On May 30th, 2020, in the mountains of Colorado, a group of volunteers cleaned up an abandoned recreation area near an old parking lot at South Colony Lakes.

They picked up trash, pulled out bushes, and broke into old buildings that had not been used for a long time.

One of the participants approached a concrete toilet cubicle boarded up with planks.

The door was nailed shut and its hinges were rusted.

No one could remember when it had last been used.

The man removed the planks, pushed the door open, and was met by a musty, heavy smell.

Inside, in the corner, lay a dusty, faded backpack.

Next to it was a crumpled woman’s jacket, a map of hiking trails, a flashlight, and a sealed bag with documents.

Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

The documents bore the name Samantha Jones.

It was a name that many in these parts remembered from the news 8 years ago.

In July 2012, 27year-old Samantha set off on a solo hike in the South Colony Lakes area.

She was last seen in the parking lot below where the climb to the lakes begins.

Cameras at the entrance recorded her parking her old SUV, grabbing her backpack, and heading down the trail.

3 days later, she hadn’t returned.

Her car was still there, untouched.

Her phone was off.

The first search began on the fourth day after her disappearance.

Rescuers, volunteers, and dog handlers took part.

Drones, and thermal imaging cameras were used.

They searched the trails, the shores of the lakes, and the slopes.

No traces were found.

No scraps of clothing, no belongings, no footprints.

A week later, the search was called off.

The official version at the time was simple.

She fell into a ravine or off a rock wall, and her body could have been carried away by the river or buried by a rock slide.

Her relatives insisted on continuing the search, but resources were exhausted.

The case remained open, but no active search was conducted.

Now, in 2020, the discovery of the backpack has brought the story back into the spotlight.

The police were called to the scene.

The cabin was sealed off and the belongings were carefully packed into separate containers.

At first glance, everything inside looked untouched since Samantha’s disappearance.

The backpack contained dry food, a first aid kit, a supply of batteries, and a notebook.

On the same day, police and forensic experts continued to comb the area.

200 yards from the cabin, in the thicket of fallen trees, they found human bones, a skull, several ribs, parts of the pelvis, and limbs.

Everything was mixed with branches and leaves.

Judging by their condition, the remains had been lying there for many years.

The examination confirmed that it was Samantha Jones.

The bone damage indicated a fractured pelvis and severe traumatic brain injury.

Such injuries could have been caused by a fall from a height.

No signs of violence characteristic of an attack were found on the bones.

Investigators reconstructed the possible course of events.

According to their version, Samantha slipped somewhere on the slope and injured her leg.

Despite the severe pain, she managed to climb down or crawl to the rest area.

The cabin where her belongings were found was open from the inside.

Most likely she used it as shelter from the weather and cold.

Later, perhaps in an attempt to find help or change location, she went outside and headed down the trail, but losing strength, fell into the ravine.

This discovery closed the case, but raised many questions.

Why did she leave her backpack and documents in the restroom? Why didn’t anyone look inside all these years? Could someone have met her on the way and indirectly influenced her fate? Officially, the crime was ruled out, but various versions still circulate among the locals, including both accident and human involvement.

In 2012, immediately after Samantha’s disappearance, the investigation followed several lines.

The first was the standard version for such cases, an accident in the mountains.

Although the South Colony Lakes area is popular with tourists, it is dangerous with sharp drops in altitude, scree slopes, and trails that sometimes break off into cliffs.

In summer, the weather there can change in a matter of hours, sunny in the morning, foggy or stormy by noon.

Rescuers noted that inexperienced tourists often underestimate these conditions.

The police began by interviewing everyone who was in the area that day.

Several people reported seeing Samantha.

Two tourists met her on the way up at around noon.

She was walking quickly, showing no signs of fatigue, wearing headphones with a map in the side pocket of her backpack.

Two others saw her closer to evening at one of the lookout points.

They said Samantha looked calm, sitting on a rock and writing something in a notebook.

After that, silence.

No one else reported seeing her alive.

The police checked all the cars in the parking lot.

Her SUV was in the same place where it had been left with a bottle of water and an empty candy bar wrapper inside.

There were no signs of a break-in or foul play.

The second line of investigation was criminal.

Despite the lack of obvious signs of a crime, investigators did not rule out an attack.

They checked everyone who had been in the area on those days, tourists, fishermen, and national park employees.

Several people were questioned again due to inconsistencies in their alibis, but no evidence of their involvement was found.

An interesting point arose when a man came forward claiming that the day before the disappearance, he had seen a woman resembling Samantha on one of the lower trails in the company of a man in a dark jacket.

He described him as tall, thin, and bearded.

However, other witnesses did not confirm this.

The parking lot cameras only recorded Samantha, and no man in the described clothing entered the lot.

This lead was deemed unreliable.

The third line of investigation was possible deliberate disappearance.

The investigation looked into Samantha’s personal life, her financial situation, contacts, and recent trips.

She worked in a tourist shop in Colorado Springs, rented a small apartment, and had no debts or loans.

Her relatives described her as calm and without conflicts with anyone.

There were no posts or messages on social media indicating any intention to disappear.

The weather conditions were a key factor.

On the day of her disappearance, a brief but heavy rain began in the evening.

The temperature dropped and at night it was around zero above 2,000 m.

If Samantha was at the top of the trail at that moment, got wet and injured her leg, it could have drastically reduced her chances of survival.

The search in 2012 was extensive.

Helicopters combed the area for several days, but due to cloud cover, they were often unable to fly close to the high points.

Dog handlers found several faint scent trails, but they broke off on the slope.

No belongings, not even scraps of fabric were found.

Rescuers noted something strange.

In several places, faint footprints matching Samantha’s size were found, but they did not follow the main route, instead leading toward a dense forest.

There, the trail quickly disappeared.

This direction was checked thoroughly, but to no avail.

A month later, the active search ended.

Her family tried to hire private investigators, but the area was too large.

Without new clues, the work became a waste of time.

The police left the case open, but only returned to it when new information came in, which did not happen until the discovery in 2020.

After the backpack was found in the locked cabin, many of the old theories were revisited.

If Samantha had indeed made it to the recreation area, that would explain why her belongings were found intact.

But the question remained, why did she leave them behind and go on? And most importantly, who boarded up the door after she disappeared.

The boarded up cabin was thoroughly examined in 2020 as a possible crime scene.

After volunteers removed the boards and found the backpack, police completely blocked access to the old parking lot.

Inside the cabin, everything was dry with a lot of dust and cobwebs, but no signs of animals or decay.

The smell was musty but not pungent, indicating that nothing organic had been inside for a long time except for the belongings.

The backpack stood in the corner, and a crumpled women’s jacket lay on the floor nearby.

A plastic bag hung on a hook on the wall containing Samantha’s passport, driver’s license, and bank cards.

Everything was sealed in plastic and undamaged.

In the side pocket of the backpack was a map of the South Colony Lakes area with marker pen markings, a flashlight, and a small packet of dry rations.

The batteries in the flashlight were dead, but the light worked.

The first aid kit contained several bandages and painkillers which had expired a couple of years after her disappearance.

On the floor under the backpack, they found a broken carabiner, a standard tourist model.

Experts were unable to say whether it had been damaged before or after Samantha left her belongings.

There was an old bolt on the inside of the door in working order and with no signs of tampering.

The cabin could be closed from the inside but could not be locked from the outside without additional boards which were found on the door.

This point became the primary source of controversy.

Anyone could have boarded up the door at any time after Samantha’s disappearance.

Local residents and volunteers did not remember who had done it or when.

They claimed that the toilet area had been abandoned in the mid 2000s and later several cubicles had been boarded up to prevent tourists from climbing in, but no one could say for sure about this particular one.

Further investigation of the surrounding area revealed that 200 yd from the cubicle in thick undergrowth among fallen trees lay human bones, a skull, parts of a pelvis, and fragments of limbs.

The location of the remains made it clear that the body had been lying in the open air for a long time, gradually decomposing under the influence of the weather and animals.

No signs of clothing or shoes were found nearby.

Forensic experts determined that the skull had a massive fracture in the frontal temporal region and the pelvis was broken.

Such injuries are typical of a fall from a height, especially onto a rocky surface.

There were no marks on the bones indicating the use of a weapon.

Based on these findings, investigators reconstructed the probable scenario.

According to their version, Samantha suffered an injury to her leg or pelvis, managed to reach the recreation area, and used the cabin as a temporary shelter.

She may have left her belongings behind to make it easier to move.

Later, losing strength or trying to find help, she went outside and headed toward the trail, but fell into a ravine, sustaining a fatal head injury.

However, this version did not satisfy everyone.

The main question is why she left everything behind.

Food, a first aid kit, a flashlight, and her documents.

For any tourist, especially under challenging conditions, this is highly illogical.

Another strange detail is the location of the remains.

If she were walking from the cabin to the trail, it would have been more logical to find the body closer to the route rather than in a windbreak off to the side.

The police searched the area for other clues, clothing remnants, footprints, and metal objects.

They found only a rusty tin can and a piece of rope.

Still, an examination showed that they were not related to the disappearance.

During interviews with residents of nearby settlements, several people recalled seeing a vagrant in the area at that time who lived in a tent not far from the parking lot.

He was described as a man in his 50s with a thick beard and an old backpack.

He often asked tourists for food and might have spent the night in abandoned buildings.

The police tried to find him, but to no avail.

The identity of this man was never established and there was no direct evidence linking him to the case.

All these details left doubts.

Yes, the death was officially ruled an accident.

Still, many of those who participated in the search and local residents believe that the story is not so simple.

After the discovery of Samantha’s remains and belongings in 2020, investigators began the final stage of the investigation.

Their task was to compare all the old materials with the new findings and give an official conclusion.

First, they returned to the search maps from the 2000s.

It turned out that the area where the bones were found had already been combed through in 2012, but only visually.

At that time, there was a thick windbreak, and rescuers looked in from the edge without going deeper.

Fallen trees and thick grass could have hidden the body.

Over the years, vegetation covered the site even more, and the remains became visible only after part of the windbreak fell under the weight of snow.

Forensic experts confirmed that the pelvic and skull injuries could have been caused by a fall from a height of 2 to 3 m onto rocks.

However, the absence of clothing and shoes at the sight of the remains was explained by the fact that over 8 years, the fabric had decomposed or been carried away by animals.

This version was controversial.

Fabric fragments usually last longer.

The police also noted the location of the backpack.

It was standing in the corner of the cabin as if it had been carefully placed there.

It contained everything that could have helped someone survive.

A first aid kit, a flashlight, and food.

It is logical that in the event of an injury, a person would take these things with them.

Investigators explained this.

Samantha may have thought that hiding in the cabin was safer and went to look for help unencumbered so she could move faster.

The boarded up door became the most discussed detail.

It was not possible to determine who did it or when.

Park employees said that some of the old cabins had been boarded up in the mid 2000s, but no one could confirm whether this one was among them.

Suppose the boards were nailed up after her disappearance.

In that case, it means that Samantha’s belongings had been inside for eight years and she could have died shortly after leaving.

Another question was the map in the side pocket of the backpack.

Two routes were marked on it with a marker, the main ascent to the lakes and a side trail leading to an abandoned forers hut.

This hut was located about a mile from the recreation area, but in 2012 it was utterly destroyed.

Investigators found no evidence that Samantha had gone there, but the theory was considered.

There were also calls from locals who claimed to have heard a woman scream in the area of the trail on the night of her disappearance.

One tourist reported seeing a flashing flashlight far below near a ravine, but at the time, no significance was attached to these signals.

It was decided that they could have been accidental tourists or reflections from a campfire.

During the data review, experts looked through all the photos and videos from the 2012 search.

In one of the frames taken from a drone, a dark spot was noticed near the trees, not far from where the remains were later found.

At the time, it was considered a shadow.

Experts now believe that it may have been clothing or the victim herself, but the image was too blurry to prove it.

When all the evidence had been gathered, the police came to the final conclusion that Samantha had died in an accident.

She had fallen, suffered serious injuries, left her belongings in a shelter, and tried to get back to the trail, but lost her strength and fell into a ravine.

For the family, this conclusion was bittersweet.

On the one hand, she had finally been found and identified.

But on the other, there were questions that no one would ever answer.

Why didn’t she take her backpack? Why had her belongings been left in a boarded up cabin for eight years? and who had boarded it up? Was anyone nearby when she was still alive? The case was closed.

The remains were handed over to her relatives and her belongings were returned to her family.

Officially, the story ended there, but in the South Colony Lakes Mountains themselves, tourists and locals still occasionally recall the discovery in the old concrete cabin and how easily a person can disappear, even in a place where hundreds of people visit every Here.