5 ms·

The search for a ranger who was lost and never found

76 points by Thevet 5y ago

diebir 5y ago
Wow, loved this! Beautiful mystery, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.
geocrasher 5y ago
A great story, with a solid cliffhanger at the end. And, no paywall.
oh_sigh 5y ago
I'd be interested in seeing if Paul's sister would do a DNA test to see if she has any nieces or nephews born after his disappearance. From the description, I can imagine a man like Paul laying low and just getting on with a new life, but it seems really unlikely he would stop having sex with random women and possibly fathering children.
livinginfear 5y ago
I found the idiosyncratic use of a semicolon in the salutation to be a bit too peculiar to ignore. Maybe this is a common thing in Anglophonic countries, however I've never seen a semicolon used in this way. Online language and grammar sources[1] seem to indicate that this is incorrect. I think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that both his wife and the writer of the 'tips' used this incorrectly in the same way. [1] https://learnenglishwithdemi.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/comma-colon-or-semicolon-with-greetings/ https://learnenglishwithdemi.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/comma-...
tyingq 5y ago
"In the absence of any hard evidence about Paul’s whereabouts, the Park Service formally fired him for abandoning his post, a move that was grounds for denying Dody survivor’s benefits and Paul’s retirement funds for nearly a decade." That's pretty odd, it doesn't sound like there was any evidence that he abandoned his post.
- mikequinlan 5y ago
  Where I worked (I'm retired now), failing to show up to work for 3 days in a row without notifying them meant you were fired. I think that this is pretty normal; employers can't keep paying people who simply stop coming to work.
  - tyingq 5y ago
    The issue wasn't salary, it was disqualifying survivor's benefits and retirement funds for someone who disappeared while on work premises, perhaps due to something beyond their control.
throwawayfrauds 5y ago
A lot of the places from this article feel lawless in person. I backpack and hike a lot of parks in the US, and only carry a firearm in the southern part of Arizona. There’s hidden camera footage on YouTube of smugglers in the mountains an hour north of the border, carrying automatic weapons. There’s sections north of the border that have been closed to the public because the government is unable to deal with the crime there. My cousin who lives there confronted a trespasser on their property who was arrested an hour later for murdering someone the night before in the national park. Every theory in this article seems plausible.
- snypher 5y ago
  >There’s sections north of the border that have been closed to the public because the government is unable to deal with the crime there. I don't think this is true. Outside of the area closed for border wall construction (eg in Coronado), can you provide a reference?
  - throwawayfrauds 5y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_National_Wildlife_Refuge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_National_Wildli... Also, this is an article from the time it was closed: https://www.kold.com/story/13506034/border-danger-zone https://www.kold.com/story/13506034/border-danger-zone

76 points by Thevet 5y ago

diebir 5y ago

Wow, loved this! Beautiful mystery, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.

geocrasher 5y ago

A great story, with a solid cliffhanger at the end. And, no paywall.

oh_sigh 5y ago

I'd be interested in seeing if Paul's sister would do a DNA test to see if she has any nieces or nephews born after his disappearance. From the description, I can imagine a man like Paul laying low and just getting on with a new life, but it seems really unlikely he would stop having sex with random women and possibly fathering children.

livinginfear 5y ago

I found the idiosyncratic use of a semicolon in the salutation to be a bit too peculiar to ignore. Maybe this is a common thing in Anglophonic countries, however I've never seen a semicolon used in this way. Online language and grammar sources[1] seem to indicate that this is incorrect. I think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that both his wife and the writer of the 'tips' used this incorrectly in the same way. [1] https://learnenglishwithdemi.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/comma-colon-or-semicolon-with-greetings/ https://learnenglishwithdemi.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/comma-...

tyingq 5y ago

"In the absence of any hard evidence about Paul’s whereabouts, the Park Service formally fired him for abandoning his post, a move that was grounds for denying Dody survivor’s benefits and Paul’s retirement funds for nearly a decade." That's pretty odd, it doesn't sound like there was any evidence that he abandoned his post.

mikequinlan 5y ago
Where I worked (I'm retired now), failing to show up to work for 3 days in a row without notifying them meant you were fired. I think that this is pretty normal; employers can't keep paying people who simply stop coming to work.
- tyingq 5y ago
  The issue wasn't salary, it was disqualifying survivor's benefits and retirement funds for someone who disappeared while on work premises, perhaps due to something beyond their control.

throwawayfrauds 5y ago

A lot of the places from this article feel lawless in person. I backpack and hike a lot of parks in the US, and only carry a firearm in the southern part of Arizona. There’s hidden camera footage on YouTube of smugglers in the mountains an hour north of the border, carrying automatic weapons. There’s sections north of the border that have been closed to the public because the government is unable to deal with the crime there. My cousin who lives there confronted a trespasser on their property who was arrested an hour later for murdering someone the night before in the national park. Every theory in this article seems plausible.

snypher 5y ago
>There’s sections north of the border that have been closed to the public because the government is unable to deal with the crime there. I don't think this is true. Outside of the area closed for border wall construction (eg in Coronado), can you provide a reference?
- throwawayfrauds 5y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_National_Wildlife_Refuge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_National_Wildli... Also, this is an article from the time it was closed: https://www.kold.com/story/13506034/border-danger-zone https://www.kold.com/story/13506034/border-danger-zone