May 28, 2025 • 37 mins
In this first installment of our new Yellowstone series, Scott and Heather take you deep into Yellowstone National Park to revisit the chilling and heartbreaking disappearance of 8-year-old Dennis Eugene Johnson. In April 1966, Dennis vanished while helping search for his lost sister - a moment that sparked one of the largest search efforts in the park’s history.
Plus: a shout-out to the new video channel ThreePourDecisions and their Yellowstone Bourbon episode!
If you have information on this case, contact the National Park Service at 307-344-2122.
Plus: a shout-out to the new video channel ThreePourDecisions and their Yellowstone Bourbon episode!
If you have information on this case, contact the National Park Service at 307-344-2122.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome back to status pending covering cases unsolved, unresolved, or
have lingering questions. I'm Scott Fuller. Heather Rights is here
as well. Heather, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Better?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Better? Sounding? A little bit better than our last episode?
I honestly couldn't tell that much. But everybody is sick
in my orbit.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I don't know if it's COVID six point zero or
what is going on, but it does not look fun
and so far I've avoided it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
But yeah, I thought I would avoid it because I
have so far, but no, not this month.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It'll get me eventually. Yeah, something gets all of us.
That's our show. See you next week. Anyway. So this
came up on our last episode, and I think Heather
maybe recap for us the genesis of the thought because
you're married to a new media star all of a sudden,
the most unlikely of new media stars, I would say,
(01:24):
just based on his personality in the past. But things change,
I suppose. So how did we get on our Yellowstone
kind of mini series idea?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, so you kind of gave it away there, Kats
out of the bag, married to this person who decided,
you know what I really like Bourbon a whole lot.
I have a shit ton of it. I know a
lot of things about it. I'm gonna start a YouTube channel,
and here we are. He started a YouTube channel with
a friend and well two friends basically. Yeah, they're one
(01:54):
of their reviews, tastings whatever they're calling it is on Yellowstone,
yellowstin Bourbon. So it kind of gave us an idea. Cool.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So yeah, that was kind of the idea for us
to go that way. To YouTube is way too intense
for me.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Ah, I can't do it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Man. I do video stuff because I have to for work.
But I have a face for radio, and this is
so much simpler, you know. It's audio really is simpler. Yes,
and I'm not going to say better, but I like
to use audio to tell stories in a way where
you have their undivided attention of the audience. Videos a
whole other thing, obviously. So good for him. It's good
(02:32):
to have hobbies. And we'll see where it goes. But
we're definitely going to plug it and let you know
where to find all the stuff. Cool. So our Yellowstone
series based on that has to do with Yellowstone National Park,
not to be confused with a TV show. I have you've
seen that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I haven't, but everybody keeps talking about it, And the
more people talk about it, I hate to say it.
It turns me off.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Like I did that with Breaking Bad too. I just
heard yep, like five, season five or six, it's the
best show ever. And every time I heard that, like, no,
I'm not going to watch that. I don't know what
that is. I won't take recommendations from people who probably
know what they're talking about. They're a human being entertained,
just like I would be. But yeah, I don't know
(03:11):
what that is. But a lesson kind of learned there.
When I finally got around to it on that shows
last season Breaking Bad, I was like, yeah, I get it.
I do like it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's how I was with the Office too, and now
I'm overly obsessed. It's kind of embarrassing. But like when
people are hyping it up so much, it's like, Okay,
what am I going to find fun or fascinating with it?
If you're telling me everything about it? Now? Like I
can't handle it. It's too it's over stimulating for me.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, I go, I get what you mean. It's along
those lines. So I would recommend Yellowstone. It's I'll just.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Add on great, you're the fifteen hundredth persons.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I liked it. It's it's overdone in spots, but I
like it because it looks like, you know, where I live,
and the characters in that show are awesome, just great
character development throughout. I thought. Okay, Oh so anyway, Tangentzy
yellow Stone National Park though, when we come back, is
what we're going to talk about here on today's episode,
(04:04):
and as we would put our angle on it, the
people who have mysteriously disappeared or otherwise over the next
few episodes. That is coming up next. All right, once again,
Heather Yellowstone National Park. Yeah, so here we are. This
(04:25):
is not too far away from where I live, which
I like, so I can do some local geography here
and there if it's helpful.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, definitely. It's definitely nowhere close to me, so that
would be helpful.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, I have to come visit though.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I know we're planning on it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
There are I think three million people that come through
Yellowstone every year over just three months, so June, July, August.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, that's too peoplely for me. Maybe I'm not gonna come.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, Yeah, pro tip unless you're really into I want
to see water coming out of the ground. Teton's Grand
Teton National.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I do want to go there for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah. But anyway, very popular, and when you have three
million people ye're visiting four years and years and years,
stuff is going to happen.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Absolutely. Yeah. And this is the first episode, like Scott said,
in our mini series, so we are going to focus
on the missing person's cases from Yellowstone National Park. And
this is recognized as one of our nation's most iconic
and remote landscapes, which definitely, honestly, definitely if you've ever
seen ITHO.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
There's parts of Yellowstone I think where it's like the
most remote place in the country, like geographically.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Speaking, it's kind of scary, but also kind of peaceful sounding.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
It's great. Yeah, that's what I like. But there's also
that weird I did you and I may have talked
about this years.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ago, Yes, we did.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I know it's a jurisdictional issue, that one strippy Yellowstone
that's between Idaho and Montana and Wyoming where technically there
is no jurisdiction legally.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, just let all the criminals listen to this podcast
so they know that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So for those of you who've seen the TV show Yellowstone.
That's kind of the idea the train station what that's
based on. So whenever you do watch the show, they
have a little nod to that jurisdictional oddity. But anyway,
I'm not going to get too lost in context. But
I am addicted to history. So there is some and
Heather knows too, some historical historical significance to Yellowstone National
(06:17):
Park and where this all takes place.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, so Yellowstone was established as the world's first national
park in eighteen seventy two, but really the story goes
back much further than that. So people have spent time
in the Yellowstone region for more than eleven thousand years,
and when I saw that, I was floored.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Of eleven thousand possible, it's way more than that too.
I want to get yeah, religion or anything, but if
as long as people have been around, all we do
is travel and explore, you know. I do like kind
of thinking about the first people to see places that
we live now. Yes, which is easier to do out
here because there are actually those places. I think there's
(06:56):
a national park in China that might be older, but
Yellowstone arguably the world's first national park and definitely America's
first national park. To this day, there is ancestral native
population in the whole central part of Wyoming, but to
include all the way up to Yellowstone. As far back
(07:17):
as we know in recorded history, these Native American tribes,
several of them used what is now Yellowstone for everything
just living, hunting, traveling, and the intermingling of the French especially,
but European Americans that came over. One of the tribes
that's on the reservation that I live in the middle
(07:38):
of is the Shoshone. The Shoshone technically yeah, but kind
of informally Shoshone, but that translates to sheep eaters, and
they are one of the best known groups because they
have not only survived, but they're in the same place.
But there were many other tribes that saw Yellowstone as
their homeland well before Europeans.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, European Americans began exploring that region in the early
eighteen hundreds. Osborne Russell recorded his visits in the eighteen thirties.
There was an organized expedition in eighteen seventy which helped
bring attention to the natural wonders, and just two years
after that, Yellowstone was federally protected, which is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, it was kind of a cool idea, and I'm
glad it was, because if it wasn't, there would just be,
you know, condos everywhere. Yeah, which really is beautiful that
whole area of the state, the Tetons and Yellowstone. But yeah,
there would absolutely be a Dave Mbusters, you know, right there. Sure,
and I'm glad there's not. The park obviously has evolved
(08:40):
over the years. Railroads were a big part of development
of the whole American West, but here they arrived in
central Wyoming and up by Yellowstone about eighteen eighty three.
Cars were allowed to drive into the park by nineteen fifteen,
and then the year after that they said, we have
all these people, we should probably form a National park Service.
So that came along in nineteen sixteen sixteen, and by
(09:04):
the sixties Yellowstone was a very popular destination. And it's
in this place and back in that era, the nineteen sixties,
that we have today's very disturbing story, heartbreaking. We should
probably say this is another episode, even though it's pretty dated,
that involves a child who goes missing by the name
(09:27):
of Dennis Eugene Johnson, who is eight years old and
to this day He is the youngest person ever reported
missing in Yellowstone National Park. And if that's not sad
enough already, as the story goes, the reason he went
missing is because he was looking for his sister, who
was also missing at that time.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, dude, and that alone tells you so much about him.
You know, at eight years old looking for his missing sister.
You know, he's brave, he's caring, he wants to help.
It's just really sad and gut wrensh.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
It is so. The date April twelfth, nineteen sixty six.
As we just mentioned, Yellowstone a very popular destination for
touris all over in the sixties, and Dennis and his
family were among them. They were from California visiting Yellowstone
National Park. His parents, Betty and William, brought their three daughters, Doreen, Mary,
(10:23):
and Diane, and they stopped at the Cascade Picnic Area,
which is near Canyon Village, to have lunch, which is
what one does with a family of kids in a very.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Normal, yeah, very normal day. Probably didn't expect anything bad
to happen, and it was around one point thirty when
seven year old Mary wandered off from the lunch area.
The picnic tables probably, and as soon as the family
realized that she was missing, they split up to look
for her. William, Dad and Dennis each went in separate
(10:55):
directions to try to find his sister.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Trying to emit the date screws me up because in
some way, society has changed a lot since back then.
Speaking to TV shows, have you seen mad Men?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
No, that's another one that I never got into.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Like, but there's this one scene in mad Men, whether
they're having a picnic in the park with a family,
and at the end of the picnic, they've got all
the stuff, the rappers and all the trash, and they
take the blanket, the picnic blanket and just fling it
into the park. Oh my god, because the point being
that was normal back then, and I guess it just
wasn't a thing to collect all your garbage and walk
(11:30):
over here and put it in the trash can. So
stuff like that throws me on these cases when it
goes back that far to the fifties or your sixties.
But there's also just a human thing of I'm a
parent and my kid is now missing, and I wonder,
what do you do? You know, Like when Nick, when
you say William and Dennis go in different directions. Are
you thinking about that?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Like?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Is that the smart thing to do? Or is it right?
What do you think about?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
That was my thought too, because like, yeah, I understand
that there's a couple other kiddos there. The mom's probably
got to watch, but like, hey mom, do you think
it's smart? Hey dad, do you think it's smart for
your other kid to go in opposite direction when you're
already missing one?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And I'm not saying I'm not blaming because it logically
cover more ground, you know, right, but he's eight, But
he's eight exactly. So that's where this whole thing starts
is because one of the daughters is Mary is not
anywhere to be seen. She's only seven, and we got
to go find her. So they eventually find her. She
(12:30):
was wandering somewhere, probably nearby, and was brought to a
ranger station, so William then met up with her there.
But Dennis never came back from his leg of the search,
And at first.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
The family really wasn't full panic mode like I just
said I would have been, because Dennis was pretty smart
and articulate for an eight year old. He had gone
on hunting trips with his dad. He knew basic survival tips,
which really does track for that time. He even knew
follow the a creek downhill if he ever got lost.
But as time passed and he still didn't come back
(13:07):
and nobody knew where he was, they knew something was
wrong because that wasn't like him.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, obviously, so you can be familiar with the woods.
But as you just said, he's eight right at the
end of the day. So as time passes and panics
starts to rise a little bit, what ends up being
one of still the most extensive search efforts in the
history of the National Park. For three weeks, as many
(13:31):
as fifty volunteers covered a hundred square mile area. They
brought in helicopters, they brought in from up in Montana,
they brought dogs down bloodhounds to try to pick up
a scent, and they just didn't find a thing. All
those people searching air, ground dogs for three weeks and
nothing is found.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Not even footprints, which is really eerie because yeah, there
was no evidence, no sign of a struggle, no clothing,
not even as which would likely still be there today
if he had, you know, died out there in the
elements or something. But it's just wild. And the thing
that you just brought up about, you know, families picking
up their picnic link and just like letting everything linger
(14:13):
like nothing. There was just nothing, no sign that he
was even ever there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah. It ends up costing this search effort fourteen thousand dollars,
which today would be about one hundred and eighty three
thousand dollars. The family stayed in the park for a
whole month, and eventually, I mean this is obviously the
disappearance of your kid is the worst part, but the
moment when you don't find anything and you have to
resume life, like you have to go back home without
(14:40):
your kid who you brought to a different state, to
a national park. So eventually they go back to California.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, and that's something that hits me every time I
hear a case like this, when it's time for the
parents or the you know, the loved ones to just
kind of wash your hands. You gotta go back, you
gotta resume life. It's just so sad to me because
we see families leave after a couple of days because
they're told like, there's nothing more you can do here.
Let the professionals work. They know what they're doing. But
(15:08):
you know they stayed for you said a month. You know,
I think I would do the same. I'd want to
be close, to be there and Casey comes back or
was found. But at some point, you know, when you
think about the logistics and you can't stay reality, You
can't stay there forever. And you have other kids too
that need cared.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
For exactly, Yeah, how do you leave your kid? I mean,
how do you find my strength to get the car?
I don't drive home knowing that my kid is not here.
Any's somewhere out there, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I feel like that's where sometimes you know, parents kind
of for lack of better words, and not trying to
be crass or anything, but they lose their minds literally.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, and I think desperation starts to set into Like
when they went home, they didn't give up, But what
are you going to do? You're in California, your kid
is several states away. Whatever happened to him, so you
can't put up flyers won't do any good. How do
you continue, you know, doing something to find your missing son.
(16:06):
They end up hiring a psychic. The psychic tells them
that Dennis either drowned in a ditch, you a shallow
ditch near a picnic area, or he had fallen into
a canyon. We've talked about psychics a lot. I like
to think I'm not so arrogant to say I know
everything about the supernatural and intuitive thinking and all that
(16:28):
isn't possible because it's not logical. I'm open to it.
I just have a problem. Very often it's used to
further victimize people who have lost They're going through the
toughest thing that anyone can go through, and it always
seems like the psychic swoop in and say, I'll give
you some hope, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, And this this one really I normally don't get
as like up in arms about it as you do,
but this one really irked me because you know, they're
desperate in these moments, right, and this psychic tells them
the two most obvious things. It's always in this particular Yeah, well,
in this particular circumstance, like you're just going to say
(17:07):
the two things that are obvious that if it fell
cas or drowned in Yeah, Like, come on, I know she's.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Saying, if you're making it up. I just can't imagine
a person who knowing they don't have that intuition, you know,
goes to a family and searts themselves into this misery
appeah and then says, here, you get that's just evil,
But you're right, Like, if you are going to make
it up, if you're that kind of evil person, how
about he was riding a buffalo and fell off or
(17:36):
I don't know, just make it something kind of unique.
But it's always the body is near water or something obvious.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Well, and then for them to go so specific and
be like shallow ditch near the picnic area, like literally,
I told you that's where we left from, so thank
you for that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It's also the place that three weeks of searchers had,
you know, the epicenter of for almost a month, and
it's presumably pretty well covered ground. Anyway, I will yeah, sorry,
I will digress. I'm sorry. So anyway, point is the
psychics aside, there is no physical evidence that supports either
(18:17):
psychic scenario shallow ditch or falling into a canyon. And
that's basically it, because there's no evidence of anything that happened.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
To Tennis, right, and you know, fifty eight years later,
still no trace of him has ever been found again,
not to harp on it, but not even as boots.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
The boots make sense though, that is something that you know,
if you find an old, obviously old pair of boots,
you know it would stand out and it they last
in the woods, right, It's just yeah. So obviously there
are a few theories and kind of talked about this
in the Appalachian Trail series that we did, but when
(18:56):
someone goes missing in the woods, it's always theory a
you know, they got lost and succumbed to the elements,
and for an eight year old, definitely not impossible. Another
theory that maybe he fell, you know, off a cliff
into a ravine some kind of crevice that just hid
the body well enough that the searchers couldn't find it.
A less commonly accepted theory is that he was picked
(19:20):
up by a passing motorists. So again, that basically the
same three theories that we see in every missing person
in the Woods case.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, which just further irritates me because it's like we
just don't have any type of answer or any clue
in anything on this. So and that last one definitely
sticks with me a little because if there was no
trace and nothing like from everything that we're seeing, that
might mean that he wasn't there anymore. You know. It's
(19:47):
kind of like the worst kind of what if that
you can possibly imagine.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yep, Yeah, that's this is one that, for whatever reason,
sticks with me. You know, I shouldn't say that because
they're all equal or should be, but there is something
about the fact that they weren't from there. Yeah, there's
a national park and then they have to leave, and
then there's just nothing to show for the disappearance of
your kid who is gone in a moment.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, and I'm just going to be that person since
it's normally you Like, I did see some theories that
I did not include in here, but like, I'm sure
people are thinking about it. You know, they're from out
of state. Who's to say that, for one, he was
even with them that day? Mmm? And for two, who's
to say that, you know, I this one I don't
(20:34):
really agree with. I really don't think mom or dad
had anything to do with it, But who's to say
that he even came with them that day? Maybe that
was a ruse. I don't know. That's one of the
theories that's out there, But yeah, I couldn't find anything
that would like really cling on to that.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, I mean, there's no that I'm aware of. I've
heard of this one before, not too extensively. There's also
not a whole lot of material out there on this one.
But I don't think that's crazy to think, you know,
I don't think that's it. People do kill their children,
and if you're going to be premeditated about it and
(21:12):
try to get away with it and maybe gain some
sympathy in the process, that is possible. Yeah. So on
that note, let's take a break. Let's you digest that
theory and come right back after this. I don't want
to make it seem like we're accusing anybody, but I
(21:34):
had the same thought you did, Heather. I think you
have to, like, in any investigation of a missing person
or homicide, where's it start, whether it's an elderly victim
or a kid. You know, in fact, for kids probably
it's always spouses, you know, for married age people, and
for kids, you have to look at the parents first.
I think that's fair.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I don't know whether they did or not in this case,
but you know, that's a bug that's going to stay
in my brain, I think.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
But sorry, we are.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Discussing the nineteen sixty six disappearance of eight year old
Dennis Johnson from Yellowstone National Park. So there are a
couple of items besides the boots. Dennis was wearing a
dark red or magenta long sleeved shirt, tan Levi pants,
and a leather moccasin style boots that we mentioned sized eight.
He was three feet eight inches tall, sixty pounds, sandy
(22:32):
blond hair with a white patch at the kelick and
brown eyes. Also had a distinctive scar, which probably wouldn't
help now with all this time that's gone by, But
he did have a six inch scar on his abdomen
running through his navel. I guess the only way it
would help is if he's still around.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Right, Yeah, maybe he grew up not knowing who his
family is, thinking that he's with his family, and now
he hears this episode. A little little Dennis, if you
hear this episode, show that that's your scar.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I know you, I know you found this. He had
a nickname, which is even worse.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yes, it was so cute. Yeah, and again, hearing all
of that that you just described about him just puts
a picture in your mind, makes him feel so real.
He's humanized.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Now.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
His nickname was Denny, and that white patch of hair
is all I keep thinking about, honestly, well in the scar,
of course, but just those little details stick with you.
So you're gonna when you hear this name, now you're
gonna think about his little white patch at the calc
and his little freaking scar, Like, come.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
On, it's true. It is a lot more humanizing than
a woman. You know. Yeah, this stuff you kind of
see pretty often, but when it's one distinctive thing about somebody.
So we mentioned he was missing from the Cascade Picnic area,
which a quarter mile north of Canyon Junction. Months go by,
years go by, no new information comes to light, which
(23:53):
is a little bit unusual. In one of our Appalachian
Trail episodes, someone had foya the whole report, the official
investigative report, which was really fascinating to go through. I'm
guessing there's gonna be some details in this report if
it were still around like that. But from our modern,
(24:15):
you know, sources, from this old case, it's like it
drops off a cliff. It's like silence after the initial
search and then there's nothing. He was added to NamUs
in twenty fourteen, which is five decades later, but he
is now officially in the national database.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, and I don't know there's something getting back into
recording these type of episodes, Like I don't think we
talk about this enough, Like how much of an impact
these disappearances have on the people left behind? So like
his sisters, his parents, Like can you imagine returning to
that place in your mind over and over and over again,
(24:55):
Like what could we have done differently? Could we have
found him? Should I have gone in the woods with him?
Should we've taken the other siblings, you know, and just
split off like one parent with the siblings You're.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Going to do for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Always, And the siblings like especially the girl that was found,
the sister that was found, like, oh, it's my fault
he's missing. I bet she deals were guilt.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, right, that's a good point. I think it matters
of age too, obviously with kids at that point. But
the older you are and the more you appreciate and
understand the situation, probably the worse it is for you.
They have this weird family dynamic. Now best case scenario
of every time you meet a new friend or date
somebody or you're gonna have to pretty soon tell the
(25:39):
story about your missing brother from all those years ago.
Did you ever get into I can't remember his name,
but the guy who who did all the work on
missing people in national parks.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, briefly.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Shoot David Politis.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yes, yes, that's him.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I got into that hole for a while and I
still enjoy it. Kind of is a fun thing. He
did a couple of TV specials where at the end
of one he got really wooy woo about kind of
his theory portal or something. Yeah, it was it was.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
WOOI Wookay, we're gonna have to strange about it.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
He never did. He would never commit like he used
to be on coast to coast all the time, back
when I used to listen because my schedule allowed me to.
But he would tell the best stories, but he never
committed to is it Bigfoot? Is it Aliens? Is it
a serial killer? Until he did this one History channel,
I think it was special where he kind of gets
(26:43):
into at the end there's like a space time break
and there's a portal that these people might have disappeared through.
So it got a little bit strange. But all his
cases are true. They might be slanted or reported in
a way that kind of suits his purposes of mystery,
but they are absolutely true. And I bring him up
(27:03):
because he's the kind of foremost National park missing person guy.
People go missing in national parks, and Yellowstone being the
oldest is and one of the more popular in the country,
lots of people go there. Anywhere that lots of people go,
lots of people are going to disappear, you know, it's
just a percentage thing, I think, And they're huge. Like
Yellowstone mentioned earlier, there are areas of Yellowstone that it's
(27:27):
possible no one has ever been to still to this
day in terms of modern people, as it's been a
national park. The main trails and drives and all that
are very well populated. But if you want to go
off and find some trouble, you definitely can. And that's
kind of allure, the vast beautiful places. And I'm the
type that doesn't want to go see Old Faithful. I
(27:48):
could care less. I want to go off in the woods,
you know. Of course that's where people vanish, and a
lot of those cases like Tennis's, and there are a
couple of really interesting ones that we'll talk about in
our series here in weeks to come. But just like
Dennis's case. A lot of those remain unsolved.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Honestly, if I have to cover you on a missing
person's case, I'm calling Nicole and for backup.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Just if that's how I go, just be happy for me.
I can't think of a better way. I say that
until I'm sitting in the woods with a broken ankle,
slowly starving to death and wolves are surrounding me. But
that makes me kills me about missing kid cases in the.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Woods too, because so scared.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, I mean, what's going through your mind when you
can't find mom and dad and you don't know what
to do?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Oh my god, I can't even imagine right now? Yeah yeah,
And I mean you did mention earlier the other dentists.
So Dennis Lloyd Martin, he's the six year old who
went missing in the Smokies. We covered him. That story
had a lasting impact on how we conduct you know,
search and rescue.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Opera we talked about at the time.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's heartbreaking that there may
be some like parallels here, and yet the lessons came
I'm way too late to help Dennis Johnson, which is
really really sad.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, that's a good point. Like three weeks of searching
fifty people, helicopters and dogs? What does searching mean in right?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Right? Explain that to us?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's come a long way, like
everything else has, but it's a lot better now. It's
a lot more systematic. There's a plan, there's a very specific,
purposeful plan of here's how we go about a missing
person case. Here's how we might treat it differently if
it's a kid. And back in nineteen sixty six, I
feel like it's all right, grab your six pack in
(29:32):
your pack of Marlborough Reds, and we're gonna posse out
there and see if we can stumble across this kid.
You know, that's an extreme example, but it was a
lot more like that than it is today.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well yeah, I mean obviously, I mean we didn't have
technology or you know, really knowledge that we do now,
so it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
But it just we talked to them, the Deniz Lloyd
Martin one about basically how messed up that search was
in a lot of ways. They fixed it, and that
was procedure going forward, which is how policy gets made
everywhere you grew up, and you fix it. Obviously, was
not helpful in this particular case. So Dennis's case is
still officially unsolved. Obviously, the National Park Services, the agency
(30:13):
will put the number in the show notes. And that's
about all we have for this case. Any other thoughts
or theories.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I mean, if you're obviously, if you're ever traveling
in places like Yellowstone or any type of national park
really anywhere, but definitely national parks, you know, keep your
eyes open, be alert, be aware, don't be looking at
your phone the whole time. You know, you never know
what kind of clues you may come across, what trace,
what small piece of the puzzle could finally bring somebody home.
(30:42):
And I know Jason laughs at me all the time,
and he just, you know, you know, basically thinks I'm crazy,
cuckoo whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Are but tad paranoid?
Speaker 2 (30:52):
No no, no, no, But like yeah I am. But
also like when we go on hikes and we go
on bike rides, I'm like so vigilant. I don't get
my phone out unless we stop for a break because
I'm looking. I'm like, I'm going to find somebody's missing person.
I'm going to, I swear, And if I come across
somebody's sweater or shirt or something like he has seen me.
(31:12):
We've wasted like three hours in the woods one time
because I was unearthing somebody's full shirt. I was thinking
there was a body in there. I swear to God,
I was.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I'm you're absolutely right. I think we said this on
one of our Smoky episodes too. If we live in
a world, in a society where you mind your own business,
you know, you kind of keep your head down, and
especially if you're from a big city, but out in
the woods especially, but anywhere, if you see something weird,
just acknowledge the fact that it's weird. Whatever information that
(31:47):
you can provide that might be useful for whatever the
situation is. So I wouldn't always recommend removing things, but yeah,
if you find a pair of fifty year old sixty
year old hiking boots in Yellowstone, pin that you know
exactly where the location was. I might even, you know,
pick them up and bring them and bring them back
to the range. Just tell somebody, don't keep on walking
(32:08):
and say wow, there's right pair of boots.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Well, and that's what I did. I literally pinned it
on my map, I marked the tree, and then we
went to try to find somebody. Couldn't find anybody. Because
we were that deep in the woods. So we came
back to that tree where I pinned it and I
used a stick. I did not use my hands to
try to unearth this sweater. And then when we realized
there was no body attached to it, we just didn't,
(32:31):
you know, like obviously there wasn't a body there. So
somebody just lost their shirt, I guess, well, saying though
we told somebody, though, but they I don't think they're
going to do anything about it because it's just a shirt.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
And yeah, it's just a shirt. But for all we know,
a woman went missing two days ago and the cops
know that she's missing a red shirt.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yeah, and that's why we told somebody. But I don't
think it ever amounted to anything. I don't think I
would know unless it came on the news.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
But because it probably was just a lot of shirt.
But even if it's just a matter of if you
see see someone on the trail and for whatever reason,
you get that spidey sense knowe where you are approximately
and what time it is, for example, so that if
it ever becomes a thing, you can go back and say,
I'm not saying, forego your enjoyment in the outdoors by
(33:16):
being super paranoid.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I mean, I still enjoy it outdoors, but I'm paranoid
and I also mark that shit. And sometimes I take
photos of people and then if nothing happens, then I
delete the photo.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
There you go. I mean, I just we live in
the true crime kind of world too, so hyper aware
of you know, stuff that never ends up being anything anyway.
But I think people know you know, you have that intuition.
Just trust it, don't You're told to ignore your intuition
in society and keep to yourself and keep your head down.
I think if you know, you know, note the time,
(33:49):
take a photo, whatever the appropriate thing is in that situation.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That feels like a good PSA.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yes, you're welcome from us who probably don't matter, but
thank you for listening. But before closing out this episode,
we did mention at the top of the episode about
that YouTube channel. It's called three Poor Decisions and it's
all spelled out one word. They're going to be uh
if they haven't already by the time this series releases,
(34:16):
they're going to be dropping an episode on Yellowstone Bourbon. Yeah,
it's it's Yellowstone yep, that's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
It's show, is it show branded or is it just
no different?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
So fun fact, Yellowstone Bourbon is not from Wyoming, Montana,
or Idaho. It's actually from Limestone Branch Distillery in Kentucky.
But it was crafted to honor America's first national park.
So they do want to try several of them. I
don't know if they're going to do a blind taste
or just a review. Not sure yet, but yeah, they'll
(34:50):
have a Yellowstone episode out soon, so that'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I would like it to be from Wyoming if it's
called Yellows or Montana, but right as we know, bourbon
can only come from Kentucky. Otherwise it's called sour mash.
I'm going to keep perpetuating that.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
You can say.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
That's going to be my I'm teaching my grandkids that, Okay,
do what you gotta do. But Courtney said I was wrong,
so I will listen to her. Don't fact check me
on that. It was an understanding I had about bourbon.
Three poor decisions again all one word and uh yeah
what YouTube?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
And then Instagram, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok is being set
up right now?
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Ah cool? All right, good for him. I know nothing
about the TikTok me neither.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I just repost stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So that is our episode for this week. We do
have we'll continue our Yellowstone series for probably I don't
know how many episodes because some of these were going
to combine. But we Heather located like three or four
other pretty good cases.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
From yeah, old ones too.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
That's not even counting like the guy who went to
visit Kanye West and.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Was never So I was going to ask you if
we wanted to do that, do we want people to
vote on that because I would love to cover that.
So even if it's on Patreon.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Covered that. It's just a little bit of a dead end.
But it just Kanye had I'm not sure if he
still has but a huge ranch properties kind of does there?
Yeah yeah, I think he held on to at least
one of them, and it's well known, Like you guys,
come out, I'll take you there because you drive by
and it's pretty weird looking. But there was a guy
who went out to visit him. I don't think he
(36:31):
was invited from what I could tell, and he just
vanished and disappeared real close to that ranch.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
But I do want to dig back into that. So
even if we do it just for Patreon. I don't care.
I just want to talk about it because I need
to talk about some of stuff. Ye or ye whatever
he calls himself.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Now what he's up to, I don't know if we
need to talk about that. I don't know what's.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Going on with We're gonna it'll be on Patreon.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Is all right? We can do a Patreon thing.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I talked you into it. It's fine, No, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
It's just I'm starting to feel bad for the guy
at this point. Let's reach that level where.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Okay, well, if you feel bad for him, then yeah,
I know.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I'm the least sympathetic person in the world. So all
right on that note, No, I'm loving. I'm nothing but good.
I'm a fuzzball, warm fuzzball. Thank you for listening to statisfading.
We'll be back with our Yellowstone series next week.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Thank you.
Welcome back to status pending covering cases unsolved, unresolved, or
have lingering questions. I'm Scott Fuller. Heather Rights is here
as well. Heather, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Better?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Better? Sounding? A little bit better than our last episode?
I honestly couldn't tell that much. But everybody is sick
in my orbit.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I don't know if it's COVID six point zero or
what is going on, but it does not look fun
and so far I've avoided it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
But yeah, I thought I would avoid it because I
have so far, but no, not this month.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It'll get me eventually. Yeah, something gets all of us.
That's our show. See you next week. Anyway. So this
came up on our last episode, and I think Heather
maybe recap for us the genesis of the thought because
you're married to a new media star all of a sudden,
the most unlikely of new media stars, I would say,
(01:24):
just based on his personality in the past. But things change,
I suppose. So how did we get on our Yellowstone
kind of mini series idea?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, so you kind of gave it away there, Kats
out of the bag, married to this person who decided,
you know what I really like Bourbon a whole lot.
I have a shit ton of it. I know a
lot of things about it. I'm gonna start a YouTube channel,
and here we are. He started a YouTube channel with
a friend and well two friends basically. Yeah, they're one
(01:54):
of their reviews, tastings whatever they're calling it is on Yellowstone,
yellowstin Bourbon. So it kind of gave us an idea. Cool.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So yeah, that was kind of the idea for us
to go that way. To YouTube is way too intense
for me.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Ah, I can't do it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Man. I do video stuff because I have to for work.
But I have a face for radio, and this is
so much simpler, you know. It's audio really is simpler. Yes,
and I'm not going to say better, but I like
to use audio to tell stories in a way where
you have their undivided attention of the audience. Videos a
whole other thing, obviously. So good for him. It's good
(02:32):
to have hobbies. And we'll see where it goes. But
we're definitely going to plug it and let you know
where to find all the stuff. Cool. So our Yellowstone
series based on that has to do with Yellowstone National Park,
not to be confused with a TV show. I have you've
seen that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I haven't, but everybody keeps talking about it, And the
more people talk about it, I hate to say it.
It turns me off.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Like I did that with Breaking Bad too. I just
heard yep, like five, season five or six, it's the
best show ever. And every time I heard that, like, no,
I'm not going to watch that. I don't know what
that is. I won't take recommendations from people who probably
know what they're talking about. They're a human being entertained,
just like I would be. But yeah, I don't know
(03:11):
what that is. But a lesson kind of learned there.
When I finally got around to it on that shows
last season Breaking Bad, I was like, yeah, I get it.
I do like it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's how I was with the Office too, and now
I'm overly obsessed. It's kind of embarrassing. But like when
people are hyping it up so much, it's like, Okay,
what am I going to find fun or fascinating with it?
If you're telling me everything about it? Now? Like I
can't handle it. It's too it's over stimulating for me.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, I go, I get what you mean. It's along
those lines. So I would recommend Yellowstone. It's I'll just.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Add on great, you're the fifteen hundredth persons.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I liked it. It's it's overdone in spots, but I
like it because it looks like, you know, where I live,
and the characters in that show are awesome, just great
character development throughout. I thought. Okay, Oh so anyway, Tangentzy
yellow Stone National Park though, when we come back, is
what we're going to talk about here on today's episode,
(04:04):
and as we would put our angle on it, the
people who have mysteriously disappeared or otherwise over the next
few episodes. That is coming up next. All right, once again,
Heather Yellowstone National Park. Yeah, so here we are. This
(04:25):
is not too far away from where I live, which
I like, so I can do some local geography here
and there if it's helpful.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, definitely. It's definitely nowhere close to me, so that
would be helpful.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, I have to come visit though.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I know we're planning on it.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
There are I think three million people that come through
Yellowstone every year over just three months, so June, July, August.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, that's too peoplely for me. Maybe I'm not gonna come.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, Yeah, pro tip unless you're really into I want
to see water coming out of the ground. Teton's Grand
Teton National.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I do want to go there for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah. But anyway, very popular, and when you have three
million people ye're visiting four years and years and years,
stuff is going to happen.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Absolutely. Yeah. And this is the first episode, like Scott said,
in our mini series, so we are going to focus
on the missing person's cases from Yellowstone National Park. And
this is recognized as one of our nation's most iconic
and remote landscapes, which definitely, honestly, definitely if you've ever
seen ITHO.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
There's parts of Yellowstone I think where it's like the
most remote place in the country, like geographically.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Speaking, it's kind of scary, but also kind of peaceful sounding.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
It's great. Yeah, that's what I like. But there's also
that weird I did you and I may have talked
about this years.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ago, Yes, we did.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I know it's a jurisdictional issue, that one strippy Yellowstone
that's between Idaho and Montana and Wyoming where technically there
is no jurisdiction legally.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, just let all the criminals listen to this podcast
so they know that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So for those of you who've seen the TV show Yellowstone.
That's kind of the idea the train station what that's
based on. So whenever you do watch the show, they
have a little nod to that jurisdictional oddity. But anyway,
I'm not going to get too lost in context. But
I am addicted to history. So there is some and
Heather knows too, some historical historical significance to Yellowstone National
(06:17):
Park and where this all takes place.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, so Yellowstone was established as the world's first national
park in eighteen seventy two, but really the story goes
back much further than that. So people have spent time
in the Yellowstone region for more than eleven thousand years,
and when I saw that, I was floored.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Of eleven thousand possible, it's way more than that too.
I want to get yeah, religion or anything, but if
as long as people have been around, all we do
is travel and explore, you know. I do like kind
of thinking about the first people to see places that
we live now. Yes, which is easier to do out
here because there are actually those places. I think there's
(06:56):
a national park in China that might be older, but
Yellowstone arguably the world's first national park and definitely America's
first national park. To this day, there is ancestral native
population in the whole central part of Wyoming, but to
include all the way up to Yellowstone. As far back
(07:17):
as we know in recorded history, these Native American tribes,
several of them used what is now Yellowstone for everything
just living, hunting, traveling, and the intermingling of the French especially,
but European Americans that came over. One of the tribes
that's on the reservation that I live in the middle
(07:38):
of is the Shoshone. The Shoshone technically yeah, but kind
of informally Shoshone, but that translates to sheep eaters, and
they are one of the best known groups because they
have not only survived, but they're in the same place.
But there were many other tribes that saw Yellowstone as
their homeland well before Europeans.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, European Americans began exploring that region in the early
eighteen hundreds. Osborne Russell recorded his visits in the eighteen thirties.
There was an organized expedition in eighteen seventy which helped
bring attention to the natural wonders, and just two years
after that, Yellowstone was federally protected, which is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, it was kind of a cool idea, and I'm
glad it was, because if it wasn't, there would just be,
you know, condos everywhere. Yeah, which really is beautiful that
whole area of the state, the Tetons and Yellowstone. But yeah,
there would absolutely be a Dave Mbusters, you know, right there. Sure,
and I'm glad there's not. The park obviously has evolved
(08:40):
over the years. Railroads were a big part of development
of the whole American West, but here they arrived in
central Wyoming and up by Yellowstone about eighteen eighty three.
Cars were allowed to drive into the park by nineteen fifteen,
and then the year after that they said, we have
all these people, we should probably form a National park Service.
So that came along in nineteen sixteen sixteen, and by
(09:04):
the sixties Yellowstone was a very popular destination. And it's
in this place and back in that era, the nineteen sixties,
that we have today's very disturbing story, heartbreaking. We should
probably say this is another episode, even though it's pretty dated,
that involves a child who goes missing by the name
(09:27):
of Dennis Eugene Johnson, who is eight years old and
to this day He is the youngest person ever reported
missing in Yellowstone National Park. And if that's not sad
enough already, as the story goes, the reason he went
missing is because he was looking for his sister, who
was also missing at that time.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, dude, and that alone tells you so much about him.
You know, at eight years old looking for his missing sister.
You know, he's brave, he's caring, he wants to help.
It's just really sad and gut wrensh.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
It is so. The date April twelfth, nineteen sixty six.
As we just mentioned, Yellowstone a very popular destination for
touris all over in the sixties, and Dennis and his
family were among them. They were from California visiting Yellowstone
National Park. His parents, Betty and William, brought their three daughters, Doreen, Mary,
(10:23):
and Diane, and they stopped at the Cascade Picnic Area,
which is near Canyon Village, to have lunch, which is
what one does with a family of kids in a very.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Normal, yeah, very normal day. Probably didn't expect anything bad
to happen, and it was around one point thirty when
seven year old Mary wandered off from the lunch area.
The picnic tables probably, and as soon as the family
realized that she was missing, they split up to look
for her. William, Dad and Dennis each went in separate
(10:55):
directions to try to find his sister.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Trying to emit the date screws me up because in
some way, society has changed a lot since back then.
Speaking to TV shows, have you seen mad Men?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
No, that's another one that I never got into.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Like, but there's this one scene in mad Men, whether
they're having a picnic in the park with a family,
and at the end of the picnic, they've got all
the stuff, the rappers and all the trash, and they
take the blanket, the picnic blanket and just fling it
into the park. Oh my god, because the point being
that was normal back then, and I guess it just
wasn't a thing to collect all your garbage and walk
(11:30):
over here and put it in the trash can. So
stuff like that throws me on these cases when it
goes back that far to the fifties or your sixties.
But there's also just a human thing of I'm a
parent and my kid is now missing, and I wonder,
what do you do? You know, Like when Nick, when
you say William and Dennis go in different directions. Are
you thinking about that?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Like?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Is that the smart thing to do? Or is it right?
What do you think about?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
That was my thought too, because like, yeah, I understand
that there's a couple other kiddos there. The mom's probably
got to watch, but like, hey mom, do you think
it's smart? Hey dad, do you think it's smart for
your other kid to go in opposite direction when you're
already missing one?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And I'm not saying I'm not blaming because it logically
cover more ground, you know, right, but he's eight, But
he's eight exactly. So that's where this whole thing starts
is because one of the daughters is Mary is not
anywhere to be seen. She's only seven, and we got
to go find her. So they eventually find her. She
(12:30):
was wandering somewhere, probably nearby, and was brought to a
ranger station, so William then met up with her there.
But Dennis never came back from his leg of the search,
And at first.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
The family really wasn't full panic mode like I just
said I would have been, because Dennis was pretty smart
and articulate for an eight year old. He had gone
on hunting trips with his dad. He knew basic survival tips,
which really does track for that time. He even knew
follow the a creek downhill if he ever got lost.
But as time passed and he still didn't come back
(13:07):
and nobody knew where he was, they knew something was
wrong because that wasn't like him.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, obviously, so you can be familiar with the woods.
But as you just said, he's eight right at the
end of the day. So as time passes and panics
starts to rise a little bit, what ends up being
one of still the most extensive search efforts in the
history of the National Park. For three weeks, as many
(13:31):
as fifty volunteers covered a hundred square mile area. They
brought in helicopters, they brought in from up in Montana,
they brought dogs down bloodhounds to try to pick up
a scent, and they just didn't find a thing. All
those people searching air, ground dogs for three weeks and
nothing is found.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Not even footprints, which is really eerie because yeah, there
was no evidence, no sign of a struggle, no clothing,
not even as which would likely still be there today
if he had, you know, died out there in the
elements or something. But it's just wild. And the thing
that you just brought up about, you know, families picking
up their picnic link and just like letting everything linger
(14:13):
like nothing. There was just nothing, no sign that he
was even ever there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah. It ends up costing this search effort fourteen thousand dollars,
which today would be about one hundred and eighty three
thousand dollars. The family stayed in the park for a
whole month, and eventually, I mean this is obviously the
disappearance of your kid is the worst part, but the
moment when you don't find anything and you have to
resume life, like you have to go back home without
(14:40):
your kid who you brought to a different state, to
a national park. So eventually they go back to California.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, and that's something that hits me every time I
hear a case like this, when it's time for the
parents or the you know, the loved ones to just
kind of wash your hands. You gotta go back, you
gotta resume life. It's just so sad to me because
we see families leave after a couple of days because
they're told like, there's nothing more you can do here.
Let the professionals work. They know what they're doing. But
(15:08):
you know they stayed for you said a month. You know,
I think I would do the same. I'd want to
be close, to be there and Casey comes back or
was found. But at some point, you know, when you
think about the logistics and you can't stay reality, You
can't stay there forever. And you have other kids too
that need cared.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
For exactly, Yeah, how do you leave your kid? I mean,
how do you find my strength to get the car?
I don't drive home knowing that my kid is not here.
Any's somewhere out there, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I feel like that's where sometimes you know, parents kind
of for lack of better words, and not trying to
be crass or anything, but they lose their minds literally.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, and I think desperation starts to set into Like
when they went home, they didn't give up, But what
are you going to do? You're in California, your kid
is several states away. Whatever happened to him, so you
can't put up flyers won't do any good. How do
you continue, you know, doing something to find your missing son.
(16:06):
They end up hiring a psychic. The psychic tells them
that Dennis either drowned in a ditch, you a shallow
ditch near a picnic area, or he had fallen into
a canyon. We've talked about psychics a lot. I like
to think I'm not so arrogant to say I know
everything about the supernatural and intuitive thinking and all that
(16:28):
isn't possible because it's not logical. I'm open to it.
I just have a problem. Very often it's used to
further victimize people who have lost They're going through the
toughest thing that anyone can go through, and it always
seems like the psychic swoop in and say, I'll give
you some hope, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, And this this one really I normally don't get
as like up in arms about it as you do,
but this one really irked me because you know, they're
desperate in these moments, right, and this psychic tells them
the two most obvious things. It's always in this particular Yeah, well,
in this particular circumstance, like you're just going to say
(17:07):
the two things that are obvious that if it fell
cas or drowned in Yeah, Like, come on, I know she's.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Saying, if you're making it up. I just can't imagine
a person who knowing they don't have that intuition, you know,
goes to a family and searts themselves into this misery
appeah and then says, here, you get that's just evil,
But you're right, Like, if you are going to make
it up, if you're that kind of evil person, how
about he was riding a buffalo and fell off or
(17:36):
I don't know, just make it something kind of unique.
But it's always the body is near water or something obvious.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Well, and then for them to go so specific and
be like shallow ditch near the picnic area, like literally,
I told you that's where we left from, so thank
you for that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
It's also the place that three weeks of searchers had,
you know, the epicenter of for almost a month, and
it's presumably pretty well covered ground. Anyway, I will yeah, sorry,
I will digress. I'm sorry. So anyway, point is the
psychics aside, there is no physical evidence that supports either
(18:17):
psychic scenario shallow ditch or falling into a canyon. And
that's basically it, because there's no evidence of anything that happened.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
To Tennis, right, and you know, fifty eight years later,
still no trace of him has ever been found again,
not to harp on it, but not even as boots.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
The boots make sense though, that is something that you know,
if you find an old, obviously old pair of boots,
you know it would stand out and it they last
in the woods, right, It's just yeah. So obviously there
are a few theories and kind of talked about this
in the Appalachian Trail series that we did, but when
(18:56):
someone goes missing in the woods, it's always theory a
you know, they got lost and succumbed to the elements,
and for an eight year old, definitely not impossible. Another
theory that maybe he fell, you know, off a cliff
into a ravine some kind of crevice that just hid
the body well enough that the searchers couldn't find it.
A less commonly accepted theory is that he was picked
(19:20):
up by a passing motorists. So again, that basically the
same three theories that we see in every missing person
in the Woods case.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, which just further irritates me because it's like we
just don't have any type of answer or any clue
in anything on this. So and that last one definitely
sticks with me a little because if there was no
trace and nothing like from everything that we're seeing, that
might mean that he wasn't there anymore. You know. It's
(19:47):
kind of like the worst kind of what if that
you can possibly imagine.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yep, Yeah, that's this is one that, for whatever reason,
sticks with me. You know, I shouldn't say that because
they're all equal or should be, but there is something
about the fact that they weren't from there. Yeah, there's
a national park and then they have to leave, and
then there's just nothing to show for the disappearance of
your kid who is gone in a moment.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, and I'm just going to be that person since
it's normally you Like, I did see some theories that
I did not include in here, but like, I'm sure
people are thinking about it. You know, they're from out
of state. Who's to say that, for one, he was
even with them that day? Mmm? And for two, who's
to say that, you know, I this one I don't
(20:34):
really agree with. I really don't think mom or dad
had anything to do with it, But who's to say
that he even came with them that day? Maybe that
was a ruse. I don't know. That's one of the
theories that's out there, But yeah, I couldn't find anything
that would like really cling on to that.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, I mean, there's no that I'm aware of. I've
heard of this one before, not too extensively. There's also
not a whole lot of material out there on this one.
But I don't think that's crazy to think, you know,
I don't think that's it. People do kill their children,
and if you're going to be premeditated about it and
(21:12):
try to get away with it and maybe gain some
sympathy in the process, that is possible. Yeah. So on
that note, let's take a break. Let's you digest that
theory and come right back after this. I don't want
to make it seem like we're accusing anybody, but I
(21:34):
had the same thought you did, Heather. I think you
have to, like, in any investigation of a missing person
or homicide, where's it start, whether it's an elderly victim
or a kid. You know, in fact, for kids probably
it's always spouses, you know, for married age people, and
for kids, you have to look at the parents first.
I think that's fair.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I don't know whether they did or not in this case,
but you know, that's a bug that's going to stay
in my brain, I think.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
But sorry, we are.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Discussing the nineteen sixty six disappearance of eight year old
Dennis Johnson from Yellowstone National Park. So there are a
couple of items besides the boots. Dennis was wearing a
dark red or magenta long sleeved shirt, tan Levi pants,
and a leather moccasin style boots that we mentioned sized eight.
He was three feet eight inches tall, sixty pounds, sandy
(22:32):
blond hair with a white patch at the kelick and
brown eyes. Also had a distinctive scar, which probably wouldn't
help now with all this time that's gone by, But
he did have a six inch scar on his abdomen
running through his navel. I guess the only way it
would help is if he's still around.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Right, Yeah, maybe he grew up not knowing who his
family is, thinking that he's with his family, and now
he hears this episode. A little little Dennis, if you
hear this episode, show that that's your scar.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I know you, I know you found this. He had
a nickname, which is even worse.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yes, it was so cute. Yeah, and again, hearing all
of that that you just described about him just puts
a picture in your mind, makes him feel so real.
He's humanized.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Now.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
His nickname was Denny, and that white patch of hair
is all I keep thinking about, honestly, well in the scar,
of course, but just those little details stick with you.
So you're gonna when you hear this name, now you're
gonna think about his little white patch at the calc
and his little freaking scar, Like, come.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
On, it's true. It is a lot more humanizing than
a woman. You know. Yeah, this stuff you kind of
see pretty often, but when it's one distinctive thing about somebody.
So we mentioned he was missing from the Cascade Picnic area,
which a quarter mile north of Canyon Junction. Months go by,
years go by, no new information comes to light, which
(23:53):
is a little bit unusual. In one of our Appalachian
Trail episodes, someone had foya the whole report, the official
investigative report, which was really fascinating to go through. I'm
guessing there's gonna be some details in this report if
it were still around like that. But from our modern,
(24:15):
you know, sources, from this old case, it's like it
drops off a cliff. It's like silence after the initial
search and then there's nothing. He was added to NamUs
in twenty fourteen, which is five decades later, but he
is now officially in the national database.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, and I don't know there's something getting back into
recording these type of episodes, Like I don't think we
talk about this enough, Like how much of an impact
these disappearances have on the people left behind? So like
his sisters, his parents, Like can you imagine returning to
that place in your mind over and over and over again,
(24:55):
Like what could we have done differently? Could we have
found him? Should I have gone in the woods with him?
Should we've taken the other siblings, you know, and just
split off like one parent with the siblings You're.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Going to do for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Always, And the siblings like especially the girl that was found,
the sister that was found, like, oh, it's my fault
he's missing. I bet she deals were guilt.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, right, that's a good point. I think it matters
of age too, obviously with kids at that point. But
the older you are and the more you appreciate and
understand the situation, probably the worse it is for you.
They have this weird family dynamic. Now best case scenario
of every time you meet a new friend or date
somebody or you're gonna have to pretty soon tell the
(25:39):
story about your missing brother from all those years ago.
Did you ever get into I can't remember his name,
but the guy who who did all the work on
missing people in national parks.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, briefly.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Shoot David Politis.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yes, yes, that's him.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I got into that hole for a while and I
still enjoy it. Kind of is a fun thing. He
did a couple of TV specials where at the end
of one he got really wooy woo about kind of
his theory portal or something. Yeah, it was it was.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
WOOI Wookay, we're gonna have to strange about it.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
He never did. He would never commit like he used
to be on coast to coast all the time, back
when I used to listen because my schedule allowed me to.
But he would tell the best stories, but he never
committed to is it Bigfoot? Is it Aliens? Is it
a serial killer? Until he did this one History channel,
I think it was special where he kind of gets
(26:43):
into at the end there's like a space time break
and there's a portal that these people might have disappeared through.
So it got a little bit strange. But all his
cases are true. They might be slanted or reported in
a way that kind of suits his purposes of mystery,
but they are absolutely true. And I bring him up
(27:03):
because he's the kind of foremost National park missing person guy.
People go missing in national parks, and Yellowstone being the
oldest is and one of the more popular in the country,
lots of people go there. Anywhere that lots of people go,
lots of people are going to disappear, you know, it's
just a percentage thing, I think, And they're huge. Like
Yellowstone mentioned earlier, there are areas of Yellowstone that it's
(27:27):
possible no one has ever been to still to this
day in terms of modern people, as it's been a
national park. The main trails and drives and all that
are very well populated. But if you want to go
off and find some trouble, you definitely can. And that's
kind of allure, the vast beautiful places. And I'm the
type that doesn't want to go see Old Faithful. I
(27:48):
could care less. I want to go off in the woods,
you know. Of course that's where people vanish, and a
lot of those cases like Tennis's, and there are a
couple of really interesting ones that we'll talk about in
our series here in weeks to come. But just like
Dennis's case. A lot of those remain unsolved.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Honestly, if I have to cover you on a missing
person's case, I'm calling Nicole and for backup.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Just if that's how I go, just be happy for me.
I can't think of a better way. I say that
until I'm sitting in the woods with a broken ankle,
slowly starving to death and wolves are surrounding me. But
that makes me kills me about missing kid cases in the.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Woods too, because so scared.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, I mean, what's going through your mind when you
can't find mom and dad and you don't know what
to do?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Oh my god, I can't even imagine right now? Yeah yeah,
And I mean you did mention earlier the other dentists.
So Dennis Lloyd Martin, he's the six year old who
went missing in the Smokies. We covered him. That story
had a lasting impact on how we conduct you know,
search and rescue.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Opera we talked about at the time.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's heartbreaking that there may
be some like parallels here, and yet the lessons came
I'm way too late to help Dennis Johnson, which is
really really sad.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, that's a good point. Like three weeks of searching
fifty people, helicopters and dogs? What does searching mean in right?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Right? Explain that to us?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's come a long way, like
everything else has, but it's a lot better now. It's
a lot more systematic. There's a plan, there's a very specific,
purposeful plan of here's how we go about a missing
person case. Here's how we might treat it differently if
it's a kid. And back in nineteen sixty six, I
feel like it's all right, grab your six pack in
(29:32):
your pack of Marlborough Reds, and we're gonna posse out
there and see if we can stumble across this kid.
You know, that's an extreme example, but it was a
lot more like that than it is today.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well yeah, I mean obviously, I mean we didn't have
technology or you know, really knowledge that we do now,
so it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
But it just we talked to them, the Deniz Lloyd
Martin one about basically how messed up that search was
in a lot of ways. They fixed it, and that
was procedure going forward, which is how policy gets made
everywhere you grew up, and you fix it. Obviously, was
not helpful in this particular case. So Dennis's case is
still officially unsolved. Obviously, the National Park Services, the agency
(30:13):
will put the number in the show notes. And that's
about all we have for this case. Any other thoughts
or theories.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I mean, if you're obviously, if you're ever traveling
in places like Yellowstone or any type of national park
really anywhere, but definitely national parks, you know, keep your
eyes open, be alert, be aware, don't be looking at
your phone the whole time. You know, you never know
what kind of clues you may come across, what trace,
what small piece of the puzzle could finally bring somebody home.
(30:42):
And I know Jason laughs at me all the time,
and he just, you know, you know, basically thinks I'm crazy,
cuckoo whatever.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Are but tad paranoid?
Speaker 2 (30:52):
No no, no, no, But like yeah I am. But
also like when we go on hikes and we go
on bike rides, I'm like so vigilant. I don't get
my phone out unless we stop for a break because
I'm looking. I'm like, I'm going to find somebody's missing person.
I'm going to, I swear, And if I come across
somebody's sweater or shirt or something like he has seen me.
(31:12):
We've wasted like three hours in the woods one time
because I was unearthing somebody's full shirt. I was thinking
there was a body in there. I swear to God,
I was.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I'm you're absolutely right. I think we said this on
one of our Smoky episodes too. If we live in
a world, in a society where you mind your own business,
you know, you kind of keep your head down, and
especially if you're from a big city, but out in
the woods especially, but anywhere, if you see something weird,
just acknowledge the fact that it's weird. Whatever information that
(31:47):
you can provide that might be useful for whatever the
situation is. So I wouldn't always recommend removing things, but yeah,
if you find a pair of fifty year old sixty
year old hiking boots in Yellowstone, pin that you know
exactly where the location was. I might even, you know,
pick them up and bring them and bring them back
to the range. Just tell somebody, don't keep on walking
(32:08):
and say wow, there's right pair of boots.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Well, and that's what I did. I literally pinned it
on my map, I marked the tree, and then we
went to try to find somebody. Couldn't find anybody. Because
we were that deep in the woods. So we came
back to that tree where I pinned it and I
used a stick. I did not use my hands to
try to unearth this sweater. And then when we realized
there was no body attached to it, we just didn't,
(32:31):
you know, like obviously there wasn't a body there. So
somebody just lost their shirt, I guess, well, saying though
we told somebody, though, but they I don't think they're
going to do anything about it because it's just a shirt.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
And yeah, it's just a shirt. But for all we know,
a woman went missing two days ago and the cops
know that she's missing a red shirt.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yeah, and that's why we told somebody. But I don't
think it ever amounted to anything. I don't think I
would know unless it came on the news.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
But because it probably was just a lot of shirt.
But even if it's just a matter of if you
see see someone on the trail and for whatever reason,
you get that spidey sense knowe where you are approximately
and what time it is, for example, so that if
it ever becomes a thing, you can go back and say,
I'm not saying, forego your enjoyment in the outdoors by
(33:16):
being super paranoid.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
I mean, I still enjoy it outdoors, but I'm paranoid
and I also mark that shit. And sometimes I take
photos of people and then if nothing happens, then I
delete the photo.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
There you go. I mean, I just we live in
the true crime kind of world too, so hyper aware
of you know, stuff that never ends up being anything anyway.
But I think people know you know, you have that intuition.
Just trust it, don't You're told to ignore your intuition
in society and keep to yourself and keep your head down.
I think if you know, you know, note the time,
(33:49):
take a photo, whatever the appropriate thing is in that situation.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That feels like a good PSA.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yes, you're welcome from us who probably don't matter, but
thank you for listening. But before closing out this episode,
we did mention at the top of the episode about
that YouTube channel. It's called three Poor Decisions and it's
all spelled out one word. They're going to be uh
if they haven't already by the time this series releases,
(34:16):
they're going to be dropping an episode on Yellowstone Bourbon. Yeah,
it's it's Yellowstone yep, that's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
It's show, is it show branded or is it just
no different?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
So fun fact, Yellowstone Bourbon is not from Wyoming, Montana,
or Idaho. It's actually from Limestone Branch Distillery in Kentucky.
But it was crafted to honor America's first national park.
So they do want to try several of them. I
don't know if they're going to do a blind taste
or just a review. Not sure yet, but yeah, they'll
(34:50):
have a Yellowstone episode out soon, so that'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I would like it to be from Wyoming if it's
called Yellows or Montana, but right as we know, bourbon
can only come from Kentucky. Otherwise it's called sour mash.
I'm going to keep perpetuating that.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
You can say.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
That's going to be my I'm teaching my grandkids that, Okay,
do what you gotta do. But Courtney said I was wrong,
so I will listen to her. Don't fact check me
on that. It was an understanding I had about bourbon.
Three poor decisions again all one word and uh yeah
what YouTube?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
And then Instagram, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok is being set
up right now?
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Ah cool? All right, good for him. I know nothing
about the TikTok me neither.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I just repost stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So that is our episode for this week. We do
have we'll continue our Yellowstone series for probably I don't
know how many episodes because some of these were going
to combine. But we Heather located like three or four
other pretty good cases.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
From yeah, old ones too.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
That's not even counting like the guy who went to
visit Kanye West and.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Was never So I was going to ask you if
we wanted to do that, do we want people to
vote on that because I would love to cover that.
So even if it's on Patreon.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Covered that. It's just a little bit of a dead end.
But it just Kanye had I'm not sure if he
still has but a huge ranch properties kind of does there?
Yeah yeah, I think he held on to at least
one of them, and it's well known, Like you guys,
come out, I'll take you there because you drive by
and it's pretty weird looking. But there was a guy
who went out to visit him. I don't think he
(36:31):
was invited from what I could tell, and he just
vanished and disappeared real close to that ranch.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
But I do want to dig back into that. So
even if we do it just for Patreon. I don't care.
I just want to talk about it because I need
to talk about some of stuff. Ye or ye whatever
he calls himself.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Now what he's up to, I don't know if we
need to talk about that. I don't know what's.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Going on with We're gonna it'll be on Patreon.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Is all right? We can do a Patreon thing.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I talked you into it. It's fine, No, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
It's just I'm starting to feel bad for the guy
at this point. Let's reach that level where.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Okay, well, if you feel bad for him, then yeah,
I know.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I'm the least sympathetic person in the world. So all
right on that note, No, I'm loving. I'm nothing but good.
I'm a fuzzball, warm fuzzball. Thank you for listening to statisfading.
We'll be back with our Yellowstone series next week.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Thank you.
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