The body of a woman was found behind a false wall in an abandoned service hut.

It was mummified.

The woman disappeared 5 years ago while hiking in a national park.

She was kept there for several months before she died.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.

It is one of the most visited national parks in the United States, attracting about 10 million tourists annually.

The park covers an area of more than 200,000 hectares.

It has mountains up to 2,000 m high, dense forests, rivers, waterfalls, and hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails.

But for all its beauty, the park can be dangerous.

Every year, people go missing here.

Some are found alive after a few days.

They just got lost.

Some are found dead.

They fell off a cliff, drowned in a river, or died of hypothermia.

And some are never found at all.

They disappear without a trace, dissolving into the endless forests.

Megan Rowley was one of those people.

But her story turned out to be different from that of other missing tourists.

Her story was much darker and more terrifying.

Megan was born in August 1982 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville is a small town in the mountains known for its bohemian atmosphere, art galleries, and proximity to a national park.

Megan grew up here, attended local school, and went to college.

She was an ordinary middle-class girl.

Her parents worked at the local hospital, her father as a doctor, and her mother as a nurse.

Megan had a younger sister, Emily, who was three years younger.

Megan always loved nature.

From childhood, she went hiking with her parents, explored the trails around Asheville, and photographed the landscapes.

Photography became her passion as a teenager.

She got her first camera at 15 and has hardly been without it since.

She photographed everything: mountains, trees, birds, sunrises, sunsets.

Her work was beautiful, atmospheric, and full of love for nature.

After graduating from college, Megan worked at a local travel agency, helping to plan hikes and excursions for tourists.

It wasn’t her dream.

She wanted to be a professional photographer, sell her work, maybe work for a travel magazine.

But professional photography is a competitive field, and Megan hadn’t yet managed to break into it.

The agency job was stable and allowed her to live independently.

In her free time, Megan continued to go hiking and take pictures.

She often went alone.

Her friends couldn’t always join her, and Megan didn’t want to wait.

She was an experienced hiker, knew the park’s trails, could read maps, and navigate with a compass.

Her parents sometimes worried about her going alone, but Megan reassured them.

She said she was always careful, always told someone where she was going, and always took everything she needed with her.

On August 24th, 2007, a week before her 25th birthday, Megan decided to go on a 3-day hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

She planned to hike the Forny Ridge Trail, a 35 km loop that winds through the forest along the ridge, offering beautiful views of the valleys.

The trail was of moderate difficulty, and Megan had hiked it before and knew it well.

She told her parents and sister about her plans.

She said she would leave on the morning of the 24th and plan to return on the evening of the 26th.

She took a tent, a sleeping bag, 3 days worth of food, water, a filter for purifying water from streams, a first aid kit, a map, a compass, a flashlight, and spare batteries.

and of course her camera with several spare memory cards.

Megan also took her cell phone even though she knew there would be no signal for most of the route.

In 2007, smartphones were just beginning to become popular and Megan had a regular push button phone with a lowquality camera.

She used it mainly for calls.

On the morning of August 24th, Megan loaded her backpack into her car, an old 1998 Honda CRV, and drove to the park.

It was about an hour’s drive from Asheville to the park entrance.

She arrived around 900 in the morning.

At the park entrance was a visitor center where tourists were supposed to register before hiking.

It was a recommendation, not a strict requirement.

Many ignored it.

But Megan always registered.

She filled out the form indicating her name, route, departure date, and planned return date.

She handed the form to the ranger at the desk.

The ranger who was working that day later recalled Megan.

He said she looked cheerful and ready for the hike.

They talked briefly about the weather.

The forecast was good, clear, and warm.

The ranger wished her a good hike.

Megan thanked him and left.

She parked her car in the parking lot at the start of the Forny Ridge Trail.

She put on her backpack, checked that everything was in place, and began her ascent.

It was around in the morning.

That was the last time anyone saw Megan Rowley alive.

On the evening of August 26th, Megan’s parents waited for her to return.

They knew she planned to return late in the evening, so they didn’t worry until 1000 p.m.

When Megan didn’t show up by , her mother called her cell phone.

The phone was either turned off or out of range.

Her parents waited until midnight, then began to worry seriously.

Her father called the park ranger office.

He explained the situation.

His daughter was supposed to return from her hike, but she hadn’t.

The ranger said this was not uncommon.

Hikers often get delayed, walk slower than planned, or decide to stay another day.

He told them to wait until morning, and if Megan didn’t show up, they would start a search.

On the morning of August 27th, Megan was still missing.

Her parents called the park rangers office again.

This time, they took action.

The rangers checked Megan’s registration form, found out her route, and drove to the parking lot.

Megan’s car was still where she had left it.

This was a bad sign.

If she had completed her hike, the car would not be there.

This meant that something had happened along the route.

The rangers began a search operation.

First, they walked the entire length of the Forny Ridge Trail, scanning the trail, calling Megan’s name and looking for any signs of her presence.

They found nothing.

The trail was empty.

No traces of a camp, no abandoned belongings.

By the evening of August 27th, significant resources had been involved in the search.

Several teams of rangers, volunteers, search dogs.

They combed not only the trail, but also the surrounding area.

They checked cliffs, streams, and thick vegetation.

They looked for any signs of an accident, fallen items, traces of blood, damaged vegetation.

Megan’s parents came to the park and joined the search.

They walked the trails shouting their daughter’s name until they were horsearo, praying that she would be found alive.

Her sister Emily was also there handing out flyers with Megan’s photo to other tourists, asking if anyone had seen her.

The search continued for a week, two weeks, three.

They used helicopters for aerial surveillance and thermal imaging cameras to detect body heat.

They expanded the search area to 10 km from the route.

They checked all known caves, abandoned buildings, and bodies of water in the area.

Nothing.

Megan had vanished into thin air.

Her backpack, tent, sleeping bag, everything was gone with her.

There were no signs of a struggle or animal attack.

Experienced rangers said that this rarely happens, but it does happen.

Sometimes people just disappear in the park and are never found.

By the end of September 2007, the active search had been called off.

The official conclusion was that Megan Rowley had probably died in an accident in a remote part of the park.

She may have fallen into an inaccessible crevice, drowned in a river, been attacked by an animal, and her body carried away.

The exact cause is unknown.

The case remains open, but active work has ceased.

It was terrible for the family.

not knowing what had happened to Megan, not having a body to bury, living with constant hope and constant fear.

Maybe she was out there somewhere, alive, injured, waiting for help.

Or was she dead, her body lying somewhere in the woods, never to be found.

Her parents did not give up.

Megan’s father, Richard Rowley, took a long leave of absence from work and spent several months searching for her himself.

He walked through the park, studied maps, talked to rangers trying to figure out where his daughter might be.

Her mother, Susan, handed out flyers, gave interviews to local media, and ask the public for help.

Megan’s story made the local news.

Several newspapers wrote articles about the missing hiker.

There were a few television reports, but public interest quickly faded.

There were too many other news stories, other tragedies.

Megan became just another statistic, another person lost in the wilderness.

Her family created a website dedicated to Megan.

They posted her photos, a description, and information about her disappearance.

They asked anyone with information to contact them.

The site received several thousand views, but no useful information was provided.

A year after her disappearance, her family held a memorial service.

Without a body, without a grave, just a memorial service at the local church.

Megan’s friends, colleagues, and classmates attended.

Everyone remembered her as a cheerful girl full of love for life and nature.

Her parents cried, clinging to the last hope that one day their daughter would be found.

Years passed.

Life went on, though not as it had before.

Megan’s parents became activists advocating for improved safety in national parks.

They demanded mandatory registration of all tourists, more rangers on the trails, and better search equipment.

Some of their proposals were accepted by the park administration.

Megan’s sister, Emily, struggled to cope with the loss.

She and Megan were close and shared everything.

The loss of her older sister left a void in Emily’s life.

For a long time, she couldn’t go hiking.

Every forest reminded her of Megan.

Over time, the pain dulled, but it never completely disappeared.

In July 2012, 5 years after Megan’s disappearance, a routine inspection of all service facilities was conducted in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It was a routine procedure that was done every few years, checking the condition of cabins, ranger stations, warehouses, making sure everything was in order or needed repair.

A team of three rangers led by senior ranger Marcus Hayes was inspecting abandoned facilities in a remote part of the park.

Among them was an old service hut that had been used by rangers in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The hut had been decommissioned in 2004 when a new, more modern station was built closer to the central part of the park.

The hut was located about 20 km from the Forny Ridge Trail in a dense forest far from tourist routes.

It was a wooden structure built in the 1970s, simple and functional, one large room with beds, a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a basement for storing equipment.

After the cabin was closed, all valuable equipment was removed, but the building itself remained standing.

Marcus and his team drove up to the cabin in a jeep along an old forest road.

The cabin looked abandoned, the windows boarded up, the door locked with a padlock.

Marcus opened the lock with a key from his set of service keys.

The door opened with a loud creek.

Inside, it was dusty and musty.

The air was stale, smelling of mold and wood.

There was almost no furniture, a few old beds with bare mattresses, a broken chair, empty shelves.

Everything looked as you would expect, an abandoned building to look.

The rangers inspected the main room, the kitchen, and the bathroom.

Everything was in poor condition and needed repair or demolition.

Marcus took notes on his tablet.

Then they went down to the basement.

The basement was small, about 4×6 m with a low ceiling.

Concrete floor, wooden walls, equipment, tools, and supplies used to be stored here.

Now the basement was almost empty.

A few old boxes, rusty tools, a pile of trash.

One of the rangers, a young guy named Tyler Campbell, noticed something strange.

In the far corner of the basement, one wall looked different from the rest.

The boards were a different color and slightly protruded.

Tyler came closer and examined it.

It was a false wall built later than the main structure.

Tyler called Marcus.

Marcus came over and carefully examined the wall.

Indeed, it was an additional structure.

Why would someone build a wall in the corner of the basement? Maybe it was an additional storage room.

Marcus decided to check it out.

They began to dismantle the boards.

The boards were fastened with nails, but they were old and rusty and came out easily.

After a few minutes, they had removed enough boards to see what was behind them.

Behind the false wall was a small room about 2x 2 m.

Inside was a metal folding bed, and on the bed lay something covered with an old blanket.

Marcus shown his flashlight on it.

The shape under the blanket was human.

He slowly approached and carefully lifted the edge of the blanket.

Under the blanket was a body, a human body, mummified, the skin dark and leathery, stretched tight over the bones.

Long dark hair, remnants of clothing, a t-shirt, hiking pants, boots.

The body was lying on its back, arms folded across the chest.

Marcus immediately stepped back and ordered everyone to leave the basement.

This is a crime scene.

Don’t touch anything.

He took out his radio and called the police.

The police and forensic experts arrived a few hours later.

The area around the cabin was cordoned off.

The experts went down to the basement and began to carefully examined the secret room.

The body was surprisingly well preserved thanks to the special conditions in the room.

The basement was dry and ventilated through small cracks in the walls which prevented complete decomposition.

Instead, the body mummified naturally.

Forensic experts photographed everything, took measurements, and collected samples.

They then carefully removed the body and took it to the morg for detailed examination.

Other items were found in the secret room.

There was a small table next to the bed.

On it lay personal belongings, a wristwatch, a simple silver ring, and several hair clips.

Everything was neatly stacked as if someone had carefully stored these items.

Empty water bottles, energy bar wrappers, and empty tin cans were also found in the room.

Someone had kept a person here, fed them, and given them water.

But why? And who? In the corner of the room was a small heater connected to the cabin’s electrical network.

This explained why the room was relatively warm and dry even in winter.

Forensic experts began working on the body.

The first task was identification.

They took DNA samples and x-rayed the teeth for comparison with dental records.

They also examined the clothing and personal belongings in search of identifying features.

The t-shirt on the body had a print on it.

the logo of a local cafe in Asheville.

This was a small clue to the victim’s origin.

The shoes were hiking boots, Merryill brand, popular with tourists.

One of the hair clips had a tiny engraving, the initials Mr.

Detectives began checking lists of missing persons in the region over the past 10 years.

They paid particular attention to young women who had disappeared in the national park area and they quickly found a match.

Megan Rowley, 25 years old, disappeared in August 2007 while hiking on the Forny Ridge Trail.

The description matched about 5’5, dark hair, thin build.

The initials matched.

Mr.

Detectives contacted Megan’s family.

They asked for DNA samples for comparison, dental records, any information that could help identify the body.

The family was shocked.

For 5 years, they had not known what had happened to Megan.

Now, perhaps they would get an answer.

The DNA analysis took several days.

The results confirmed that the body in the cabin belonged to Megan Rowley.

After 5 years of uncertainty, she had been found.

But how did she end up in that cabin? what had happened to her.

Forensic experts conducted a complete examination of the body.

They determined that death occurred approximately 3 to four months after Megan’s disappearance, that is at the end of 2007.

The cause of death was suffocation.

There were cracks on the hyoid bone characteristic of neck compression.

Experts also found signs of prolonged restraint.

There were shallow grooves on the bones of her wrists and ankles, indicating that her limbs had been bound for a long time with rope or handcuffs.

The body was emaciated, indicating malnutrition during the months of captivity.

The picture was becoming clear.

Megan had been kidnapped while hiking.

She had been held in a secret room in a cabin for several months.

She had been fed minimally and tied up.

Then she had been killed by strangulation.

This was not an accident or an animal attack.

It was a deliberate planned crime.

Someone had kidnapped Megan, hidden her in this remote location, held her captive and then killed her.

The police began investigating the murder.

The first question was, “Who had access to this cabin? It had been closed since 2004 and was locked.

Only rangers should have had keys.

” Detectives requested a list of all rangers who had worked in the park from 2004 to 2007 and had access to the keys to the cabin.

The list contained about 20 names.

Most were still working in the park or had moved to other locations, but one name stood out.

Daniel Cross, a ranger who worked in the park for 20 years from 1986 to 2006.

He was fired in 2006 after several complaints from tourists about his behavior.

The detectives pulled up Cross’s personnel file.

He was now 58 years old, born in 1954.

He had worked as a ranger for most of his adult life.

He was married, divorced in 1993 with no children.

He lived alone in a small house near the park.

His personal file contained records of several incidents in recent years.

In 2004, a tourist complained that Cross had behaved strangely when she asked him for directions.

He stood too close, stared at her uncomfortably for a long time, and asked personal questions.

The woman felt uncomfortable.

In 2005, there was another complaint.

Cross allegedly followed a group of young female tourists on the trail, watching them from a distance.

When they quickened their pace, he quickened his pace as well.

The women were frightened and returned to the visitor center where they reported the incident.

The park administration talked to Cross after each incident.

He denied any inappropriate behavior, saying that he was just doing his job ensuring the safety of tourists.

But the complaints continued to come in.

In 2006, the final incident occurred.

Cross was spotted in an area where he was not supposed to be late at night for no apparent reason.

When asked what he was doing there, he gave contradictory explanations.

The management decided that enough was enough.

Cross was offered the choice of resigning voluntarily or being officially dismissed.

He chose the former and left in May 2006.

After his dismissal, Cross continued to live in his house near the park.

He worked odd jobs, handyman, gardener, sometimes a guide for private tourist groups.

He kept to himself and hardly socialized with anyone.

Neighbors said he was strange but not dangerous.

A quiet man who lived alone and didn’t bother anyone.

Detectives decided that Cross was the prime suspect.

He had access to the cabin during his employment.

He was fired for strange behavior.

He lived near the park and knew it like the back of his hand.

He had the opportunity and possibly the motive.

The detectives drove to Cross’s house.

It was a small one-story house in the woods, a 20-minute drive from the park entrance.

The house looked well-kept, though simple.

An old Toyota Tacoma was parked in the yard.

The detectives knocked on the door.

No answer.

They walked around the house and looked in the windows.

No one was visible inside.

They tried to open the door.

It was locked.

The detectives obtained a search warrant and returned with a team.

They broke down the door and went inside.

The house was neat, almost spartan.

Minimal furniture, minimal personal belongings, a living room with a sofa and a TV, a kitchen with basic utensils, a bedroom with a single bed.

Everything was clean, organized, impersonal.

But in the bedroom, in the closet, the detectives found something interesting.

A box of photographs.

Hundreds of photographs of young women clearly taken without their knowledge.

Women on park trails, at observation decks, at waterfalls.

The photographs were taken from a distance with a telephoto lens.

The women did not know they were being photographed.

The box also contained newspaper clippings about missing tourists in the region, articles about Megan Rowley, and several other cases over the past decade.

Cross had been collecting information about missing people.

In another box, they found a notebook, an ordinary school notebook with a grid pattern.

Inside were notes dating back several years, short notes, dates, names.

The handwriting was neat, but the content was disturbing.

One of the entries dated August 24th, 2007, the day Megan disappeared, read, “New thorny trail.

One, photographer led to old cabin.” Other entries contain dates and brief notes.

Feeding quiet today, tried to scream, had to tie her tighter.

Says her parents are looking for her, won’t find her.

The last entry about Megan was dated late November 2007.

Not moving anymore, finished.

The notebook was a horrific crime diary.

Cross documented Megan’s abduction and captivity.

He followed her on the trail, waited for her to be alone, and kidnapped her.

He took her to a cabin that only he knew about.

He kept her there for months, and then he killed her.

Detectives also found keys.

Several old keys on a ring.

One of them was marked with a marker.

Old cabin number seven.

It was the key to the cabin where Megan’s body was found.

Cross kept the key after he was fired.

No one asked for it back or he made a copy before he left.

With this evidence, detectives began searching for Daniel Cross.

But he was nowhere to be found.

The house was empty.

The car was in the driveway, keys inside.

His bank account showed no recent transactions.

His cell phone was turned off.

Detectives interviewed neighbors.

One elderly man said he had seen Cross a few days ago, leaving the house early in the morning with a backpack.

He thought Cross was going hiking.

Cross sometimes went to the park alone and returned a day or two later.

The police began searching for Cross in the park.

They checked his favorite places, the trails he often visited.

They used dogs, helicopters, and teams of rangers.

But the park is huge, and if Cross wanted to hide, he knew where.

After a week of searching, Daniel Cross’s body was found.

He was in a remote part of the park in a dense forest far from the trails.

The body was hanging from a tree.

Suicide by hanging.

There was a note next to the body.

In the note, Cross confessed to the murder of Megan Rowley.

He wrote that he had been following her on the trail, that she was perfect, alone, beautiful with a camera, that he hadn’t planned to kill her.

He just wanted to keep her for himself.

He kept her in a cabin, fed her, talked to her, but she didn’t understand or appreciate his care.

She constantly screamed and tried to escape.

In the end, he got tired of her and finished her off.

The note also hinted that Megan wasn’t the only one.

There had been others over the years, but he didn’t give any details.

He wrote that he didn’t want to live, knowing that they would all be found, that it was better to end it all now.

The police took this confession seriously.

They began to investigate all cases of missing tourists in the park over the past 30 years, the period during which Cross worked as a ranger.

There were several unsolved cases, mostly young women who had disappeared without a trace.

The detectives returned to the cabin and began a more thorough search.

They checked the entire basement, the walls, and the floor.

They used ground penetrating radar to detect possible burials under the floor or near the cabin.

And they found two more bodies.

They were buried in the woods about 50 m from the cabin under a thick layer of earth and leaves.

Both bodies were in a state of skeletal decomposition.

Forensic examination determined that they were two young women who had died about 10 and 15 years ago.

DNA analysis was compared with a database of missing persons.

One of the victims was identified as Jessica Lang, 23 years old, who disappeared in 1997 while hiking in the park.

The second was Amy Chen, 26 years old, who disappeared in 2002.

Also while hiking, Daniel Cross was a serial killer.

He used his position as a ranger to hunt down lone female hikers.

He followed them on the trails and chose those who were walking alone.

He kidnapped them, took them to his cabin, and held them captive there.

Then he killed them and buried them or left their bodies in a secret room.

Megan was his last victim.

After her death, Cross lived a normal life for several more years.

But when he learned that Megan’s body had been found, he realized that everything would be revealed.

He decided to kill himself before he was arrested.

Megan’s family was devastated when they learned the truth.

For 5 years, they had hoped that their daughter had simply gotten lost, that her death had been quick and painless.

Now they knew that she had been kidnapped and held in terrible conditions for months before being killed.

It was the worst truth they could have learned.

Megan’s father, Richard, gave an interview to a local newspaper.

He said, “We looked everywhere for her.

We passed that cabin maybe several times over the years.

We didn’t know she was there, locked up, suffering.

If we had known, if someone had checked that cabin more thoroughly,” her mother, Susan, added, “This monster worked as a ranger.

People trusted him, thought he was protecting them.

But he was hunting young women.

How many more victims could there be? How many more bodies haven’t been found? The police continued their investigation.

They checked all of Cross’s records, all his photos, all the places he had visited.

They compared them with the database of missing persons.

They found possible matches with several other cases, but without concrete evidence, it was difficult to confirm the connection.

The families of Jessica Lang and Amy Chen also received the answers they had been waiting for for years.

Both bodies were returned to their families for burial.

It was a bittersweet closure.

They knew the truth, but the truth was horrible.

The park administration conducted an internal investigation.

How was Cross able to commit these crimes for so long without being caught? Were warning signs missed? Why weren’t complaints from tourists taken more seriously? It turned out that the system was flawed.

Complaints about rangers were handled internally without involving the police.

Cross was warned but not fired until 2006.

No one checked where he went or what he did after his shift.

There was too much trust and too little control.

After this case, new rules were introduced.

All service cabins and buildings must be inspected regularly, at least once a year.

Keys to abandoned facilities must be returned or destroyed.

Complaints about staff must be investigated with the police if there is suspicion of criminal behavior.

The cabin where Megan’s body was found was demolished.

The park administration did not want it to stand as a monument to horror.

The area was cleared and trees were replanted.

Only a small plaque marked the spot where the hut once stood in memory of Megan Rowley, Jessica Lang, Amy Chen, and all those who lost their lives in these mountains.

Megan’s family held a funeral.

Finally, after 5 years of waiting, they were able to bury their daughter.

The ceremony was quiet, attended only by close friends and relatives.

Megan was buried in a cemetery in Asheville next to her grandparents.

The tombstone is engraved with the words Megan Rowley 1982 2007 beloved daughter, sister, friend.

Her spirit lives on in the mountains she loved.

Megan’s sister Emily took her sister’s camera, the very one Megan had taken on her last hike.

The camera was found among her belongings in a secret compartment.

The memory card contained Megan’s last photos, views of trails, trees, and sunrises in the mountains.

Beautiful, peaceful pictures taken just hours before her life turned into a nightmare.

Emily created an online gallery with Megan’s work.

She posted all of her photos taken over the years.

The gallery became popular and people from all over the world saw Megan’s talent and her love of nature.

Some of the photos were sold and the money went to a fund created by the Rowley family to support safety in national parks.

Megan Rowley’s story became a warning, a reminder that even in beautiful, seemingly safe places, danger can lurk.

That not all rangers and conservationists are good people.

That you always have to be careful, even in parks.

Megan’s parents continued their activism.

They lobbyed for laws requiring background checks on all national park employees.

They demanded that more surveillance cameras be installed on trails.

They insisted that solo hikers be able to register their routes via a mobile app with GPS tracking.

Some of their proposals were accepted.

Others were rejected due to budget constraints or privacy concerns.

But their work was not in vain.

They saved lives by preventing future tragedies.

Daniel Cross’s case became a subject of study for criminologists and psychologists.

He was a typical serial killer.

He used his position of authority, chose vulnerable victims, and planned his crimes carefully.

But he lived a normal life on the surface, and no one suspected his true nature.

Experts said that such people are difficult to detect.

They hide their dark side well and appear normal in society.

Only close observation and behavioral analysis can reveal the warning signs.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to operate, welcoming millions of tourists every year.

Most visitors spend their time safely enjoying the beauty of nature and returning home with fond memories.

But Megan Rowley’s story serves as a grim reminder that sometimes beauty hides danger.

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See you in the next episode.