Imagine this.

You are walking along a forest path in a remote mountainous area, enjoying the silence of the wilderness, when suddenly you notice a man sitting by an extinguished campfire.

He is motionless, leaning against a tree, a thermos in his hands, as if he has simply dozed off after a long hike.

You call out to him, but there is no response.

You approach closer and realize with horror that this person is dead.

But the worst is yet to come.

An examination will show that he did not die yesterday or the day before.

He has been dead for 3 years.

And all this time he just sat here in the forest waiting to be found.

This story took place in Glacier National Park in Montana.

And it still haunts everyone who hears about it.

What happened to Mark Wells in the last days of his life? Why was his body found 6 km from the official trail? And most importantly, who or what kept him there, chained to a tree while he slowly died of hunger and thirst? Leave your theories in the comments because this story has more questions than answers.

And if you haven’t subscribed to the channel yet, do it now because there are even more mysterious and frightening stories ahead about how thin the line is between civilization and the wild, between life and death.

Mark Wells was born and raised in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado.

He was the only son in a middle-class family where his father worked as a school teacher and his mother ran a small accounting firm.

From childhood, Mark was fond of hiking and mountaineering.

In high school, he joined a mountain climbing club where he learned basic wilderness survival skills.

After graduating from university with a degree in mechanical engineering, Mark joined a large energy company where he was involved in the design of industrial equipment.

His colleagues described him as a calm, somewhat reserved person who preferred to spend his weekends in the mountains rather than in bars or at parties.

He did not have any serious relationships, although he dated several girls, but nothing long-term ever worked out.

By the age of 34, Mark had become an experienced hiker.

His track record included multi-day hikes in the Rocky Mountains, climbs of medium difficulty, and winter expeditions.

He always prepared thoroughly, studied routes, checked his equipment, and left a detailed travel plan with his parents or colleagues.

Mark was not an adventurer who rushed into the unknown without preparation.

On the contrary, he was the type of hiker who could be described as paranoidly cautious.

He always took a spare set of clothes, extra food for 3 days beyond the planned duration, a satellite phone, a first aid kit, and signal flares.

His friends joked about his backpack, which weighed at least 5 kg more than those of the other hikers.

In early September 2014, Mark took a week’s vacation.

He told his colleagues that he was tired of the hustle and bustle of the city, the constant noise of the office, and the pressure of deadlines and projects.

He wanted to go somewhere where there was no cell phone reception, where no emails from his bosses would reach him, where he could just sit by the fire and look at the stars.

He chose Glacier National Park in Montana, a place known for its rugged beauty and remoteness from civilization.

The park covers an area of more than 4,000 square kilometers along the border with Canada, mountain ranges, glacial lakes, dense forests of fur and cedar, populations of grizzly bears and mountain goats.

It’s not a place for beginners, but for Mark, it was the perfect route.

He planned a 4-day hike along the Hackleberry Lookout Trail, one of the park’s less popular routes.

The trail started at an altitude of about 1,300 m and climbed to an observation tower at an altitude of 2,100 m.

The total length of the round trip was about 32 km.

According to the plan, Mark was to set out on the trail on the morning of September 9th, reach the observation tower by the evening of the second day, spend the night there, and then returned to the parking lot by noon on September 12th.

He left a detailed route plan with his parents, indicating the points of his planned overnight stays and his satellite phone number in case of an emergency.

He said that if he did not get in touch by the evening of September 13th, it meant that something had gone wrong.

On September 9th, Mark parked his car, a gray 2012 Subaru Forester, in the parking lot at the trail head.

Surveillance cameras at the entrance recorded his arrival at a.m.

He was alone, looked calm, methodically packed his backpack, and checked the fastenings.

He put on an orange jacket, dark blue trekking pants, and a gray baseball cap.

On his back was a 70 L backpack.

He was last seen on camera at a.m.

as he headed toward the trail head and disappeared among the trees.

The weather that day was changeable.

In the morning, the sun was shining and the temperature was around 15°, but forecasters warned of possible precipitation in the evening.

In the mountains, the weather changes quickly and unpredictably.

Rain can start suddenly, fog can descend in a matter of minutes, and visibility can drop to a few meters.

But for an experienced hiker, this was not a problem.

Mark had gone hiking in bad weather many times before and knew how to set up a tent in the rain, how to build a fire in damp conditions, and how to stay warm at night.

On September 10th, according to the plan, Mark was supposed to be about halfway to the observation tower.

On the 11th, he was to spend the night at the tower.

On the 12th, he was to return.

On the 13th, in the evening, he was to contact his parents.

But the call did not come.

His parents waited until the morning of the 14th, thinking that perhaps his phone had died or he had been delayed on the trail.

But when there was still no contact on the 14th, Mark’s mother called the National Park Office.

The rangers took the report seriously.

It is not uncommon for tourists to go missing in Glacier Park, but it is always cause for concern.

The park is dangerous.

Bears, mountain lions, steep cliffs, sudden weather changes, avalanches, rockfalls.

Every year, several people die or suffer serious injuries.

Ranger Jacob Harrison, a 52-year-old man with 30 years of experience working in the park, led the search operation.

The first thing they did was check the parking lot.

Mark’s car was in the same place where he had left it.

The car was locked, and there was nothing suspicious inside.

Mark had apparently taken the keys with him.

On September 15th, a group of six rangers and four volunteers set out on the trail.

They took a search dog with them and let it sniff Mark’s belongings from the car.

The dog picked up the scent and led the group along the trail.

After about 8 km, the dog stopped at a spot where a barely noticeable animal trail branched off from the main trail, leading away from the route.

The trail disappeared there on the hard, rocky ground.

The rangers combed the area but found nothing.

No traces of a tent, a campfire, or food packaging.

nothing.

On September 16th, a helicopter was brought in.

They flew over the entire planned route and the surrounding area within a 10 km radius.

They looked for bright colors of tents, backpacks, and clothing.

Mark was wearing an orange jacket, which should have stood out well against the green of the forest, but they found nothing.

The helicopter made several passes.

The pilots used binoculars, but to no avail.

By September 20th, the search operation had been expanded.

Volunteers from local tourist clubs were brought in, and 70 people combed the forest in a chain.

They checked all known campsites, observation decks, and water sources.

They descended into several canyons where Mark could theoretically have fallen.

They checked the vicinity of rivers and lakes, thinking he might have drowned.

But they did not find the body.

Divers searched the bottom of several lakes within a 15 km radius of the trail.

Nothing.

Mark’s parents flew to Montana and stayed at a hotel in the town of Callispel, the closest settlement to the park.

It was a small town with a population of about 23,000.

A typical American provincial town with one main street, a church, a supermarket, and several cafes.

Everyone knew about the missing hiker.

Local newspapers wrote about the search operation and residents discussed what had happened.

Some offered their help.

Others shared theories about what might have happened.

Mark’s father, David Wells, a reserved and tacetern man, gave interviews to the local press.

He said that his son was an experienced hiker, always cautious, always leaving a route plan, always getting in touch on time.

Something had definitely happened.

Otherwise, Mark would have found a way to let them know.

His mother, Elizabeth, sat next to her husband at press conferences, silent, staring at the floor, clutching a photo of her son in her hands.

In the photo, Mark was smiling, standing in front of a mountain lake, holding trekking poles.

The photo was taken a year ago during a hike in Yellowstone.

The police checked Mark’s bank cards.

The last transaction was made on September 8th at a supermarket in Callispel where he bought food for the hike.

The purchase amount was $12367.

After that, the cards were not used.

They checked his phone calls.

The last call was made on September 9th at a.m.

to his parents.

Mark said he was heading out on the trail, that everything was fine, and that he would be in touch in 4 days.

After that, the phone was not registered on any network.

The satellite phone was also silent.

Either it was turned off, damaged, or located in a place where there was no signal, which is unlikely for satellite communications.

By the end of September, the search operation was called off.

Rangers explained to his parents that further searches were pointless without specific information about his location.

The park is huge.

The terrain is difficult to traverse.

And Mark could be anywhere within a 50 km radius of his last known location.

Perhaps he had lost his way, gotten lost, had an accident, or fallen off a cliff in a place that was not visible from the air.

Perhaps he had been attacked by a bear and his body had been dragged into the forest where it could not be found.

Perhaps he had fallen into a crevice or cave.

There were many theories, but no facts.

Mark Wells’s case was classified as missing.

His parents refused to accept this and continued their own search.

They hired private investigators, placed advertisements in local newspapers and on tourist forums, and offered rewards for information.

But the years passed and there was no news.

The year 2015 passed without change.

So did 2016.

His parents grew older and resigned themselves to the idea that they might never know what had happened to their son.

They clung to the faint hope that someday his body would be found and they could give him a proper burial.

August 2017 was hot and dry.

Montana had not seen rain for several weeks and temperatures remained above 30° C which is unusual for this region.

Forest fires raged in several counties.

Smoke hung in the air and visibility deteriorated.

Glacier National Park was temporarily closed to visitors due to the increased fire hazard, but some trails remained open to experienced hikers with special permits.

On August 23rd, a group of four mountain bikers received permission to ride one of the trails.

The group included Thomas Kendrick, 38, a cycling instructor from Seattle, his wife Sarah, 35, a school teacher, and their friends Michael and Jennifer Rogers, both 32, who worked as programmers at a technology company.

They planned to cover a route of about 50 km, spending the night in tents.

Around in the afternoon, when the group was about halfway through the route, Michael noticed that his bike’s rear wheel was losing air.

They stopped to check it out.

They found a puncture and decided to patch the tire.

While Michael was busy with the repair, the others decided to stretch their legs and take a walk around the area.

Thomas saw a small path leading into the forest perpendicular to the main route.

He decided to go and see what was there.

After walking about 100 m, the path led to a small clearing between the trees.

There was an old fire pit in the clearing.

Stones stacked in a circle.

The remains of burnt branches, ashes.

The fire pit looked abandoned, long, unused.

But what Thomas saw next made him stop and tense up.

A man was sitting by a tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

He was leaning back against the trunk, his legs stretched out in front of him, his hands on his knees.

He was holding a thermos in one hand.

His head was bowed to his chest as if he were asleep.

He was wearing an orange jacket, dark pants, and hiking boots.

Thomas called out to him, asking if everything was all right.

The man did not answer.

Thomas came closer and called out again.

Silence.

He came up close and leaned over to look at his face.

And then he realized that something was very wrong.

The skin on his face was dark, almost black, stretched tight over his bones.

His eyes were closed and sunken.

His lips were pulled inward, exposing his teeth.

His hair was dry, brittle, and partially fallen out.

The hands holding the thermos were dry as sticks, his fingers twisted.

It was not a living body.

It was a mummy.

Thomas recoiled and screamed.

Sarah and Jennifer ran to the scene.

They saw the body and recoiled as well.

Michael called the rangers on his satellite phone.

The group moved away from the clearing and waited on the main trail.

2 hours later, the rangers arrived, led by the same Jacob Harrison, who had led the search for Mark 3 years earlier.

Harrison examined the site.

The body was indeed sitting by the tree in the same position Thomas had described, mummified, preserved by the dry air and cold nights.

In the mountains, the decomposition process slows down, especially if the body is in a place protected from precipitation.

Harrison immediately realized that this was not a normal death from hypothermia or trauma.

First, the location was about 6 km from the nearest official trail.

The man could not have ended up here by accident.

Second, the position of the body was too calm, too organized.

People who die of hypothermia usually curl up in a ball trying to stay warm or lie in a chaotic position.

This man was sitting as if he were resting.

Thirdly, there were no belongings around him.

No backpack, no tent, no sleeping bag, nothing except a thermos in his hand.

Forensic experts arrived at the scene the next day.

They cordined off the clearing and began collecting evidence.

They photographed the body from all angles, filmed it on video, and took measurements.

Only then did they carefully remove the body from the tree and place it on a stretcher.

When the body was moved, a strange detail was discovered.

On the tree against which the dead man was leaning at a height of about 1 meter 20 from the ground, there were traces of a metal cable or chain.

The bark was torn off and the wood was worn as if something heavy and metal had been rubbing against the trunk for a long time.

An examination of the body revealed even more disturbing details.

[snorts] There were deep marks on the wrists and ankles, hematomas, old but clearly visible.

Such marks are left by handcuffs or metal shackles that a person has worn for a long time and tried to remove.

On the back between the shoulder blades and on the lower back there were marks also from a metal cable or chain.

The picture was clear.

This person had been tied to a tree unable to move or escape.

Near the body, forensic experts found a metal noose covered by a layer of fallen pine needles and leaves.

The noose was made of steel cable with a diameter of about 8 mm with a lock that could only be opened with a key.

A piece of chain about 2 m long was welded to the noose.

The other end of the chain ended with another lock which judging by the marks on the tree was attached to the trunk.

It turned out that the man was chained to the tree, his range of movement limited to 2 m.

Further examination of the area revealed the remains of a primitive camp.

A few meters from the fire pit, they found a place where a tent had clearly stood.

There were no traces of the tent itself, but the grass was flattened and the ground trampled.

Nearby, they found several empty tin cans buried in the ground.

The cans had no labels and were heavily rusted.

They also found the remains of a rope, which may have been used to secure the tent.

In the bushes, they found a plastic water bottle faded from the sun.

And another find, a metal mountaineering carabiner, also rusted.

But the strangest find was made about 10 meters from the tree to which the body was tied.

There they found another chain attached to another tree.

The chain was shorter, about a meter long, and ended with a collar, also metal, with a lock.

The collar was empty, but marks on the tree bark showed that it had been used for a long time.

Someone or something had been tied to this tree next to the first victim.

It took several days to identify the body.

Dental records confirmed that it was Mark Wells, who had disappeared 3 years earlier.

His parents were notified of the discovery.

His father came to the morg to identify his belongings.

An orange jacket, dark trousers, boots.

All of these belong to Mark.

The thermos was also his with the logo of the travel company where Mark bought his equipment.

A medical examination determined the cause of death to be dehydration and exhaustion.

Mark died of hunger and thirst.

There was no food in his stomach and his internal organs showed signs of prolonged starvation.

Based on the condition of the body, experts determined the approximate date of death to be mid to late September 2014.

i.e.

1 to two weeks after his disappearance.

It turned out that Mark had spent between a week and 10 days in captivity tied to a tree without food or water in the cold September weather.

At night, the temperature in the mountains dropped to zero and during the day it rose to 10 to 15°.

A person in such a situation could survive for a maximum of 10 days if they did not die of hypothermia first.

The marks on his body indicated that Mark had tried to free himself.

The bruises on his wrists and ankles were the result of constant attempts to slip out of his bonds.

His skin was rubbed raw and infection had set in, but his body was too weak to fight it.

A psychological examination conducted postuously based on the condition of the body and the circumstances suggested that Mark was aware of his situation until the very end.

He was not in a coma or unconscious.

He knew he was dying and could do nothing about it.

The police began investigating the case as a murder.

Detective Linda Macdonald, a 48-year-old woman with 20 years of experience in the serious crimes division, was assigned to the case.

Linda was known for her thoroughess and unwillingness to close cases without fully understanding all the circumstances.

She arrived at the scene, examined the clearing, studied the photographs, and questioned the bikers who found the body.

The first question was, “Who could have done it and why?” Mark was an ordinary engineer with no enemies, no debts, and no criminal past.

His life was orderly and boring.

Work, hiking, home, parents, no conflicts, no suspicious acquaintances.

They checked his colleagues, friends, and ex-girlfriends.

Everyone had an alibi for the time of his disappearance.

No one had a motive to kill Mark.

No one even had a conflict with him.

The second version was a random attack, a maniac or sociopath living in the woods who captured Mark and held him captive.

But this version also raised questions.

Why Mark? He was an experienced hiker, physically strong, unlikely to succumb easily to an attack.

The trail he was walking on was not completely deserted.

Other hikers also used it.

If there was a maniac operating in the park, there should have been other victims.

But a check showed that in the last 10 years, there had not been a single case of kidnapping or murder of tourists in Glacier Park.

There had been accidents, bear attacks, falls from cliffs, but no intentional murders.

The third version was that Mark met someone on the trail, got into a conflict with that person, and the situation got out of control.

Maybe he witnessed a crime.

Maybe he accidentally stumbled upon someone’s stash of drugs or stolen property.

The police checked the databases of criminal elements operating in the region in 2014.

They found several people with criminal records living near the park.

They checked their alibis, places of residence, and travel histories.

Nothing connected them to Mark’s disappearance.

Linda Macdonald returned to the place where the body was found.

She studied maps and tried to understand the logistics of the crime.

The clearing was 6 km from the official trail in a remote place where tourists don’t go.

To get the victim there, they would have had to either force him to walk or carry him.

Mark weighed about 85 kg plus his 20 kg backpack.

Carrying such a weight 6 km across rough terrain is almost impossible for one person.

So either there were several criminals or Mark was forced to walk on his own at gunpoint.

But if he was being led at gunpoint, why tie him to a tree? Why leave him to starve to death? Usually murderers want to get rid of their victims quickly.

A shot, a blow, a push off a cliff.

But here the picture was different.

Someone wanted Mark to die slowly.

They wanted him to realize his helplessness.

This pointed to sadistic motivation, a desire to cause suffering, not just to kill.

They checked psychiatric institutions within a 500 km radius.

They looked for patients with sadistic tendencies who could have escaped or been discharged shortly before Mark’s disappearance.

They found three people who fit the criteria.

They checked their whereabouts in September 2014.

All three had alibis confirmed by documents and witnesses.

Detective Macdonald noticed the second chain found in the clearing.

A chain with a collar attached to another tree.

This meant that there were two victims in the clearing, or at least two creatures tied up nearby.

One was Mark.

Who or what was the second? They checked missing persons databases across the country for the period from 2013 to 2015.

They looked for disappearances in Montana and neighboring states that matched the time and location.

They found several dozen cases, but none were directly related to Glacier Park.

One of the theories they began to consider was related to animals.

Perhaps someone was keeping a large predator, a bear, a mountain lion, a wolf in the meadow.

They tied the animal to a chain and used it for some purpose.

Maybe it was a poacher who kept the bear for its bile or other body parts that were valuable on the black market.

Mark could have stumbled upon this illegal camp by accident and the poacher decided to get rid of the witness but not kill him immediately, leaving him to die so there would be no evidence.

They checked known poachers in the region.

Park Security Services provided a list of people who had been spotted poaching in recent years.

The list contained 23 names.

All of them were questioned.

All denied involvement.

Their bank accounts were checked for large deposits that could have come from the sale of bear parts or other animals.

Nothing suspicious.

But the poacher theory had a weak point.

Why keep a bear 6 km from the trail in a place that is difficult to reach? It would have been more logical to have a camp closer to the road to make it easier to transport the goods.

And why tie a witness next to the bear? The bear could have attacked the man, broken the chains, and created chaos.

The theory seemed far-fetched.

Then, Detective Macdonald suggested something else.

Perhaps it was not poaching, but something more personal.

Perhaps Mark had a kidnapper with mental disorders who did not just want to kill him, but wanted to watch him suffer.

Such cases are known in criminology.

Serial killers who hold their victims captive create unbearable conditions for them and watch their torment.

But usually such criminals leave traces, records, photographs, diaries.

There was nothing like that here.

Several months of investigation passed.

Hundreds of people were interviewed.

Thousands of documents were checked and databases across the country were combed through.

There were no results.

The case began to cool down.

Mark’s parents buried him in the family crypt in Denver.

They held a modest ceremony attended by relatives, colleagues, and a few friends.

Everyone said that Mark was a good person, that he did not deserve such a death.

His mother could not come to terms with it and continued to ask the detective questions, demanding that the investigation continue.

In early 2018, Detective Macdonald received an anonymous letter.

The letter came by regular mail in an envelope with no return address postmarked call.

Inside was a piece of paper with the following written in block letters.

He wasn’t alone.

Look north of the clearing.

There is another victim there.

The handwriting was illeible, the letters uneven, as if written by someone wearing gloves or deliberately distorting their handwriting.

Macdonald organized a return trip to the site.

She took a group of forensic experts, a sniffer dog, and a metal detector with her.

They searched the area north of the clearing within a radius of 1 kilometer.

After several hours of searching, they found another site.

About 800 m from the first clearing in a thick spruce forest, they discovered human remains.

The skeleton lay in a shallow pit covered with branches and earth, a skull, ribs, limb bones.

Experts determined that these were the remains of a young woman approximately 25 to 30 years old.

There were signs of trauma on the bones.

Several ribs were broken and the skull had a crack.

Death was caused by trauma, possibly from a blow with a blunt object.

It was difficult to identify the woman.

The soft tissues had completely decomposed and her clothes had rotted away.

But next to the body, they found the remains of a backpack and personal belongings.

A passport in a plastic cover, partially damaged but legible.

Emily Russell, 27 years old, from Portland, Oregon.

The missing person’s database was checked.

Emily had been reported missing in July 2014.

She had gone on a solo hike in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and never returned.

The search was unsuccessful and the case remained open.

But what was Emily doing in Montana in Glacier Park, 1,000 km from where she disappeared? Detective Macdonald began to study Emily’s life.

The girl worked as a graphic designer, lived alone in a rented apartment, and was fond of hiking.

A year before her disappearance, she broke up with her boyfriend of 3 years.

The breakup was difficult, and friends said that Emily was depressed, withdrawn, and had stopped socializing.

The trip to the mountains was her attempt to cope with her emotions and be alone with herself.

But if Emily disappeared in Oregon, how did her body end up in Montana? They checked the camera recordings at the entrances to Glacier Park in July 2014.

There was no record of a car registered to Emily entering the park.

They checked airline and bus records.

Nothing.

Emily did not fly or take a bus to Montana.

So, either she came with someone or she was brought there against her will.

They compared the dates of their disappearances.

Emily disappeared in July 2014.

Mark disappeared in September 2014.

The difference is two months.

Perhaps Emily was the first victim and Mark was the second.

Perhaps the perpetrator kept them both in that clearing.

Emily died first from her injuries and her body was buried.

Mark died later from starvation and his body was left sitting by the tree.

But who was the killer? The anonymous letter suggested that someone knew the details.

Perhaps an accomplice, perhaps a witness, perhaps the killer himself who decided to give a clue.

Macdonald tried to trace the letter.

The envelope was very ordinary, the kind sold in any store.

The paper was also standard.

It was postmarked in Callispel, but that meant nothing.

Anyone passing through town could have sent the letter.

Forensic scientists examined the letter for fingerprints and DNA.

They found a partial fingerprint on the edge of the envelope.

They compared it to their databases.

It was a match.

The fingerprint belonged to David Harp, a 51-year-old man, a former soldier who had served in the army for 20 years and was discharged in 2010 on medical grounds.

mental disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan.

After his discharge, Harp lived in Callispel, worked as a security guard in a supermarket, and lived alone in a rented apartment.

Neighbors described him as a withdrawn, silent man who hardly communicated with anyone.

Detective Macdonald and a group of officers arrived at Harp’s home early in the morning on February 28th, 2018.

They knocked on the door and Harp opened it.

He was tall, thin, with short hair, a gaunt face, and sunken eyes.

Macdonald introduced herself and said they had some questions.

Harp did not resist and invited them inside.

The apartment was small, a one- room flat furnished in a Spartan style.

A bed, a table, a chair, a few boxes with belongings.

Military photographs hung on the walls showing HARP in uniform with his colleagues.

On the table was a half empty bottle of whiskey and a glass.

Macdonald asked where Harp had been in September 2014.

Hara said he didn’t remember.

It was too long ago.

Macdonald showed him photos of Mark and Emily.

She asked if he knew these people.

Harp looked at the photos for a long time, then shook his head.

The officers searched the apartment.

They found several interesting things.

In the closet was a backpack, old, worn, with stains that looked like blood.

In a box under the bed, they found a bunch of keys, among which were small keys that matched the description of the keys to the locks on the chains found in the clearing.

In another box, they found maps of Glacier Park, one of which had a cross marked on it, coinciding with the location of the clearing where Mark’s body was found.

Harp was arrested.

He was taken to the station and interrogated.

Macdonald conducted the interrogation herself.

She asked him directly if he had killed Mark Wells and Emily Russell.

Harp was silent for several minutes, staring at the table.

Then he said yes, he was involved.

But he said he didn’t kill them directly.

He said he just left them there tied up.

Nature did the rest.

Macdonald asked him to explain.

Harp told his version of events.

He said that after leaving the army, he started having problems.

Nightmares, outbursts of anger, and inability to be around people.

Psychiatrists prescribed pills, but they didn’t help.

Harp began spending time in the woods in the mountains where it was quiet and empty.

He built himself a small camp in Glacier Park in that very remote area.

He would go there for a few weeks, live in a tent, hunt, and fish.

In the summer of 2014, Emily accidentally wandered into his camp.

She got lost, strayed from the trail, and came out to his tent.

Harp was in one of his dark states when he couldn’t control himself.

In a flash of anger, he hit the girl.

She fell and hit her head on a rock.

Harp was frightened and realized that he had killed someone.

He didn’t know what to do.

He buried the body not far from the camp.

But after this incident, Harp did not calm down.

On the contrary, something inside him broke completely.

He began to fantasize about controlling other people, about power over life and death.

In September of that year, he was back at his camp and again a random tourist, Mark Wells, came to him.

Mark was lost, looking for his way back to the trail.

Harp met him and offered to help him find his way.

Mark agreed.

They walked together, and at some point, Harp took out the gun he always carried with him.

He put it to Mark’s back and forced him to walk to the camp.

At the camp, Harp chained Mark to a tree.

He said he wanted to see how long a person could survive without food and water.

He said it was an experiment.

Mark begged him to let him go and promised not to tell anyone.

But Harp didn’t listen.

He left Mark tied up, went away for a few hours, then came back and watched.

He gave him no food or water.

He just watched.

After a few days, Mark grew weak, stopped talking, and lost consciousness.

A few days later, he died.

Harp left the body there, tied to a tree.

He told himself that nature would take the body, that animals would carry it away, but the body mummified and remained intact.

After that, Harp left the park and returned to Callispel.

He never returned to that camp.

He tried not to think about what he had done, but when he saw on the news that Mark’s body had been found, he realized that he could be identified.

He decided to send an anonymous letter indicating the location where Emily was buried.

He thought it would confuse the investigation.

He didn’t think his fingerprints were left on the envelope.

Detective Macdonald asked him why he did it.

Harp said he didn’t know.

He said that his mind was clouded at the time, that he wasn’t in control of his actions.

He said that his service in Afghanistan had broken him, that he had seen too much death, that he had become accustomed to violence.

He said that after the army he couldn’t return to normal life, that he felt like a stranger among ordinary people.

Harp was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

The trial began in June 2018.

The defense tried to prove that Hara was insane, that his actions were the result of a mental disorder.

They presented medical records and testimony from psychiatrists who treated him after his discharge.

But the prosecution insisted that Harp was aware of his actions.

He planned the crimes, chose the location, hid the evidence, and held his victims captive for days.

These were not impulsive murders, but premeditated sadistic ones.

The jury deliberated for 3 days.

They returned a verdict of guilty on both counts.

The judge sentenced Harp to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Mark’s parents were present at the sentencing.

His father told reporters that justice had been served, but that it would not bring their son back.

His mother said nothing.

She just cried.

Emily’s relatives were also at the trial.

Her mother said that now at least she knew what had happened to her daughter, that the years of uncertainty had been worse than knowing the truth, however terrible it might be.

She said that they would finally be able to bury Emily properly, hold a ceremony, and put up a gravestone.

This story shows how thin the line between normality and madness is, how dangerous a person can be when left alone with their demons.

Mark Wells was an experienced hiker, took all precautions, and informed his relatives of his plans.

But that didn’t save him.

He met a man who was in a dark place in his mind, and fell victim to someone else’s madness.

Emily Russell simply got lost in the woods, came to a stranger’s camp in search of help.

And that decision cost her her life.

Nature is beautiful, but it does not forgive mistakes.

And sometimes the greatest danger in the wilderness does not come from animals, cliffs, or the weather.

It comes from other people, just as lost and confused, but in their own minds.

And when such people encounter innocent victims, tragedy is inevitable.

Justice may prevail years later.

The perpetrators may be punished, but the victims will not return.

Their lives are cut short, their dreams shattered, their families broken.

And that is a lesson for all of us to be vigilant, to care for one another, to not ignore the signs of others suffering that may turn into a danger to those around them.

Perhaps if David Harp had received the help he needed after his service, if the system had not left him alone with his post-traumatic stress disorder, the tragedy could have been avoided.

But history knows no subjunctive mood, and we are left with facts that cannot be changed.

Two young people are dead.

Their killer is behind bars.

And the clearing in Glacier Park, where their bodies were found, is now a local landmark visited by dark tourism enthusiasts who come to see the crime scene with their own eyes.

Life goes on, but the memory of Mark Wells and Emily Russell will remain forever as a reminder of the fragility of human existence and the darkness that can lurk within any of us.