Dad Nearly Kills His 3 Kids by Hiking up a Mountain Right Before a Storm | Crime Alert 4PM 11.28.25

A Utah father now sits in jail without bail after prosecutors charged him with child torture and abuse tied to a dangerous mountain hike that nearly killed his three children. Drew Nelson reports.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Drew Nelson.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
A Utah fauther sits in jail without bail after prosecutors
charging with child torture and abuse tied to a dangerous
mountain hike that nearly killed his three children. Micah Smith
was charged in Salt Lake County with three counts of
child torture and three counts of aggravated child abuse, all
first degree felonies.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
He's being held without bail.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Search and rescue folks for them. This hike was a
hard hike. This is not an easy hip. This is
a one that even has the strained and professionals day
suffered injury trying to respond to it.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
District Attorney sim Gill adds that as conditions worsened, the
eight year old was taught CPR.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hard to say her brother and also to continue to
go through that experience where she communicated fear and concern
and they were told to march on.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
The case began October eleventh, a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Smith took his three children onto the Broad's Fork trail,
the children ages two to four and eight. Investigators said
Smith did not check the weather the indictment says the
group climbed thousands of feet up the mountain, a storm
moved in snow, hail, and rain. Family members reported them missing.

(01:11):
When they did not return, search and rescue teams were
sent into the canyon on October twelfth. Cruse later found
Smith on the trail. Rescuers said he was acting oddly.
They said he told them one of his children had died.
The two younger children had fallen and suffered head trauma.
One had stopped breathing. When rescuers reached the children, they
were beside a boulder with a few sticks stacked to

(01:33):
block the wind. The children were not wearing much clothing.
The two year old was under the four year old.
The four year old was unconscious and appeared lifeless. First
responders could not detect a pulse. Cruise performed about twenty
minutes of CPR, rushing him to the hospital. Doctors recorded
his body temperature at sixty two point six degrees.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
He later suffered a stroke.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Part of his skull had to be removed and a
drain was surgically inserted. Year old remains hospitalized. The eight
year old told investigators clouds moved in fast. She said
the storm worsened throughout the night. Video from Smith's phone
captured one child asking quote, are we going to freeze
to death? Investigators also reviewed messages Smith exchanged with his wife.

(02:17):
She urged him to get the children down before dark.
At one point, she texted him the words child endangerment.
Smith still continued upward, charging document state. Smith later admitted
he did not check trail or weather reports. He said
the family tried to hike down around six pm, but
only made it about six hundred feet before stopping to

(02:37):
shelter beneath the rock. Prosecutors also revealed prior police contact
with him About one month before the hike. Smith expressed
suicidal thoughts to an officer and said he wanted to
climb a mountain. Officers found two guns and an axe
in his vehicle. Smith denied he planned to hurt himself.
On November tenth, weeks after the rescue, Smith was thrown
out of the hospital.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
The defendant was pressed for Primary Children's Hospital for interfering
with one of his child's care and taperin without.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Equipment, referring to the four year old boy.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
After that incident, he was arrested for domestic violence. Details
of that case have not been made public.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
D A.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Gilsays the children are now receiving proper medical care. Child
Protective Services is involved. The investigation remains active as Smith
awaits further court proceedings in Salt Lake County. More crime
and justice news after this. A Massachusetts man is still

(03:36):
missing under suspicious circumstances nearly twenty years after he vanished
following a party. John Buietran was last seen on April
second of two thousand and five at the party on
Mitchell Street in Randolph. He never returned home and has
never been heard from again. The FBI's Boston Field office,
along with Randolph and Boston police, continue to investigate what
they call a suspicious disappearance. A reward of up to

(03:58):
ten thousand dollars remains on the table for information leading
to his whereabouts or the location of his remains. Tran
was born November eleventh of nineteen seventy six in Saigon, Vietnam.
He was a naturalized US citizen. In the summer of
two thousand and four, he moved from West Covina, California,
to Dorchester, Massachusetts. He enrolled part time at Quincy College,
majoring in liberal arts. His goal was to write screenplays

(04:21):
for film and TV. He worked at a pet supply
store in Quincy. Few details about the events of the
night of the party have been revealed. Investigators have reported
no confirmed sightings since that date. His case is classified
as endangered. Tran was known for routine blood donations through
the American Rod Cross. He was often seen riding his
bicycle and frequently carried a dark colored backpack. John Bui

(04:44):
Tran was twenty eight when he vanished, and he's now
forty nine, about five foot four, weighs one hundred and
thirty pounds or so, his black hair and brown eyes.
The FBI continues to ask for the public's help in
locating Tran or his remains. Tips can be submitted to
the Boston Division the FBI Tips dot FBI dot gov
if you want to remain anonymous, or you can always
call eight hundred Call FBI For the latest crime and

(05:08):
justice news. Follow Crime Alert's hourly update on your favorite
podcast app with this Crime Alert.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
I'm Drew Nelson.