Transcript
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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Ali.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli.
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Welcome back, everyone.
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I just wanted to take a minute at the top just to say a quick apology that we weren't
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able to bring you an episode last week.
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COVID hit our household pretty hard and we just needed a good rest and some time to heal.
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So it's that time of year.
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Make sure you're washing your hands, everybody.
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Oh, and happy Halloween.
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I think this episode comes out officially on Halloween.
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So happy Halloween.
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Be safe out there.
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If you're going out trick or treating, be safe.
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We are very blessed this year to be attending some great friend's wedding on Halloween and
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we're super excited for it.
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So yeah, if you're going out and celebrating in any capacity, please be safe.
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But I think we can jump right into this week's episode, which is episode number 107.
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Let's do it.
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So just as a quick content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person.
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Today we're talking about the missing person case of Jared Negrete.
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And this takes place in July of 1991 in San Bernardino County, California.
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But first a little bit about Jared.
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Jared is 12 years old in July of 1991.
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He lives with his parents, Felipe and Linda Negrete in El Monte, California.
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Jared is a shy young man, but he is extremely smart.
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He's an eighth grader and a proud member of Boy Scout Troop number 538.
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The Boy Scout Troop is sponsored by his church, the El Monte Congregation of the Church of
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Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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And now a timeline of events.
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On Friday, July 19th, 1991, Jared is wearing his Boy Scout uniform, green pants and a tan
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shirt.
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He's on his first overnight trip with his Boy Scout Troop.
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There are five other Scouts and their troop leader, Dennis Knight.
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This troop planned to hike to the summit of San Gregorio, which is over 11,000 foot summit
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and the highest point in Southern California.
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The plan was to hike from Camp Toquits, which is a Boy Scout camp, to the summit.
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It takes about a full day to hike to the summit and then hike back down to the base level.
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So when I was researching this case, most wilderness guides say that this is at minimum
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like a one camping night hike.
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So on Friday, as the Boy Scout Troop headed to the summit, Jared was having trouble keeping
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up with the other hikers.
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By all accounts, it appears that this was his first time climbing at this elevation
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and the altitude was getting to him.
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It appears that the Boy Scout Troop carried on without him.
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There are some different reports.
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Some say that the Scout leader told Jared to stay behind on the trail while they went
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ahead to the summit and they would come back to get him.
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Other reports are that Jared just couldn't keep up with the troop and they moved ahead
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without him.
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Either way, Jared is left alone on the mountainside.
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Jared was last seen by a firefighter that was walking the Vivian Creek Trail.
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He saw Jared leaving the marked trail and he called out to him that it was safer to
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stay on the trail.
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The sighting happened around 5 or 6 p.m.
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Both times have been reported.
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There are reports that other hikers saw the troop leader at the summit and mentioned that
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they were worried about the boy.
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When the Scout leader couldn't locate Jared, he ends up hiking 12 miles in the dark to
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be able to report him missing.
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By the time Dennis Knight is able to report Jared is missing, darkness has already fallen
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so authorities couldn't spring into action.
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But they start making plans to begin searching at daybreak.
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At 7 a.m. the next morning, Saturday, July 20th, a massive search for Jared is launched.
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They are hopeful that he is still alive.
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While he wasn't dressed for the weather, it got down to around 50 degrees that night
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and he was only in a t-shirt, but searchers believe that he did have some water with him
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and that they'll be able to locate him.
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It's believed that he had about two quarts of water in a canteen.
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Searchers have to take their time due to the steep terrain.
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Police also launch helicopters to try to search for him via the air.
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However Jared's boy scout uniform would make him blend into the wilderness making it harder
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to spot from a helicopter.
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They do attempt to use thermal search from the helicopter during the day, but because
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it's the middle of July, the temperatures are so hot that surfaces are absorbing the
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heat and it's making it harder to look for Jared.
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No sign of Jared is found that first day, but searchers plan to begin at daybreak again
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the next day.
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On Sunday, July 21st, Jared has been missing since Friday.
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The search starts at dawn.
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Police and searchers are still hopeful that Jared is alive.
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On Sunday, they catch a break.
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They find a set of footprints that match the type of tennis shoes that Jared was wearing.
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They find the footprints at around the 10,000 foot elevation on the southern slope.
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San Bernardino County Sheriff Deputy Doruff says, quote, they picked up a set of tracks
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that they feel pretty good about.
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That's the most positive thing we've had all day, end quote.
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Searchers follow the footprints, but again, when night falls, they have to call the search
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off.
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On Monday, July 22nd, right at dawn, searchers are back following the footprints, hoping
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that they lead to Jared.
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Searchers follow the footprints until they lead to an area of rock and shale where they
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lose the trail.
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Searchers focus on six square miles around the footprints to see if they can find any
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other sign of Jared.
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Searchers are worried that he may have fallen and hurt himself, and that's preventing him
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from either calling out to searchers or being seen.
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There are gullies and ravines in the area that are easy to fall into.
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The Boy Scouts of America also announced that they're going to look into what happened.
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Quote, obviously, we would be concerned if proper safety protocol was not in fact followed,
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end quote.
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But the scouts say that right now, their efforts are focused on finding Jared, their thought
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being, let's bring him home first, and then we'll look into what happened.
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However, as night begins to fall on Monday, the search is called off again.
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On Tuesday, July 23rd, Jared has been missing for four days now.
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Police have the scout leader come in with the rest of the scout troop to reenact the
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last moments that they saw Jared.
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Searchers are desperate to find his trail again.
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It's reported that they do find another set of footprints that could be a match.
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This time, searchers camp out next to the footprints so they can start searching right
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at dawn the next day.
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Police are also starting to look into the possibility that Jared was abducted.
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As there are no signs of him on the mountain, they can't rule out abduction, but they're
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also not finding any signs of foul play, so they keep searching on the mountain for him.
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On Wednesday, July 24th, Jared has been missing for five days.
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Right at dawn, those who camped out near the footprints start searching at daybreak.
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Marines are also joining the search as of Wednesday.
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The searchers are still optimistic, quote, the rescue teams have a good feeling about
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this.
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They aren't looking for a body, but for a live youngster, end quote.
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They believe the good weather and the abundance of fresh water would all support Jared and
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help him survive five days in the wild.
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One of the best trackers in the country arrives to try to help find Jared.
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They lead a small team of five and try to focus on finding his trail.
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The Boy Scouts also come out with preliminary results from their investigation.
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They acknowledge that the scout leader failed to follow several rules, specifically in supervision,
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pace, and equipping of hikers.
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They point out that two adults should have been on the hike, but there was only one,
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that scouts were only supposed to move as fast as their slowest hiker, but instead Jared
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was left behind, and that scouts are supposed to carry trail food and weatherproof clothing
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on all hikes, but Jared was not properly dressed for the weather.
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Additionally, the scout leader failed to file a notice that he was taking the troop on a
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hike.
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Jared's parents, Felipe and Linda, do not put any blame on the scout leader.
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They just want their son home.
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On Friday, July 26th, Jared has been missing for one week.
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His parents speak to the local news.
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His mother Linda says, quote, There are times when I ask God, should we still be hoping?
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I have thought of all the things that might have happened, but I have faith in God and
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in Jared.
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I know he is alive.
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End quote.
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Again, searchers remain optimistic that Jared is still alive.
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Quote, The probability of survival is very high.
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He's described as having a good heart and he's not a quitter.
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End quote.
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More volunteers come out over the weekend to help search.
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Hundreds of people take to the mountain to look for Jared.
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And on Saturday, July 27th, Jared's been missing for eight days.
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There's a break in the case.
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They find a camera that belongs to Jared just 45 feet off of the Vivian Creek Trail, near
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where he was last seen.
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It's reported that the camera was found while following footprints that were believed to
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belong to Jared.
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Under the camera are some food wrappers, a wrapper from beef jerky and one from a fruit
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snack.
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It was reported that the items, the wrappers and the camera, were found tucked under a
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bush.
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Police say, quote, The wrappers, which were probably discarded the first day he was lost,
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give us a direction of travel and we hope we'll find him Monday.
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We aren't going to just quit looking.
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We have somebody's baby out here.
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End quote.
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Police are able to develop the film from the camera.
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Police believe that the camera was dropped on the first or second day that he went missing.
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There are 12 photos altogether and only one photo that police believe that Jared took
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after he went missing.
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Of the 12 photos, 11 of them are of landscapes that would have been seen along the hike.
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The last photo was a close up of Jared's face.
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It only shows his eyes, eyebrows and nose.
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It appears that Jared did take the picture himself at night and the flash was used.
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The background is not captured in the photo.
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Searchers focus around the area where the camera was found, but again, there is no additional
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sign of Jared.
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On Monday, July 29th, Jared's mother Linda rides in a helicopter around the search area
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talking on a loudspeaker to Jared, telling him to come out from his hiding spot, that
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he doesn't need to be afraid of these people and that they're here to help, that he's
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not in trouble.
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And still, nobody can find Jared.
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The search for Jared continues for days, starting near the first light of the day and then getting
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called off only when it was too dark to search anymore.
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Finally, after Jared had been missing for 17 days, on Sunday, August 4th, police announce
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that there is 0% chance that Jared would be found alive at this point and the search is
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scaled way back.
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Authorities say, quote, as we've said throughout the entire search, when the probability of
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survival reaches far below zero and the risk of injury to our people becomes substantially
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high, the search will be scaled back.
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We believe we reached the zeroing point a few days ago, end quote.
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Overall, nearly 16 different police and search and rescue organizations came out to help
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assist in the search.
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Expert trackers and around 200 search and rescue professionals assisted in the search.
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During the search, they found a wallet that someone had lost over a year ago, a microwave
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oven, and a plot of marijuana plants with an intricate irrigation system in place.
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But they never found Jared.
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At this point in 1991, it was the largest search in the region's history.
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Jared's family refuses to give up hope.
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They ask the governor to revive the full scale search for their son.
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The governor's office responds with, quote, the sheriff's department makes the judgment
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call as to whether the search would produce any tangible results, but we'll talk to
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anybody they want us to talk to to see what can be done, end quote.
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A full scale search is never revived, but searchers keep going back looking for Jared,
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just on a much smaller scale.
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On September 9th, 1991, so it's been about six weeks since Jared vanished, and his family
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acknowledges that he likely isn't going to be coming home, and they hold a memorial
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service for him.
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Over 500 people attend the service to pay respect to Jared's life.
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At the service, Jared's uncle hovered in the doorway.
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He refused to step foot into the church and later told an elder, quote, to the day I die,
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I'll believe that this church and the Boy Scouts of America are responsible for my nephew's
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death, end quote.
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But that is all we know about the disappearance of Jared Negrete.
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So if you know anything about the disappearance of Jared Negrete in July of 1991, or his whereabouts
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today, please call the San Bernardino County Sheriff at 909-387-2978.
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So that is the case of Jared Negrete.
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I was very interested in, obviously, the case as a whole, but the landscape you were speaking
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about in particular, the San Bernardino and St. Gorgonio Mountain is a place that I lived
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near for a time in my life.
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I lived in Santa Monica, California at one point in my life.
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Even though I'm a midwesterner, I am relatively familiar with this landscape, environment,
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vegetation, the animals that are in these kinds of mountains.
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So I was kind of taken by the story in an investigative sense right up until the very
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end.
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And hearing that statement from his uncle, I could really just feel the familial and
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community impact that this lost boy had.
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And it's heartbreaking because this was the 90s.
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And granted, that's—I hate saying it out loud—a while ago now, it's not necessarily
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of a time where this case was unsolvable.
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No.
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This case, it felt like it was right in their hands, and then it slipped through.
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It's really disappointing.
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And like you said, the anger that can really be felt at the loss of this young man, the
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sense of grief that must be felt to not know where he is or what happened to him, that
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can deeply be felt here.
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And I feel it so much for the family.
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While I don't think that there is any tie or relation to Joseph D'Angelo, aka the Golden
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State Killer, he did have two victims in San Bernardino, and it kind of was an area that
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he used as his stomping and murdering grounds.
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Not necessarily hiking areas, but I do think it's just kind of worth mentioning that Southern
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California is a prolific spot or historically has been a prolific spot for serial killers.
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Yeah.
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Unfortunately, I don't know how much they looked into the abduction angle here.
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But there are a lot of, you know, internet forums, comment sections, all of that, where
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people do talk about the possibility that Jared was abducted by somebody, that there
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were nefarious characters living in this area, people in the woods.
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So that's all I think on the table.
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And we don't really know to the depth that police investigated that to rule it out because
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ultimately hundreds, if not thousands of people searched this mountain for a young man and
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he was not found.
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Which seems really remarkable to me when you consider small things that they did end up
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finding.
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Again, about the landscape of San Bernardino, the San Bernardino Mountains, the San Gorgonio
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Mountain, which is also known as Old Greyback Mountain.
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That's how I was introduced to it.
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It is so vast.
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And when you look at Southern California on a map, when you even look at the San Bernardino
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Mountains on a map, that area, even if you open up the scope just a little bit, it almost
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looks like half of Southern California.
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And when you compare that landscape to, you know, smaller states next door, on a map,
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it can look almost as big as its own state.
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So I do think it's interesting that they found anything because the area is so large, but
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it also makes sense to me that they did because they were looking for something so specific.
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I'm really glad you have that perspective because it's so hard for me to imagine.
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I grew up in the Midwest and I've lived in the Midwest my whole life.
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So mountains are really foreign to me.
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So for me, it feels like thousands of people searching this area, they're finding trails,
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they found his camera, they found a wallet somebody had lost a year ago, but they couldn't
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find this boy, like how does that happen?
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But it makes a lot of sense, like you describing the vastness of it.
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That's where I think it is absurd that there was a split from this boy, because that landscape
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is massive.
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And the elevation changes so much from spot to spot.
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I did write down like, did this boy have any skills or survival skills?
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And I think his footprints kind of speak for himself because he did survive.
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If he walked that far, it meant that he did it in the daytime because you cannot hike
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those areas at night.
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And I imagine his flashlight, if he had one, was relatively small and the lighting capabilities
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of flashlights back in the 90s are nothing close to what they are now.
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So the fact that he did it says to me that he fought to survive out there for quite a
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while.
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Yeah, his footprints, from my understanding, it seems like they were going down the mountain,
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like each time they found them, that they were farther down the mountain.
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So they were trying to focus farther down.
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To me, it seemed like he was trying to get back to that Boy Scout camp.
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To your point about how absurd it is that he was left alone, like it is absurd to me.
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I am not a Boy Scout leader, but I have worked in recreational camping and the thought of
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leaving a kid who was not well known for the mountains.
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From everything I read, this was his first overnight trip.
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This was his first time doing a hike like this.
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The thought of leaving behind a child that does not have those skills and is not comfortable
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in that setting because you are trying to get to the summit, that goes against everything.
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Everything.
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And it was wildly reckless that they did that.
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Yeah, my whole body rejected the idea of that happening and it sounds like it is the same
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for you too.
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I also wrote down what was up with the leadership of this troop.
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I know you said that the parents did not point blame at the time, but I have a hard time
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reckoning with that.
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And granted, we do not have kids, we have not lost children in this way.
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I imagine you have to compartmentalize and get right with yourself in a lot of ways to
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continue to survive this kind of loss.
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But personally, I am at least frustrated on their behalf because I just, I do not really
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understand what happened there.
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Well, yeah, and the more you kind of mull it over as you are trying to fill in the blanks
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of the story, you turn back around and it is like, well, why were all these rules broken?
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Is there something nefarious bubbling under the surface that they were trying to cover
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up?
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This trip was not reported to the Boy Scout office, which is supposed to be protocol.
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So was someone just being lazy and forgetful at best?
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Or was someone being purposefully negligent at worst?
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What happened and why were these mistakes made?
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On the error of mistakes that I just want to comment on and how probably all of the
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boys were not properly dressed.
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Because of the elevation changes and this being a mountainous environment, yes, it is
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very hot during the day.
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And like you said, the temperature drops to 50 degrees.
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And as time goes on, as Southern California moves into the later seasons, past summer,
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those temperature differences are even more drastic.
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They can be 50 degrees during the day and then drop to below freezing at night.
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The weather did catch me off guard again as somebody who did not grow up in or around
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mountains that difference.
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I know that that kind of happens out in the desert, but I was surprised how drastic it
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was in the mountains as well, especially for July, which is when Jared went missing.
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And in some of the landscape photos that Jared took on the camera that was found, it does
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look like there's snow in certain spots.
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Like it, it was cold at night.
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Just to pivot a little bit, I just wanted to briefly mention the, the photo, the last
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photo of just Jared.
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We're going to have it up on our Instagram at cold and missing.
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Please go look at it.
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But it is a hauntingly captivating photo because we're trying to fill in so many blank spaces
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for me.
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I'm not looking at it, I'm like searching for what, what is he feeling?
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What is he thinking?
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What's he trying to communicate right now?
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But the picture is really devastating that this is the last moment that we have of him,
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you know, captured.
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I think the other most haunting element of this story is her son like calling out to
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the mountains for him.
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I can't really get that imagery or just echo out of my mind of what that must felt like
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for her as a mother, as a parent to like the yearning and longing of just calling out to
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like echoes of emptiness and to be filled with the possibility that he was still down
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there.
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It was quite heartbreaking and I imagine that some people in this family are still here
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with us.
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So my heart really goes out to them.
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I hope that with the fact that science has grown and changed and that there's more capabilities
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for searching for people in these types of missing cases that there are answers eventually
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and that this family has some kind of peace about what happened to this boy.
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Definitely.
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I hope that Jared comes home one way or the other and that his family is able to put him
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to rest and that they get the answers that they deserve because since 1991 that's a long
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time to go without answers.
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And you know, it's a really popular hike.
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People take to the summit a lot.
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So it's a popular route.
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There are people on that trail all the time.
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So I'm hopeful that at some point somebody will find Jared and be able to give the family
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those answers.
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Again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Jared Negrete in July of 1991, please call
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the San Bernardino County Sheriff at 909-387-2978.
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And we'll have pictures of Jared on our Instagram at Cold and Missing as well as that last photo
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from the camera roll that we were discussing in the episode that'll be on there as well.
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Again, at Cold and Missing will pop right up.
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And if we ever do need to take a week off because something unexpected happens, we'll
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always post about it there so you can stay updated with the podcast there.
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Also thank you so much to everyone who's rated and reviewed us these past few weeks.
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It's been such an honor that we're part of so many weeks and routines and just in people's
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rotation of their podcasts.
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It's incredible.
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And the fact that so many of you have taken time out of your day to rate us or leave us
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a review means the world to me.
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So thank you so much.
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If you haven't had the opportunity to do that, maybe today's the day, leave us a review.
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You can do it on Apple Podcast or our website www.coldandmissing.com.
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We have all our old episodes up there as well as transcripts.
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So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can follow along with the podcast there.
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But that is all I have.
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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Allie.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli.
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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
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Stay safe, y'all.
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And I'll see you next time.
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Bye.
