone store in Hendersonville, 30 km from the park.

The store’s surveillance cameras did not record the transaction, but the salesperson remembered the buyer.

According to her, he was a man in his 30s, of average height and build, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.

He paid in cash and did not give his real name.

The salesperson did not remember any distinguishing features as they had many customers like him.

Investigators traced the use of this number.

The last time it was used was on Sunday evening, July 19th, somewhere in the Passage Park area.

After that, the phone was turned off and never turned on again.

But the most important clue was the analysis of the messages.

Digital forensics experts examined not only the text but also the metadata.

It turned out that the messages were not sent from a mobile phone but via the internet using a special application.

The IP address from which the messages were sent belonged to the connect internet cafe in the Chapel Hill University District, a 10-minute walk from the dormatory where Courtney lived.

This meant that the sender knew where she studied and lived.

Detective Rodriguez went to the Internet Cafe and spoke to the owner.

The cafe was open 24 hours a day and mainly served students who were preparing for exams or working on projects.

There were no CCTV cameras and no records of users were kept.

But the owner remembered that on the days when Courtney’s messages were sent, a young man who was not a student came to the cafe several times.

He always sat down at a computer in the far corner, worked for about 20 minutes, and left.

He paid in cash, and didn’t talk to anyone.

The owner of the internet cafe gave a description of the visitor who could have sent the messages to Courtney, a young man in his 30s, thin with dark hair, always wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

He came late in the evening when there were few people in the cafe, and tried not to attract attention.

Detective Rodriguez showed the owner photos of all the men in Courtney’s circle who had been interviewed two years earlier.

Among them were classmates, teachers, dormates, and acquaintances.

The cafe owner did not recognize any of them.

The investigators then broadened their search.

They requested lists of everyone who lived in the area, worked nearby, or frequented the university campus.

They paid particular attention to those who might have known Courtney personally but were not among her close friends.

The list included the name of Travis Hargrove, a 27-year-old man who had worked for 2 years as a courier for a company that served the university.

He delivered office supplies, textbooks, and equipment to various departments, including biology, where Courtourtney studied.

Harrove lived in a rented apartment a 15-minute walk from campus.

Neighbors described him as a quiet and withdrawn person who hardly socialized with anyone.

He worked on weekdays and spent his weekends at home or driving somewhere in his old car.

When detectives checked his background, they found an interesting coincidence.

In 2020, Harg Grove helped students move from one dormatory to another.

Among them was Courtney, who was moving her belongings after renovations in the old building.

Courtney’s roommate Sarah remembered this episode when investigators showed her a photo of Harg Grove.

According to her, he helped carry boxes and was very attentive to Courtney, asking questions about her studies and hobbies.

The girl was polite but kept her distance.

After the move, Hargrove appeared near the dorm several more times under various pretexts.

Sometimes he brought some documents.

Sometimes he said he had forgotten a tool after the move.

Courtney was annoyed by this and asked Sarah to say she wasn’t home.

The detectives found the owner of the internet cafe and showed him Harrove’s photo again.

This time the man looked more closely and said that he resembled a regular visitor who came in the evenings.

He wasn’t 100% sure, but the resemblance was noticeable.

On June 25th, 2023, detectives obtained a search warrant for Hargrove’s apartment.

When they arrived at the address, it turned out that the man had moved out in December of last year without leaving a new address.

The landlord said that Harrove had been a neat tenant who always paid on time.

But in recent months, he had become nervous and suspicious.

He constantly asked if anyone had come looking for him and often looked out the window when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

There was almost nothing left in the apartment.

Harg Grove had taken all his personal belongings, but forensic experts found several interesting details.

In the bathroom, behind a pipe, there was a piece of yellow nylon rope about a meter long.

The same rope was found on Courtney’s remains.

A palmsized piece of white fabric was lying on the floor in the closet.

An examination showed that the fabric was identical in composition and weave to the sheet in which the girl’s body had been wrapped.

These findings were sufficient to issue an arrest warrant.

The search for Hard Grove continued for a month.

He did not have an official job, did not rent accommodation in his name, and did not use bank cards.

But in early July, his car was spotted on camera near a gas station in the town of Asheville, 100 km from the crime scene.

The police set up surveillance of all gas stations and motel in the area.

On July 3rd, Hargrove was arrested at a cheap motel on the outskirts of Asheville.

He was living there under a false name, paying in cash and hardly ever leaving his room.

Harrove did not resist arrest.

In his car, they found remnants of yellow rope, exactly the same as the rope used to bind Courtney’s hands and feet.

In his backpack were a tourist map of the waterfall area and photos of Courtney, which he had apparently taken secretly during the trip.

During the first interrogation, Hargrove remained silent and demanded a lawyer.

But when investigators showed him the results of the rope and fabric tests, as well as photos from the crime scene, he began to get nervous.

His lawyer advised him to cooperate with the investigation.

During the second interrogation on July 8th, Harg Grove made a partial confession.

He said that he was indeed in love with Courtney and had been following her, but had not planned to kill her.

According to his version of events, it all happened accidentally during an argument.

But investigators did not believe this version.

Too many details pointed to a premeditated crime.

the messages he sent to the girl, the purchase of a phone and someone else’s name, the rope and brick he took with him to the forest.

Detective Rodriguez applied psychological pressure.

He described to Harrove in detail how the investigation was proceeding, what evidence had been found, and explained that he had no chance of avoiding punishment.

It would be better to tell the whole truth and get a chance to make a deal with the prosecution.

On July 11th, Harg Grove broke down and gave a full confession.

He said that he fell in love with Courtney at first sight when he moved.

The girl was friendly and beautiful, but she showed no romantic interest in him.

Harrove began to follow her, studied her schedule, and memorized the places she frequented.

He learned about her passion for hiking and biology.

When he realized that Courtney was planning to go to the waterfall alone, he decided that this was his chance.

A week before Courtney’s trip, he went to the waterfall, studied the area, and chose a place to lie in wait.

Hargrove knew that the girl was unlikely to agree to a relationship with him, so he planned to force her into intimacy and then kill her so that she could not identify him.

He bought a phone and sent Courtney several messages to scare her and make her feel vulnerable.

Hargrove wanted her to be in a state of stress when he appeared and offered his help.

On Friday evening, July 16th, he drove to the park in his car and hid it in the woods away from the main road.

He spent the night in the woods watching Courtney’s camp through binoculars.

In the morning, he waited until she undressed and entered the water.

Hargrove attacked the girl as she was coming out of the lake.

At first, he tried to persuade her to be intimate, saying that he loved her and that they were meant for each other.

Courtney was frightened, started screaming, and tried to run away.

Then he hit her on the head with a rock.

The girl fell, but was still conscious.

Harrove tied her hands with a rope he had brought with him, dragged her into the woods away from the trail, and raped her.

After that, he strangled her, squeezing her throat with his hands.

To get rid of the body, Hargrove wrapped it in a sheet he had taken from his apartment, then in Courtney’s sleeping bag.

He tied a brick, which he had also brought with him, to her feet and threw the body off the edge of a waterfall, hoping that it would be carried away by the current.

He left Courtney’s tent and belongings untouched to make it look like an accident.

He threw her phone into a deep crevice in the rocks where it could not be found.

He burned his clothes, which could have had traces of blood on them, in the forest.

Harrove was confident that the body would never be found because he had studied the river’s currents and knew about underwater pockets where heavy objects could get stuck.

He did not expect that 2 years later the flood would be so strong that it would wash the remains out of their hiding place.

On August 25th, 2023, a jury found Travis Hargrove guilty of firstdegree murder with aggravating circumstances.

The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Courtney’s parents attended all the court hearings.

After the verdict was handed down, the girl’s mother told reporters that justice had finally prevailed, but that it would not bring their daughter back.

The family planned to set up a fund to help crime victims and their families.

The Courtney Miller case is an example of how modern investigative techniques and the persistence of investigators can solve even crimes that seem unsolvable.

Thanks to digital evidence and forensic science, the killer was found 2 years after the crime.

Detective Rodriguez received an award from the police department for his outstanding work in solving the case.

In an interview, he said that the most difficult thing was not to lose hope during those two years when no one knew what had happened to Courtney.

But he always believed that the truth would come out sooner or