The Unsolved Vanishing Of Mushroom Hunter Hildegard Hendrickson

This video covers the disappearance of Hildegard Hendrickson in the Cascade Mountains.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hey there, folks. Today we're going to cover a case
that has been requested to me many times, and it's
taken a while to get around to you because I
want to do it right. I understand why there's so
much interest in this case, because if you only have
the basic information, say from the news or something, then
the case really does seem quite wild. You're dealing with
an elderly woman who is somewhat immobile, disappearing in a

(00:42):
remote location with tough terrain. I think you'll find after
watching this video that we are very fortunate to have
a lot of details on this incident which people have
probably not heard before. You'll also get a glimpse into
the world of mushroom hunting, which plays a key role
in this case. I'll also take you to the location
and show you what it looks like. The disappearance of

(01:03):
mushroom hunters in general is something that often gets attention
or may be looked at as being strange. That along
with berry pickers. So let's take a good look at
one of the key cases in this category of missing people,
the disappearance of Hildegarde Hendricksen. Oh I thought the video

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Hildegard Hendrickson was a seventy nine year old woman who
lived in Seattle, Washington. Hildegard was a widow with her
husband Monty passing away in two thousand and one. She

(03:34):
was living in Austria when the two first met. Because
Monty was stationed in Europe with the US Army. The
couple had two grown sons who both lived in the
Seattle area. Hildegard came to Seattle in her twenties and
studied for her doctorate at the University of Washington. She
was retired in twenty thirteen, but had previously worked as
an economics and finance professor for Seattle University for almost

(03:58):
thirty years. Hildegarde was an avid mushroom hunter. In fact,
she was considered by many to be an absolute expert
in the field. She had been going out into the
field for the last thirty seven years and had become
proficient in the identification of many mushroom species. She would
also regularly instruct others on mycological identification. Hildegard was a

(04:21):
member and educational chair of the Puget Sound Mycological Society
and was well regarded throughout the mushroom gathering community in
all of Washington State. Hildegard would often go hiking and
picking by herself, but she would never travel too far
from her car. In addition to that, it was known
to her friends and family that she had a bad
knee due to arthritis that further prevented her from walking

(04:44):
long distances or crossing rough terrain. Friends said that Hildegard
could be brash, bold and feisty, but that her direct,
energetic approach earned her admiration. At the time in question,
there had recently been a wildfire that had to the
Basalt Peak area on the east side of the Cascade Mountains,
which creates the perfect breeding ground for desirable mushrooms like Morrel's.

(05:09):
This intrigued Hildegarde, and she knew it would be an
excellent place to do some hunting. On June eighth, twenty thirteen,
she left her Seattle area home while driving her light
green Ford Focus. She was wearing her common attire, a
colorful shirt, tan vest with a mesh basket and a
walking stick. A friend of hers said that Hildegarde always

(05:30):
wore a very unique piece of jewelry, a custom made
gold Morel mushroom on a gold chain. The piece was
a gift from her deceased husband, and she wore it
in his honor every time she went mushroom gathering. According
to a friend who had recently gone mushroom hunting with her,
Hildegarde never left sight of her car when she hunted.
She always left her car unlocked, she would stay on

(05:53):
level ground and her knee had been noticeably bothering her lately.
He said that she would not push into brushy area,
go over logs and obstacles. We know that Hildegarde made
it up to the precious mushroom hunting ground near Basalt Peak,
but she did not return. A few days would pass
and neither her friends nor her family would hear from her.

(06:15):
A few days would pass passen neither her friends. On
June eleventh, twenty thirteen, at around ten fourteen am, Dispatch
received a call from an individual by the name of Igor,
who wanted to report a suspicious situation involving a vehicle
at the Minnow Creek trailhead. Igor said that he was
in the Basalt Peak burn area hunting for mushrooms and

(06:38):
that he had been doing this for the last several days.
He stated that a light green Ford Focus had been
parked at the trailhead and left unattended for the past
two days. He was additionally concerned to find that the
doors were unlocked and the windows were slightly open. Igor
said that he decided to enter the vehicle and see
if he could find a note or a name that

(06:58):
would give him some clue as to who owned the car.
While engaged in this task, he discovered some papers and
other items that identified the owner as Hildegard Hendrickson of Seattle, Washington.
Egor was surprised to see that name, as he actually
knew Hildegarde, though not necessarily very well, but he knew
that she was a longtime mushroom hunter who lived in

(07:20):
the region, and he had spoken to her several times
over the past few years in the Lake Gnatchee area.
Igor told Dispatch that it would be very unusual for
Hendrickson to stay overnight in the area, and that the
vehicle had been parked in the same location and position
as when he had first observed it two days prior.
Igor relayed the license plate number to the Ford Focus

(07:41):
and Dispatch was able to look up Hildegard's information from
the Department of Licensing. This gave them her Seattle address
and her general information such as age, height, eye color,
and hair color. Dispatch then relayed this information to the
Shellane County Sheriff in order to begin a search and
rescue operation in the Minnow Creek Trail area. At ten

(08:02):
forty seven a m. A. Chland County Sheriffs Sergeant Bruce
Long made phone contact with Igor, who gave him directions
to the location of Hildegard's ford focus. Prior to responding
to the trailhead, Sergeant Long made contact with Hildegard's son Andrew,
who lived in the Seattle area. He was advised that
his mother's vehicle was found parked at the Minnow Creek

(08:24):
trailhead and hadn't been moved for two days. Andrew Hendrickson
told Sergeant Long that given this information, he believed his
mother was possibly missing. Andrew said that the last correspondence
he had with his mother was via email about two
days prior. He said that he would check with his
mother's friends and neighbors to determine when she may have
left her home in Seattle. Andrew told Sergeant Long that

(08:48):
his mother was an avid mushroom hunter who had traveled
to the Lake Guanatchi area on prior occasions to look
for mushrooms. He also said that his mom would routinely
search for mushrooms along roadways and established trails. Andrew Hendrickson
would later call the sergeant back after checking his mother's
residence and confirming she was not at home. Andrew said
that he contacted numerous people and nobody had seen or

(09:11):
heard from Hildegarde in the last few days. He did
learn that she had told some acquaintances that she was
traveling by herself to the Leavenworth, Washington area to pick mushrooms.
On June eighth, Andrew said that when he tried calling
his mother, the phone had simply gone to voicemail. He
then said his plan was to begin driving to the Leavenworth,
Winatchy area to assist deputies in the search for his mother.

(09:34):
Sergeant Long told him to make contact with a deputy
at the Forest Service Ranger District office in Leavenworth, since
there was limited cell service at the trailhead. At around
one forty pm, a Sergeant Kent Hassan began forming a
team to begin the search and rescue up at the
Minnow Creek trail. He issued a call for any volunteer
search personnel from the Sheriff's SAR organization to meet at

(09:57):
the trailhead at around four pm. It was also able
to call in several bloodhound handlers to assist with the operation. Afterwards,
Sergeant Cisan and two others from the department began collecting
equipment needed to initiate a hasty search and began making
their way up to the trailhead. Meanwhile, Sergeant Long contacted
Dispatch to check on Hildegard's cell phone status to see

(10:20):
if they could determine whether the phone was on or
if it could be pinged for a location. Dispatch quickly
determined the cell carrier, and an Exigent Circumstances form was
completed in facts to Singular to ping the phone at
two forty one pm. Singular advice that the phone had
not been used since June fourth, four days prior to

(10:40):
Hildegard's last contact with family or friends. The phone's status
at the time appeared to be off, with no signal
registering with the Singular company. Sergeant Long arrived at the
Minnow Creek trailhead at around three pm and began speaking
with the initial reporting party Igor, as well as seven
others who were present in the area. It was determined

(11:02):
that Hildegard's vehicle had arrived at the trailhead sometime on Saturday,
June eighth. In the afternoon, Egor told Sergeant Long that
he had spoken with Hildegard on the morning of June eighth,
near the Rock Creek campground and trailhead, which is several
miles to the west off of the Chihuahua River Road.
At the time, Hildegard was collecting mushrooms there. Igor said

(11:24):
that he had a conversation with her about mushrooms, and
he had mentioned to her that Morrell mushrooms were growing
well in the Basalt Peak Burn area, which is accessed
from the Minnow Creek trailhead. Hildegard told Igor that she
had not been to that area in the past, so
Egor gave her directions to Forest Road sixty two ten,
also known as the Chickamin Ridge Road, which is an

(11:45):
offshoot of the Chihuahua River Road. Egor told Sergeant Long
that he did not initially realize that the green Ford
Focus belonged to Hildegard. He said that Hildegard would routinely
make day trip mushroom hunting excursions from her home in Seattle,
but she usually returned home the same evening. Sergeant Sissan
would arrive with additional deputies at around three thirty eight PM,

(12:08):
making contact with both Sergeant Long and Andrew Hendrickson, who had
made the decision to drive directly to the trailhead. Andrew
was accompanied by his girlfriend Mary. Sergeant Sisson began by
investigating the twenty twelve light green Ford Focus that was
parked at the trailhead and facing to the west. The
driver's door and the front passenger door windows were down

(12:30):
approximately one to two inches, as if to ventilate the
vehicle during the daytime heat. The vehicle doors were unlocked,
and there were maps, general clothing items, collection bags, and
other miscellaneous items located in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
Hildegard's purse containing her wallet, driver's license, cash, credit cards,

(12:50):
keys for the Ford Focus and other items were located
in the trunk of the car, which was also unlocked.
In addition to that, they found a cooler contained snack
foods and water, which appeared as though it hadn't been
used and was still sealed. Two paper bags of mushrooms
were also located in the trunk. One of the bags
contained bow leat mushrooms and the other bag contained morels.

(13:13):
In speaking with Andrew, Sergeant Sisson learned that his mother
routinely makes day trips to the east side of the
Cascade Mountains to collect mushrooms. The sergeant learned that Hildegard
had been making these trips during the mushroom growing seasons
for approximately thirty seven years, and that she was known
as a mushroom or mycological identification expert who regularly instructed

(13:35):
people on mushroom identification. Andrew said that his mother was
very safety conscious and would not walk far off established
trails or roadways, and that she would not venture very
far from where she would park her vehicle. After speaking
with Andrew, the sergeant requested Forest Service barricades and signage
to close off Forest Road sixty two ten at the

(13:55):
Chihuahua River Road. Forest Service rangers were also advised of
the situation. At three point fifty four PM, a search
and rescue command post was established at the trailhead and
a briefing was held for search personnel. Sergeant Sisson was
established as the incident commander, and search areas were defined
as high probability areas. These areas included the Minnow Creek Trail,

(14:18):
the area due west of the trailhead, and to an
area south of the trailhead. Fourteen ground search personnel were
deployed in four teams. A bloodhound handler named Fenton showed
up with his dog Lucy and was familiarized using scent
articles in the Ford Focus. They began to search up
the main Minnow Creek trail. A second dog team with

(14:38):
search dog Sela arrived and began searching the high probability
areas near the main trail. Between four pm and eight
thirty seven pm, search teams covered the assigned areas, but
no clues were located. Due to the approaching darkness, the
search was suspended until daylight hours of June twelfth. The
road up to the trailhead was barrick to prevent any

(15:01):
further civilian travel into the area. Sergeant Sissan remained at
the trailhead with the Ford Focus for scene security until
a relief deputy could be located. At around ten thirty
pm that evening, the sergeant noticed a vehicle traveling up
the road toward his position. He noticed their headlights in
the woods. The car had to pass the police barricades

(15:23):
in order to get to that point where he spotted it.
The sergeant undoubtedly found this very strange. He then stopped
the vehicle, which was a white Ford pickup with a
Hispanic mail driver as the sole occupant. Sergeant Sissan tried
to find out what the man was doing in the
area at night and why he had passed the police barricade,
but the individual spoke only broken English. The only thing

(15:46):
that the sergeant could deduce was that the man wanted
to go camping further up the road. He then told
the man to turn around and leave the area since
it was closed. The man complied and left, heading southbound.
Sergeant Sisson noticed that there had been a second vehicle
following the pickup, but it had turned around prior to
reaching his location. The sergeant ran the plates on the pickup,

(16:09):
which came back to a man named Alonzo from Aberdeen, Washington.
At around eleven to twenty pm, Sergeant Sisson was relieved
from his night watch duty by another deputy and Sergeant
Sisson was relieved from his night walk. June twelfth marked

(16:29):
the second day of search operations, which began at seven
forty five am with a briefing for search personnel. This
time they had thirty four people involved in the search.
Fourteen of these began doing grid searches in areas north, south,
and west of the trailhead, with about fifteen to twenty
feet between personnel this team covered a large area of

(16:51):
where there was anticipated to be a high probability of detection,
with natural land barriers to the south and west. Dog
teams were again to play into the high probability area
above and below the trailhead. At around nine oh five am,
a man named Jeremy, who was one of the initial
subjects contacted at the trailhead on the first day of

(17:11):
the search, arrived at the command post in his white
Toyota Prius. He said that he had left a small
pack further up the main road while hunting MOREL mushrooms
on the day that it was reported that Hildegarde went missing.
He wanted to drive up the road and retrieve his pack.
Deputies escorted him up the road about a quarter of
a mile, and Jeremy located his backpack. He then admitted

(17:34):
to deputies that he had concealed four bins of MOREL
mushrooms in the brush in the same general area. Deputies
made Jeremy find the bins and take them back to
the command post. There, he admitted to picking the mushrooms
the day prior and then concealed them, Knowing that the
area was closed to commercial picking. Jeremy claimed that the

(17:54):
wording of the private versus commercial mushroom gathering is vague
in the documentation provided to pickers. This information was turned
over to Forest Service personnel for follow up. Jeremy also
mentioned to deputies that he had been in the area
on Saturday, June eighth. He arrived at the Minnow Creek
trailhead at around eight thirty am in the morning that

(18:14):
day and there was no car present at the time.
When he came back out of the area later in
the afternoon, he noticed Hildegard's Ford Focus parked at the trailhead.
He never actually observed her in the area. However, after
dealing with Jeremy, search teams combed through the area where
Jeremy had hidden the mushroom bins, but found nothing directly

(18:34):
connected to Hildegard. It was later learned that Jeremy and
Hildegard knew each other. Apparently, Jeremy learned how to hunt
mushrooms from Hildegarde, and they have had arguments in the
past about Jeremy's commercial harvesting of mushrooms without permits. Afterwards,
a deputy on scene spoke with a subject named Victor,
who had seen a woman whom he believed to be

(18:57):
Hildegard at the trailhead. At approximately one pm on June eighth,
Victor said that he saw Hildegarde starting up the main
Minnow Creek trail, carrying a basket and wearing a tan vest.
He noticed her vehicle parked at the trailhead as well.
This same deputy also spoke with a Forest Service employee
who believed he had seen Hildegard on Minnow Creek Trail,

(19:17):
just below the first switchback on the route from the trailhead.
The Forest Service employee said that this occurred on June
eighth at around one thirty pm, which fits with the
rest of the timeline. At ten am, Andrew Hendrickson arrived
with his girlfriend and said they were going to walk
and check forest Road sixty two to ten to the
south of the trailhead, along with a volunteer chaplain named Darren.

(19:40):
At around ten twenty five am, Darren arrived back at
the headquarters, saying that Andrew believed he had heard a
whistling sound somewhere in the drainage to the west of
the road. He believed that it might be his mother
using her whistle to try and alert searchers. A handful
of search personnel were redirected to about three quarters of
a mile south of the trailhead, which was the approximate

(20:02):
location the whistle had been heard. They even brought in
a helicopter to cover the area as best it could,
though it had difficulties seen through the dense tree cover.
There was an extensive search of the drainage along Minnow Creek,
but nothing was located. It was later determined that a
species of bird in the area made a steady chirping
sound that is very similar to the sound of a

(20:24):
man made whistle. At around one twenty five PM, a
search team that was searching the east side of Forest
Road sixty two ten reported that they had located thirty
two bins of harvested morel mushrooms concealed in the heavy
brush off of the roadway. A small backpack with some
clothing and food items was located in the same area.

(20:45):
The clothing appeared to belong to a male subject. It
was their belief that none of the items located were
directly related to Hildegard Hendrickson. When family members had a
chance to view the clothing and pack, they agreed that
none of the property belonged to Hildegard. As a side note,
this area of Basalt Peak is designated for personal mushroom

(21:05):
picking only. Commercial harvesting of over three gallons of MOREL
mushrooms in one day is illegal. The concealment of thirty
two bins of mushrooms led the Forest Service to believe
that there were commercial pickers in the area who were
attempting to remain undetected by law enforcement. The thirty two
bins were subsequently confiscated. Afterwards, some witnesses came forward and

(21:28):
reported that there had been a suspicious white Toyota Prius
in the area, driven by a subject known as Jeremy.
The witnesses believed this Jeremy individual was involved in the
commercial harvesting activities in the Basalt Peak burn area. In fact,
he was described as the person who was overseeing all
the work. However, this was the extent of the information

(21:51):
received by law enforcement. Hildegarde's vehicle was towed from the
area around two twenty six pm that day. Field search
efforts conclin luted by six thirty pm due to search
or fatigue, but with plans to return the next day.
June thirteenth and try again. At around seven forty pm,
deputies received a call from a doctor, Anthony Okos in Seattle,

(22:13):
who advised that he had spoken to Hildegard at the
Minnow Creek trailhead near her vehicle on June eighth. The
doctor had seen the flyer for Hildegard's disappearance on a
TV news station and recognized her as the same person
he had spoken to on June eighth. The doctor had
hiked the Minnow Creek trail with a friend that day
and was arriving back at the trailhead when he encountered Hildegard.

(22:35):
He described her as wearing a straw hat, a tan
vest with a colorful shirt, something very much akin to
this photo here. The doctor said that Hildegard was standing
by her vehicle carrying a silver metal basket and a
blue metallic hiking pole. He did not know who Hildegard was,
but said she was very knowledgeable concerning mushrooms and showed

(22:56):
him some large bow leads she had picked earlier that
day in a different area. Hildegard told the doctor that
she was going to walk into the burn area and
collect a few morel mushrooms. Even at the time, the
doctor was concerned for Hildegard's safety as she was hiking
alone and as a physician, he did not feel she
was in the best physical condition to hike into the

(23:16):
area with all the down timber and other hazards. When
the doctor expressed his concerns to Hildegard, she told him
that she would be fine. As the doctor was leaving
the area, he noticed that Hildegard was beginning to walk
west of the trailhead and into the burned area she
was last seen around one thirty PM was beginning to
walk west of the trailhead and into the burn Day

(23:42):
three of the search began on June thirteenth at around
eight am, with thirty three personnel participating. This included six
members of the Puget Sound Mycological Society who had arrived
to assist in the search for their friend. The group
split up into seven teams and were each given assignments
of high probability areas. A cadaver dog was used extensively

(24:04):
in the area near the point last scene and down
into the Minnow Creek drainage where the possible whistling was heard.
During this time, a detective on scene at the command
post interviewed a man named Gary Werner, who had been
camping in the area for several days while picking morel mushrooms.
Gary was present on June eleventh with other subjects when

(24:24):
Sergeant Long first arrived on scene. He told this detective
he had been camping at a site about one and
a half miles further north on Forest Road sixty two
ten with his dog on Monday, June tenth. He observed
the green Ford focus at the trailhead on Monday and
Tuesday prior to the searchers arriving on scene, but he
had never seen nor spoken to Hildegarde. Gary said he

(24:47):
always made sure to comply with a three gallon a
day limit for morel picking, and that he knew there
were commercial pickers in the area, which angered him. The
search on this day again ended without any clues or
six excess, which angered him. The search on this day.
On the fourth day of the search, June fourteenth, at

(25:10):
eight twenty am, fifty eight search personnel showed up to participate.
A wide range of assignment areas were handed out to
multiple teams, including a canine unit. Certain high probability areas
that were searched on Day one and day two were
re checked by teams, but still no clues were located.
During this operational search period by teams, but still no

(25:34):
clues were located. Day five of searching began at seven
thirty am with a total of forty three personnel. Assignments
were handed out as per usual. At around nine am,
one of the teams located a plastic water bottle and
nearly new condition. This was just west of Minnow Creek,
below the Minnow Creek trail in the burned area. This

(25:56):
area around the find was extensively searched, but no clue
were found. By the end of the day. It was
decided by command staff that if no new clues were
located during day six, then the search would be suspended.
The Hendrickson family was told of this update and they
understood the decision, then the search would be suspended. Day

(26:21):
six of searching began at eight fifteen am with forty
three search personnel. Yet again. In addition, seven canine handlers
arrived from the King County Sheriff's office. This unit contained
ground scent, air scent and cadaver scent dogs. Assignments were
split up between some new search areas, as well as
other areas that had been previously searched but were still

(26:42):
considered high probability. All reports indicate that the teams made
one hell of an effort on this day. In the afternoon,
command staff met with the Hendrickson family concerning the overall
search effort. They reiterated that since no new clues were found,
they would have to suspend at the end of the day,
but that new searches could be implemented if new information

(27:03):
has ever received. At four point fifty pm, the search
for Hildegard Hendrickson was officially suspended. The Chickaman Ridge Road
was reopened, and missing person flyers with information and photographs
concerning Hildegard were posted at the trailhead and at the
intersection of the Chickaman and the Chihuahua roads. During and
even after the search, a number of tips came into investigators,

(27:26):
as they always do. Most of them turned out to
be dead ends, irrelevant, and the like one that seemed
worth mentioning came from a Puget Sound Mycological Society member
named Wanda. But here we already get into something I
like to call timeline wonkiness, because part of Wanda's report
makes no sense, and I don't necessarily think it's her fault,

(27:46):
but the fault of whoever took the report. The issue
here is that the written report says that Wanda was
with Hildegard and another club member in the Minnow Creek
Trail area on June thirteenth, twenty thirteen. Obviously, this is
impossible because Hildegard was already missing. The problem here is
likely the date, but I don't know if it's incorrect
by a week or a year. It could be that

(28:07):
Hildegard was in the area with two other women just
days before she went missing, and then came back alone.
From reading her statement, I gather that she was there
with Hildegard on June sixth, So I'm going to assume
that this reporting party Wanda had been to this location
once in the past with Hildegard, and we'll go about
it like that. Something else I found odd but worth mentioning,

(28:28):
is that this incident apparently occurred on June fifteenth at
the Minnow Creek trailhead, but the search was still in
progress at the time. It was winding down. Sure, but
I believe the Chickaman Ridge road was still closed, but
two separate reports from this lady give the date as
June fifteenth and the weekend of June fifteenth and sixteenth,
So I don't know what to think about that. It

(28:50):
certainly doesn't mean that this didn't happen. Maybe some of
the dates are incorrect and maybe not. I think this
incident probably occurred on June seventeenth, right after the AFIFIE
search had ended and the roads had opened back up,
because that's when the report was taken. Either way, I'll
tell you what this lady had to say. On June sixth,
twenty thirteen, Hildegard had taken Puget Sound Mycological Society members

(29:13):
Wanda and Lynne to this location up by the Minnow
Creek trail because she was certain there would be an
abundance of Morrell mushrooms in the area. By the time
they arrived, it had already gotten late and the sun
was setting. Hildegard said that she would try to hike
up the trail some other time, but not get too
crazy about it. The women talked about how rough the
terrain was, and Hildegard joked that if she was tired,

(29:36):
there was not anything clean to sit on, and if
she sat on the ground, she may not be able
to get back up again with such a bad knee.
Hildegard said that if she came back, she would try
to be very careful and not go too far so
as to not get tired and have to sit down somewhere.
All three women decided to leave without doing any mushroom hunting.
While driving back to Seattle, the other women discussed how

(29:58):
Hildegard would not go back to the location alone because
in the classes she taught she always instructed mushroom pickers
to never go to remote locations by themselves. They were
unaware when Hildegard returned alone on June eighth, only to disappear.
Then the search occurred and the area was closed to
civilian traffic. On June seventeenth, twenty thirteen. After the search,

(30:21):
Wanda and Lynn drove to the Minnow Creek trail to
do some searching of their own for their friend Hildegard.
When they arrived, they met another mushroom hunter named Gary
that they spoke to for a few minutes. Afterwards, Gary
drove away, and the two women decided to check the
trail up to the first switchback to get a feel
for the terrain that Hildegard was alleged to have hiked.

(30:41):
After walking just a short distance on the trail, the
two women had little doubt in their minds that Hildegard
would not have climbed over all of the down trees
that lay across the path. They believed that she would
have gone back to her car to drive to an
easier access point. Both women agreed that Hildegard would only
be able to walk up to one mile up or
down the road because it is flat terrain. They did

(31:04):
not think that Hildegard would be able to step over
logs while up in the area. Wanda said she was
out of sight of Lynn when she encountered a suspicious
male near the Minnow Creek trailhead. She said that he
was driving a metallic Royal blue van with no back
and an added flatbed behind the cab. Wanda said that
the man seemed to be in his forties, a white

(31:25):
male about six feet tall, overweight, with dirty hands and
a noticeable scar on his nose. He was carrying two
five gallon buckets full of mushrooms, which he put down
next to his van before looking towards Wanda. He told her,
people kill for these mushrooms. You know, I know there
is a search for the missing woman up here, and
if she was still here, the birds would be circling

(31:47):
above the body and they could find her. The entire
time the man spoke to Wanda, he had his hand
on the handle of a very large hunting knife that
was sheathed on his waist. The strange man said that
he was there to pick morrel mushrooms, and he said
that sometimes mushroom hunters can be territorial, inferring that it
was possible Hildegard encountered such an individual on June eighth.

(32:10):
Wanda said that she became very frightened and intimidated by
the man and his comments. She interrupted him and told
him that she had wandered from her friends and that
she had better get back to them before they think
she has lost. The strange man acted surprised and asked
if Wanda was there with a man or a woman.
Wanda said that she was there with both a friend
and her husband, who was waiting for her. Wanda then

(32:31):
walked away and went directly back to the car where
Lynn was waiting. After driving away, the two women spoke
about the possibility of Hildegard meeting the strange man or
someone very similar to him. They agreed that Hildegard would
have confronted and even threatened to call the Forest Service
or police to report an a legal commercial mushroom harvester,
which the strange man most certainly was. Wanda told authorities

(32:55):
that she is becoming more and more convinced that this
is what happened to Hildegard, especially after after speaking with
people who were involved with the search effort. Wanda said
that the encounter with the man was brief, but she
felt that he was rather suspicious and it made her uncomfortable.
She gave a physical description of the man to the
authorities as a little addendum to this incident. On this

(33:15):
same day, June seventeenth, a woman named Michelle called authorities
to report a strange man she had encountered at the
Minnow Creek trailhead. Michelle said that she was confronted by
a man standing near a shiny blue, metallic painted cab
with a chopped shiny silver flatbed vehicle. She described the
man as Mexican or Filipino in his late thirties or

(33:37):
early forties with very dirty hands and acting nervous. Michelle
said that the man mentioned that he had heard the
missing person's cases being investigated as foul play. Michelle said
that the man made her very uncomfortable and she couldn't
get away from him fast enough. It would seem that
these two incidents are likely connected in the same individual.

(33:57):
Sometime around this date, a deputy he was in the
vicinity of the Minnow Creek trailhead when they had an
encounter with Gary, a man previously interviewed by police. Gary
was apparently known as a commercial mushroom harvester, but said
officially he picks only his daily allowance. He said that
he felt very bad for Hildegard's disappearance and for her family.

(34:18):
He said he was not in the area over the
weekend that Hildegard went missing, but helped out a little
in the search. He said that he was in the
area on Thursday, the same day that Hildegard was there
with Wanda and Lynn, but he didn't see their car
at the time. Gary said that he had an extensive
and negative history with the cops, both local and federal.

(34:38):
He said his biggest problem is when he is told
not to pick in some areas versus others, and has
been cited many times for violations and harvesting over his limit.
Gary felt that he had been unfairly targeted by individuals
who were jealous of his bountiful harvests. Eventually, he got
very worked up and profane describing how he has been

(34:58):
mistreated by the cops, and the conversation ended. The deputy
was routinely checking the area for any clues or odors
on a once per week rotation. A follow up search
was done in the area of the Minnow Creek Trail
on June twentieth, twelve days had passed since Hildegard had disappeared. Again,
a cadaver dog was brought in to search the area

(35:18):
as it was believed that Hildegard would no longer be alive.
Prior to heading out for this search, authorities had received
a set of four separate coordinates from Andrew Hendrickson. He
had received the coordinates from psychics at a website called
finemea dot com. Authorities plotted the four sets of coordinates
on a map and determined all of them were within
the areas already searched, and two were in an area

(35:41):
of high probability. The other two were in an area
of steep terrain covered in downed logs, which would have
been difficult for a seventy nine year old to traverse.
Even so, searchers went out to the two areas of
high probability and one of the low probability locations, and
they conducted a thorough search of those. The one set

(36:01):
of coordinates that was not searched was due to the
area being too difficult to get to. Still, the sheriff
did their best to check out this long shot psychic
tip and spent a significant amount of hours searching those
areas with both people and a cadaver dog. On June
twenty second, a patrol officer in the area of the
Chihuahua and Chickaman roads noticed a blue Chevrolet astro van

(36:24):
traveling out of the area. Being already aware of the
tip from Wanda about this strange man in the blue van,
the officer took down the vehicle's license plate and pulled
up his photograph in description from the Department of Licensing.
The man's description was a clear match to the man
who was seen by Wanda in the area days earlier,
and his name was Christopher. Deputies sent photographs of the

(36:47):
man in his vehicle to Wanda to see if she
could confirm it was the man she spoke to. Wanda
said she believed it was possibly the same vehicle and
most likely the same man. Authorities made contact with Christopher
at his home on June twenty fifth. He was asked
if he had been driving his van in the area
of the Chickaman Ridge Road on the weekend of June

(37:08):
fifteenth to the sixteenth. Christopher openly admitted that he had
been in the area on that weekend. He had heard
of good Morell mushroom picking in the Basalt Peak Burn area,
but knew the road was closed due to a missing
person search. He waited until the road was reopened and
went into the area with a friend. He said he
encountered several other mushroom hunters in the area on that day.

(37:29):
Christopher said that he had encountered a male subject who
was hunting mushrooms near the Minnow Creek trail that was
unfriendly and very territorial concerning the area, He said, the
man seemed to follow him around in an attempt to
make him move away. Christopher recalled the conversation he had
with Wanda and said he was speaking theoretically when he
said that Hildegard might have been attacked by a territorial

(37:52):
mushroom hunter. He said that he did not know Hildegard
personally and that he had never been to Chickaman Ridge
prior to June seventeenth. After the interview, authorities confirmed Christopher's
story by speaking with the friend that he was with
while on Chickaman Ridge. In the end, it was decided
that Christopher was not a person of interest in the case.

(38:12):
An additional follow up search was conducted on July ninth,
twenty thirteen, as part of a Sheriff's office training operation.
It's very common for law enforcement and other organizations to
conduct search and rescue training in areas where people went
missing and still have not been found. They decided to
use these psychic coordinates once again to help SAR personnel

(38:33):
use their GPS skills in the field and to cover
the one set of coordinates that was missed the last
time a search was conducted. All teams made it to
their designated coordinates and conducted those searches in those areas.
Nothing related to Hildegarde Hendrickson was found in the late afternoon,
search teams checked and abandoned camp site, located approximately one

(38:54):
point three miles north of the trailhead. It appeared that
nobody had used the camp site for at least two weeks.
In the end, searchers found a bunch of garbage, empty
propane tanks, bottles, cans, and other irrelevant items. The search
was complete by five forty five PM and all personnel
went home. Another follow up search was conducted on September

(39:15):
twelfth of twenty thirteen. One of the main objectives of
this search was to have two individuals who had last
seen Hildegard on the Minnow Creek trail accompany searchers to
the point last scene and reconstruct Hildegard's last known position
in reference to the trail. They had one volunteer canine,
two ground search teams, and one motorcycle team. Most of

(39:36):
the ground they covered on this day had been covered
many times before, as it was in the high probability zone.
At one fifty PM, a member of the motorcycle search
team reported that they detected a foul odour while on
the roadway north of the trailhead. The smell came from
the east side of the road and down a steep
embankment sloping into the Chickaman Creek drainage. Another deputy confirmed

(39:59):
the odour, but neither could pinpoint the source. Ground teams
performed a search of the embankment but had trouble pinpointing
the smell, which would fade and return. The searchers made
plans to bring in a specialized cadaver dog to search
the embankment as soon as possible. That search occurred two
days later, on September fourteenth, with two cadaver canines searching

(40:20):
the area. They did an extensive search of the slope,
but the canines were unable to detect the odor during
the six hour operation that went well beyond the designated area.
Bear hunting season had been open beginning in August, and
it was considered that the odor could have been the
remains of a hunter's kill. Unfortunately, the dog's failure to

(40:40):
detect ascent meant that it would remain a mystery. This
would also be the last follow up search for Hildegard
Hendrickson in twenty thirteen. In the end, two thy five
hundred and twenty four point five man hours were devoted
to searching this area, given Hildegard's age and condition. It
was a surprise to every one that nothing had been found.

(41:02):
I will say that the Shellanne County Sheriff's Office documented
one of the most thorough searches I have ever seen.
SAR trainings would continue to be held in the area
in twenty fourteen, but none of them produced any results.
In twenty fifteen, Hildegard Hendrickson would be declared legally dead

(41:22):
fifteen Hildegard fifteen Hildegard. It's always a pleasure to return

(41:47):
to the Cascades. On the way, I passed the Espresso
Chalet and Scenic Creek, both areas I have visited last
year for the Gia Feuda disappearance. If you haven't seen
that video, I recommend you go give it a look.
The first stop on this excursion was to hit Lake Winachi,
an area that Hildegarde was very familiar with. It is

(42:08):
also a great place to set up camp before venturing
into the wilderness. Lake Wanachi itself is a very idyllic lake.
The location is quite popular this time of year, so
the weekends tend to see a lot of turnout from visitors.
My ten second review of the lake Wanachi Campground would
be that it's great in the sense that you get
to be close to the lake, but bad in the

(42:30):
sense that the campsites are really crammed together. Prepared to
have some close neighbors. But this is not what we
came here for. We're here for Basalt Peak and the
Minnow Creek trailhead. Heading up to that area, you take
the Chihuahua River Road north deeper into the wilderness. After
traveling a number of miles, the next goal would be

(42:50):
to take a rite onto Forest Road sixty two to
ten or the chickaman Ridge Road. It's barely marked at
all and it's an easy to miss dirt road. Hey,
there are folks well. Last night camped out of Lake Wanatchi.
We're here in a beautiful morning. I'm at the bottom

(43:10):
of the chickam In Road. Hopefully we'll be able to
get up it. I contacted rangers beforehand. They told me
the Chihuahua is completely open and it was here at
the base of the chicken In Though I'm already seeing
a bit of snow, they warned me there might be snow,
and if there is a bunch of it, stop going.
So if that happens, we'll have to get out and

(43:31):
walk the rest of the way. Hopefully that doesn't happen, though.
This is a full forest road that hasn't gotten any
better in the last ten years. So we'll see how
far up we can get. I'm sure we should be
able to make it to the top and get to
the Minnow Creek trailhead, but we'll let you know how
it goes. You know, these things are always just take

(43:52):
things as they come whenever you go out in the
field like this, So I'll talk to you in a minute.

(45:20):
All right, Well, I'm here at the Minto Creek trailhead.
We just came up the Chickaman Ridge Road, a hellish road,
not a lot of fun to go up that one,
not well taken care of. The Chihuahua River Road was
actually quite nice as far as forest y roads go.

(45:41):
But since it's still spring, I was worried there was
still going to be some snow up here. There wasn't,
but the road still is just torn up. It's not
very good. Still, we made it. I didn't have to
hike up here. It's a great thing. This is where
the base camp was for the search for Hildegarde and

(46:02):
they set up here. They closed off the road down
at the bottom. They knew that she couldn't have gone
very far, or so they thought. You know, it makes
you think differently about it because she wasn't found, and
when you have someone who has limited mobility like Hildegarde,
you wonder where she could have gone. The trail behind
me is the Minnow Creek. It heads up and there's

(46:26):
a lot of down timber in the area, and we
know she didn't like to cross that. She had a
bad knee, so she wouldn't have gone very far up
that trail. A lot of people said she never really
got out of sight of her car, and this parking
area you can't really go very far in any direction
before losing sight of your car because the way the
terrain is set up here. There's another trail across the

(46:48):
way that is the Minnow Ridge trail, and I don't
know the likelihood that she would have gone down there.
It's possible. I mean, she didn't really come here going
with the intent of going down any specific trail, but
she wanted to get morel mushrooms and I've already found
some in the area, so they are still here. But
back in that time. There was a fire here in

(47:11):
the area, and morel's tend to grow up after a
fire season, so she was here looking for morel's. The
Mental Ridge trail has exactly what it says, a ridge,
and you could possibly fall down that ridge, and that
could be an explanation. They did get a scent down there,

(47:33):
and they never really found out what that scent was.
But at the same time, you would think they would
be able to pinpoint something. And would she really have
gone down this trail that far or gone off trail
to the point where she would fall down a ridge.
I mean, it doesn't really seem logical, but let's look
around the area and see what we can see. I'll

(47:54):
stick to the roads too, because I know that's what
she would do. That's what we have heard from others.
You would do, would stick to the road and look
for morels along the side. So I think it's worth
just checking the areas because the roads here are right
along ridge lines and you could fall there. But again,
she seems like she was a safe person. But it's

(48:16):
still worth a look, so let's check it.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Out, Okay.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
So I decided to go down the Minto Ridge trail first,
I got a little shot of the ridge here, very steep.
You could fall down it if you decided to go
looking over the ledge. I don't know why anyone would
do that. But the interesting point is I'm only one
hundred feet down the trail before I run into this,

(49:04):
which is just logs covering the trail. I mean, you're
not going to be able to walk down this trail
very easily. And remember Hildegarde limited mobility. Just this first
bit here, I mean, climbing over these it wouldn't be fun.
These logs are basically giant spike spike logs. You know,

(49:24):
you fall on these, you're gonna get hurt. And it
just keeps going as far as the trail goes, or
at least as far as I can see it going.
So right away we kind of run into problems in
terms of where could she have gone? And remember they
searched this immediate area very well, and they in fact
searched way beyond this because they just weren't finding anything.

(49:48):
So again a big question of if she was here
and disappeared, where could she have gone? Is she's still
in the area, as the question, So let's keep looking,

(50:35):
all right, I'm now walking up the Mineral Creek trail.
I'm not going very far today. That's why I don't
got a backpack on, not carrying minimal supplies at the moment,
because I'm basically going to stay pretty close to the car.
There's no real reason to walk down these trails really

(50:56):
far if we're trying to imitate where Hildegard might have gone. Now,
this trail I've already noticed isn't as bad as the
Mintle Ridge, but it looks like they've put a little
more work into it. I can see areas where logs
covered the trail and they've been cut. I also see

(51:16):
a lot of burned trees. This area is still recovering
from a fire about ten years ago. One interesting thought
is that it's possible that, you know, Hildegarde could have
found some morals because they were really abundant in the
area at that time. And once you find a bunch,

(51:41):
from my understanding, you kind of get that a high
almost that you've found a bunch, and you it pushes
you to keep going further. It's possible that that made
her go off track a bit. What could have happened
from there, It's hard to say, but in my mind,
the only real possibility for looking at some sort of

(52:04):
accident theory, it would have to be that she fell,
which would mean she went the other direction, because coming
up Minno Creek, I don't really see many places to fall.
Minnow Ridge on the other hand, as I said, it's
a ridge, but gosh, it'd be hard to go down

(52:26):
that trail. I have to remember at the same time
that those logs I just showed you that cross the
trail may not have been there, but even ten years
ago these trails were described as being hard to come
down because they were there's lots of fallen logs. So
where could she have gone? Well, I'm going to continue

(52:49):
down Minnow Creek trail a bit just to check it
out again. I'm not going to go very far, but
I just kind of want to get a look in
the area. And as always I'm keeping an eye out
for anything. And you know, it's not lost on me
that nothing was ever found of her, So you know,
her boots should still be out here after all this time.

(53:11):
Maybe her basket depending on what it was made out of.
Maybe some of her clothing depends on what she had
on her, but I'm sure she had some stuff that
wouldn't degrade, and always keeping an eye out for that
kind of stuff. I'll see if anything is found right away.
I kind of come across a blockage here on the trail.

(53:34):
This one seems pretty fresh, it's got some live growth
still on it. But this area, I don't think it's
very well maintained, just kind of like the road coming
up here. It seems to me that the forest rangers
don't get up here very often to clear stuff out
of the way. I'm sure they do every once in

(53:55):
a while, but just looking around the place, you get
a lot of falling trees here That kind of goes
without saying makes the trails a little more difficult to hike.
But the perspective we're coming from is it would make
it difficult for Hildegard to hike. She can't really lift
one of her legs. Bad knee limited mobility. So I'm

(54:19):
maybe a hundred yards up the Minnow Creek trail right now,
and I've already run into a place that would have
probably stopped Hildegard in her tracks. I had one additional
thought as I was walking on the Minnow Creek trail
here right off the bat it's really steep it, you know,

(54:41):
you start huffing and puffing a little bit. It flattens
out eventually, but before you even get to a flat part,
you're already hitting some logs in the road. And would
Hildegard really want to do that? I don't know. You know,
elevation in many ways is just as bad as having
to walk over stuff like logs. So you know, if

(55:05):
you had a bad knee, climbing up large hills is
probably not on the menu. And like I said, it's
not even very far from the trailhead and parking lot. Well,

(55:36):
I'm walking along the road here, just kind of keeping
an eye off to the side, see if I can
see anything. There's a ridge along the road that that's
not terribly steep. You stop falling at some point, but
you know, still you can get it injured. I don't

(55:57):
know if you disappear completely falling down, that could be different.
Some areas, I haven't found any mushrooms yet, at least morel's.
I've found morels down in near the lake WNATCHI haven't
up here. It did come across this twelve gage shotgun shell.

(56:18):
You know, people were probably up here shooting. Looks pretty old,
but I don't think it has anything to do with
the case. I just of anything I've found that's something anyway,
I want to continue on and see what you can see. Well.

(56:50):
I've been walking on the chicken In Road a bit now,
walking up, and something that strikes me is that nowhere
around here really looks like a good place to go
off the road. I got my right, you have a

(57:10):
steep ridge. Obviously you're not going to be going looking
down there, especially Hildegarde. To my left, you have a
steep incline going up into an area that she would
not fare well in because obviously there's more fallen logs
off trail than there is on And in addition to that,

(57:33):
it's really steep right there. I wouldn't even really want
to go off trail here. So would you really get
off the road? Would you go off the trail? As
I said, the only possibility there would be maybe if
she was really finding some morels. You know, this area

(57:54):
was getting pretty well stripped clean by the commercial harvesters.
So that's something that needs to be thought of in
this case. For someone to disappear so completely in an
area like this where there's not too many places for
her to go because she's limited in how far she

(58:15):
can walk or where she would walk. You have to
consider is she even still up here, you know, especially
when the search happened. Was she even in the area anymore.
Some of the commercial mushroom harvesters which to do it
here in this area is illegal. Some of them seem

(58:35):
like pretty shady characters, and it does make you wonder
if foul play was involved in this case, because you
know Hildegarde, she seems like she was a bit of
a stickler for the law right. If she saw someone
over harvesting or commercially harvesting, she was the type to

(58:56):
go up and talk to that individual and give them
a piece of her mind about what they were doing.
And that's not always a good idea, especially when you're
out here in an area this remote. I mean, anything
could happen you out here, and the individual would have
plenty of time to get rid of your body. That's

(59:19):
kind of just the facts of it. Unfortunately, we don't
have any direct evidence to indicate whether something like that
occurred or not. There's just suspicion. But walking around this area,
the options of what could have happened are limited, so

(01:00:41):
I've been hanging around the area for a good minute, now,
good while, and nothing is really changing my mind about
the initial perspective I had on this place. If it
was an accidental thing, she must have fallen down one
of these ridges around here. And then another part of

(01:01:02):
me leans towards this foul play angle, because it's difficult
for someone a fir mobility to disappear so completely. That
definitely lends towards foul play. And we kind of have
a number of suspects in this case, you know, there's
not just one, there's kind of multiple, you know. I

(01:01:23):
was just walking the road here and recalling that an
officer was stationed right here, right here at the trailhead,
and he was just kind of guarding the site, waiting
to be relieved for the night. It was close to midnight,
I believe, And then he started seeing headlights coming down

(01:01:44):
the road here. And that's strange because either that was
his relief or it was someone who had blown past
the barricade they had put up at the bottom of
the chickam In and he encountered two vehicles, two pickups.
He only saw the individual and the first one, believe,

(01:02:04):
he said it was a Hispanic fellow who said he
was coming up here to go camping in the area.
I can't tell you enough how much that story sounds
like BS because just coming up here myself, you know,
if you were to come up here in the middle
of the night looking for a camp it just doesn't
make sense. This is really remote. The road is terrible.

(01:02:26):
There is a thousand better camp sites before you even
come up this way, and I don't know that there's
good camping up ahead either. But to be coming here
in the middle of the night to set up camp
somewhere this remote, I'm just not buying it. It seemed
to me like those guys must have been in the area.

(01:02:48):
Maybe they were mushroom hunters, doing it commercially illegally. Again,
while they were searching this area, they found thirty two
bins of morels in an area which were confiscated. That
could have been the Hispanic fellas who were coming up
here in the middle of the night. I could have
been their stash. We don't know. As far as I know.
They were never questioned again, and no one knew who

(01:03:11):
was in that second vehicle, But obviously there was a
lot of illegal mushroom hunting going on here at the time.
And the question is, is one of those characters, one
of those shady characters, kind of evil enough to have
done something to Hildegard? And it's difficult to say, because
obviously we don't know them. We just know bits and

(01:03:31):
pieces about each of these individuals from what we have
heard from the sheriff's reports. But it seems like they
may not have been the best at people, and it
certainly lends to a possible theory of foul play in
this case. And I'm sure I'm not the only one
who thinks that. To me first, like I said, for

(01:03:54):
someone to disappear so entirely and completely, for nothing to
be found, even after all this time, because keep in mind,
they still do searches out here when they're training, they
still come out here looking for her remains, and it's
been almost ten years and still nothing that does say something.
So is she in this area anymore? I don't tend

(01:04:16):
to think so, but I could be wrong anyway. Those
are kind of my final thoughts on the area. I'm
going to head back down to Lake Wenatchi and mosey
on out of here. So now that we've covered all

(01:05:40):
of that, you may see that this is a bit
of a mystery, getting right into the question of what
could have happened. I think it would be good to
start with the possibility of an accident. What would an
accident look like in this case? Well, in a way,
the possibilities are very limited by Hildegard's capabilities. She would
stay near her car, she had a bad knee, likely

(01:06:01):
wouldn't travel more than one mile. She would stay on
level ground, and she wouldn't cross logs or go into
thick brush. If all of those things apply, then there
really are not many options here. What that all amounts
to is that Hildegarde would stay on or near the
road assuming she could, or would go off into the forest.
You could say that she fell down one of these

(01:06:23):
steep embankments and died, or that she had a medical
episode that contributed to her death. Her family discovered heart
medication at her home after she disappeared. Nobody knew that
she had any cardiac ailment prior to that. The thing
about an accident is the Shellane County Sheriff really did
a hell of a job searching that area. They brought

(01:06:43):
in every type of search dog you could want, and
I still did not see anything in the reports that
indicated a dog got a hit on a scent. Obviously,
dogs are fallible, but a week of searching a relatively
limited area, you'd think something would turn up. I strayed
leaning toward an accidental explanation in this incident, because Hildegard

(01:07:04):
seems the type of person who was unwilling or even
unable to stray very far from her vehicle. One of
her friends from the Mycological Society commented, it's disturbing, it's unsettling,
it's unexplainable. It was Hildegard who taught everyone how to
be safe in the woods. It is possible she had
an accident in this area, but the complete lack of

(01:07:26):
any clues during the search has to make you wonder
if she was even in the area when the search started.
And if she wasn't in the area, then you have
to consider a different kind of answer. So let's talk
about foul play, because that actually does seem like a
possibility despite the remote location. This is almost entirely due
to the fact that there were many mushroom hunters in

(01:07:47):
the area and a number of them were doing it illegally.
It might seem odd, but it really does appear that
the mushroom hunting scene can get quite aggressive. A woman
named Marian Maxwell, who worked with Hildegard at the Mycological Society,
spoke with the media about this phenomenon. She said, a
lot of times out there in the forest, you get

(01:08:08):
scared out of areas by people who consider that to
be their area, even though it's public land. A lot
of times, generally the wisest thing is to leave. The
Mycological Society recommends foraging for mushrooms only in groups or
at least in pairs, and informing others of excursions, which
is good advice. The point is mushroom hunting may not

(01:08:30):
be as innocuous as some might think. To make matters
a little worse, we have someone like Hildegard, who more
often than not went out mushroom gathering on her own.
In addition to that, she was bold enough to call
out any illegal mushroom hunters to their face despite the
potential dangers. You can possibly see where this has the
makings of something bad. All you need is an illegal

(01:08:53):
mushroom picker who is unhinged enough to attack someone, and
Hildegard would have been in no condition to fend off anyone.
This incident has its fair share of shady characters that
certainly deserve another look simply for their strange and possibly
even aggressive behavior just as a little refresher. These are
the individuals who deserve a red flag next to their names.

(01:09:16):
We have Alonzo, who showed up at the trailhead the
first night of the search by passing the police barricades
with another vehicle following him. This is really the only
time he shows up in this story, and even though
he said he was looking for a place to camp,
I would put all my betting money that he was
there for mushrooms. We have Gary, one of the known

(01:09:36):
commercial mushroom pickers, who was in the area on June
sixth when Hildegard was there. He says that he was
in Seattle selling mushrooms on June eighth when she disappeared,
but he shows up again on June eleventh, when deputies
first arrived at the trailhead to begin the search. He
has a long history of bat encounters with the police
and many violations for illegal mushroom picking. He also apparently

(01:09:58):
went on something of a rant about how much he
hates cops. Next, we have Jeremy, another confirmed commercial or
illegal picker. In fact, witnesses said he was overseeing a
lot of the work in the area. He was in
the area the day that Hildegard disappeared, and he said
he never actually saw her. He only saw her car
later in the afternoon that day. He was the guy

(01:10:21):
who stashed mushrooms in the bushes and then came back
for them even though the cops were in the area.
Not very smart really. Authorities later learned that Jeremy knew
Hildegard and the two had heated arguments in the past
because she disliked his tendency for illegal harvesting. Finally, we
have Christopher, the strange fellow, who was seen by witnesses

(01:10:42):
after the search had ended. He said some pretty strange
things to Wanda when he was in the area, but
there was no evidence that he had been around when
Hildegard was there. In fact, he told police that when
he went mushroom hunting there on the seventeenth, he was
followed by and intimidated by a territory ill mushroom picker.
Police openly said that they did not believe he was

(01:11:03):
a suspect In my opinion, there's really two standouts on
this list, Gary and Jeremy. What's interesting is that I
am apparently not the only one to think this. When
I got hold of Hildegard's missing person questionnaire that was
filled out by her son Andrew Hendrickson, there's a section
where it asks if you think there is anyone the

(01:11:24):
police should interview, he wrote down Jeremy and Gary. I
think he has those names in the correct order as well.
Jeremy was there on the day that Hildegard vanished. They
knew each other and had arguments in the past. In
addition to that, when Sergeant Long first arrived on scene,
he spoke with everyone at the trailhead. Sergeant Long wrote

(01:11:45):
down the names of all the individuals who were there,
but he added an additional little blurb when it comes
to Jeremy. He says that he saw Jeremy sitting in
his vehicle and talking to Igor. Then Jeremy started to
yell loudly that he knew Hildegard. Jeremy seemed very upset,
as if Hildegard was a close relative of his. When
Sergeant Long went over to talk to Jeremy, his demeanor

(01:12:08):
changed and he calmed down dramatically. He then started talking
about his new hybrid car. Just some more odd behavior
to add to the list. Typically you don't get this
many odd characters in a missing person's case like this.
When it comes to foul play, there could be any
number of scenarios. It could be that there was an
argument that got physical to something like Hildegard walking on

(01:12:31):
the roadside and getting hit by a car going too fast.
Any incident would have to end with the perpetrator removing
Hildegard's body from the area altogether. Hildegard's son, Andrew Hendrickson,
had a theory about this case, and he wasn't hesitant
to share it. He said, to avoid thinking about other
worst case scenarios. I have concluded she had some sort

(01:12:53):
of discussions with somebody, there was some sort of medical episode,
and because these commercial pickers aren't necessarily upstanding professionals, and
they probably wanted to continue picking in this area, these
mushrooms go for a very high price, so there was
a financial incentive for these people to continue what they
were doing. So we've come to the conclusion that she

(01:13:15):
probably had a heart attack or something and instead of
getting care for her. Somebody threw her in a truck
and got rid of it later. The way I look
at it, shortly before whatever happened, that wasn't a good thing.
She was doing exactly what she wanted to do. I
don't know if it's worth sharing because I have zero
context for this, But among the photos taken during the

(01:13:37):
search for Hildegarde, there were a series of pictures of
a campsite. I can't be certain of these circumstances in
which this campsite was found, because there is no matching
description In any of the reports. During the search, it
was mentioned that they had found an abandoned campsite, but
what they say they found there doesn't really match up
with the pictures. The photos show two tents and chairs

(01:13:59):
around a campfire, a bunch of empty five gallon buckets,
cigarette butts, and a bag full of empty beer cans.
Other beer cans were found dispersed in the area. They
also found a paper target and an empty water jug
that had been shot up by what appears to be
a small caliber projectile, maybe a twenty two or even
a pellet gun. What I gather from looking at the

(01:14:22):
photographs is that this camp site belongs to some commercial
mushroom harvesters that were in the area. How the authorities
discovered it or what the context is surrounding the site,
I have no idea. In the end, I think there
are numerous ways you could explain this disappearance. The sad
part is that most of them involve some sort of
foul play. If there is no body in the area

(01:14:44):
of Basalt Peak, then it's likely this case will never
be solved. I don't even know if there's many lessons
to be learned here, other than to always stay on
your guard and only enter remote wilderness areas with a partner.
Hildegard may have just come across the wrong person on
the wrong day. But let me know what you think
after hearing all of this. Write down your theories in

(01:15:05):
the comments, and until next time, thanks for watching.