The Grand Canyon, a place of breathtaking beauty and
unfathomable depth. Each year, millions stand on its
rims or wander its trails, humbled by nature's grandeur.
But hidden within its sheer cliffs and shadowed gorges are
secrets that refuse to be found. Over the last 50 years, a number
of visitors to Grand Canyon National Park have ventured in
and never come back. Their stories are among the
Canyons most chilling mysteries, confirmed missing persons cases
that baffle investigators and haunt loved ones decades later.
Tonight, in this documentary style journey, we delve into
some of the most bizarre and unexplained disappearances in
the Grand Canyon's recent history.
These are not legends or campfire tales, but true cases
of real people, hikers, adventurers, and tourists who
vanished without a trace. We'll hear from those left
behind, explore the circumstances of each
disappearance, and travel from one case to the next, as if
winding down the Canyons own labyrinthine passages.
Our tone will blend tension with empathy, respect with curiosity.
In each story, we seek not only the suspense of the unknown but
also the human side, the hopes and fears of families and
friends, and the dedication of searchers who at times can only
scour empty canyons and wonder what happened.
Over half a century, Grand Canyon National Park has seen
tragedy and mystery, from the remote forests on its fringes to
the rushing Colorado River in its depths.
Each disappearance is unique, yet all share the same eerie
outcome, no definitive answers. As we move from case to case,
listen to the clues, the quotes, the context.
Perhaps patterns will emerge, perhaps only more questions.
But together we will walk the timeline of these unsolved
cases, guided by the voices of those who were there and the
scant evidence left behind. Our journey begins in the summer
of 2001, just outside the park's South entrance with the
mysterious vanishing of a local teenager, a case that would
foreshadow many of the Grand Canyon's secrets to come.
Late June 2001, in the pine woods of Kaibab National Forest,
just South of Grand Canyon Village, 13 year old Justin
little man Richardson was hanging out with friends on a
warm summer evening. Justin lived with his father in
Tucson, AZ, the tiny gateway town by the park South entrance.
He was popular and adventurous, known to wander the area.
That night, he and three friends, all much older, between
18 and 21, slipped into the forest to party, reportedly
under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
What began as teenage mischief soon morphed into a nightmare.
Details of the night are hazy. At some point, the group of four
became disoriented among the trees in the darkness and split
up, trying to find their way back.
Two of the older teens got lost. Justin and another friend
managed to return to Tusaan and even enlisted help to search for
the missing pair. Unbeknownst to Justin, those two
had already been found safe by railroad employees near town,
but Justin himself would soon slip away at some juncture.
Perhaps still worried about his friends or confused by
intoxication, Justin went back into the woods alone or with one
companion, and vanished. When the alarm was finally
raised, searchers combed the forest for Justin.
They knew this rugged terrain well, a mix of ponderosa Pines,
junipers, and juniper scrub crisscrossed by dirt roads and
hiking paths. This wasn't deep in the Grand
Canyon, but the high plateau just outside it.
Still, the wilderness can be unforgiving for a 13 year old
boy, especially one who may have been impaired.
Despite extensive efforts, no trace of Justin was found that
summer. He had simply disappeared into
the night. In the aftermath, rumors swirled
through the small community. It emerged that Justin's friends
that night were hardly ideal companions, adults providing a
young teen with methamphetamine and booze.
People wondered, had something sinister happened out there?
Justin had a history of running away from home in the past, but
this felt different. There were unconfirmed reports
that some evidence turned up later indicating Justin might
have briefly made it back to a local lodge, the Mochi Lodge,
after the forest search. If true, that raised even more
questions. Why would he leave again?
Did he encounter foul play? Officially, Justin remains
missing to this day, nearly 24 years later.
The Coconino County Sheriff's Office eventually suspected foul
play in his case, even labeling him a likely homicide victim
despite the lack of a body. Perhaps the dangerous crowd he
fell in with that night knows more than they ever admitted.
In the words of 1 investigator. Years later, it appears
something devastating happened to Justin in those woods, a
tragedy beyond just getting lost.
His disappearance though, outside the parks formal
boundaries, shook the Grand Canyon region.
It was a haunting reminder that even on the fringes of this
natural wonder, dark human mysteries can unfold.
For Justin's family, the Canyon country that was their home
became a place of heartache. A boy with his whole life ahead
of him had simply evaporated. The forests around to science
still hold Justin's secret, and perhaps somewhere out there, the
truth lies buried. Justin Richardson's name would
later join a Cold case roster of Grand Canyon mysteries, the
first of the new century. Little did anyone know that it
was a harbinger of similar unexplained disappearances that
would occur within the park itself in the years to come.
After Justin's disappearance in 2001, nearly a decade passed
before another baffling case emerged.
But in 2011, the Grand Canyon would again become the backdrop
for a perplexing vanishing, this time involving a young man on a
cross country journey. Adam Clayton.
Lyle Jones 2011 The deserted car at the South Rim, early May
2011, Grand Canyon Visitor Center parking lot on the South
Rim. Park Rangers notice an abandoned
light blue Oldsmobile Delta 88 sitting unattended.
It had been there at least overnight.
Inside the car, they find something strange, an itinerary
marked with a route through Denver and various California
cities. There's no sign of the driver.
A check of the registration leads them to the family of Adam
Clayton Lyle Jones. Adam was a 23 year old from Gulf
Breeze, FL. At the end of March 2011, he
left home without warning, telling relatives he was heading
West. He took almost nothing with him,
not even a change of clothes, just his laptop computer and his
wits. He didn't own a cell phone, a
fact that would frustrate efforts to trace him.
For over a month, his family heard nothing.
Then came the call from the Park Service in early May Adam's car
had turned up at the Grand Canyon, parked at the visitor
center. Keys gone, Adam was nowhere to
be found. Try to imagine the scene.
A dusty sedan sitting among tourists vehicles.
A long expired parking ticket on the dash.
Rangers walking the rim trails calling out Adam's name.
Peering over the edge at the sheer drop offs near Mather
Point and the visitor center area, did anyone see a lone
young man arrive here? Some visitors recalled perhaps a
slim brown haired fellow matching Adam's description, but
nothing concrete. It was as if Adam parked,
stepped into the Grand Canyon's vastness and vanished into thin
air. The clues left behind were
maddeningly sparse. The itinerary suggested Adam
intended to visit Denver and California, yet here he was in
Arizona. Had he followed his planned
route at all? Why the Grand Canyon?
His family, who filed a missing person report once his car was
found, were stunned. Adam had no known connection to
the Canyon. If he wanted to hike, he had
taken no gear. If he intended harm to himself,
he hadn't said goodbye. Park officials treated the area
as a search zone but found no evidence of Adam along the
popular South Rim viewpoints. Days of helicopter flyovers and
ground searches in early May yielded nothing.
No clothing, no footprints leading off trail.
It's as if Adam simply walked to the rim, took in the awe
inspiring view one last time, and vanished over the edge or
into the crowd unnoticed. His disappearance remains
unsolved to this day. Not a single confirmed sighting
has surfaced. Adam Jones became one of the
Canyons Ghosts, a name on the missing person roster.
With no closure for his loved ones, his parents were left to
imagine countless scenarios. Did he deliberately disappear to
start a new life? Did he fall victim to an
accident in the canyons unforgiving terrain?
Or did something else happen between Florida and Arizona that
ended at the Grand Canyon? Without a cell phone or
witnesses, Adam's story is a void.
Investigators could only surmise that he arrived at Grand Canyon
around late April based on when the car was first noticed.
After that, nothing, no body has ever been found.
In the words of one report, he hasn't been heard from or seen
since the Grand Canyon had swallowed another soul.
The mystery of Adam Jones would stand alone for a few years, but
2015 was approaching, and it would prove to be one of the
most haunting years in Grand Canyon history, with not one but
multiple puzzling disappearances.
The haunting year of 2015 messages river and missing
guides. By 2015, Grand Canyon National
Park was averaging hundreds of search and rescue incidents each
year. Most had happy endings or at
least clear conclusions. But in 2015, two young men
vanished in very different circumstances, leaving behind
eerie echoes. 1 left a cryptic message of spiritual farewell.
The other left no trace at all save a life jacket bobbing on
memory surface. Drake Kramer, 2015.
Back to Mother Earth February 1st, 2015, a cold Sunday on the
South Rim. 21 year old Drake Kramer of San Antonio, TX is
checking out of the Bright Angel Lodge, one of the historic
hotels perched at the Canyon's Edge.
He's been on a solo trip exploring national parks.
Drake is an avid outdoorsman, A geology student who loves
nature. But as he departs the lodge,
something is off. Instead of heading home, Drake
sends an unsettling text to his father.
He said he was at the Grand Canyon and he needed to be back
with Mother Earth and set his soul free.
Drake's father, Robin, immediately knew something
wasn't right. That cryptic message, received
on Monday, February 2nd, stunned the family.
At that point we really started getting worried, Robin later
told ABC News, explaining how they frantically called park
authorities to report Drake missing.
The translation they feared was clear.
Drake was expressing a desire to be at one with nature, possibly
in death. Park Rangers launched a search.
Within hours, they found Drake silver Mazda sedan parked near
the Bright Angel trailhead. But Drake was gone.
Over the next week, rescuers scoured miles of trails below
the South Rim and flew helicopters over the Canyon,
searching for any sign of the young man.
There was no trace, no footprints leading into the
snowy woods, no reports from hikers who might have seen him
on a trail, nothing. Back in Texas, Drake's family
refused to give up. In the year following his
disappearance, they organized their own trips to the Grand
Canyon to keep the search alive. Robin and Drake stepmother
Brenda Kramer distributed Flyers, magnets, anything to jog
someone's memory. All we can do is spread his
picture and hope that somebody will recognize him.
A little ray of sunshine will help.
At this point, some evidence emerged.
Drake's Facebook posts hinted at his deep love for wild places.
At one point, he had written Wish I could Stay.
During an earlier Grand Canyon visit, it seemed Drake was
searching for something in nature, perhaps peace.
The prevailing theory became that he likely took his own life
in the Canyon, slipping off a ledge into one of the countless
side chasms where a body might never be found.
Park officials noted that he was believed to be suicidal, and
indeed, the search was eventually scaled back to
limited continuous mode, Rangers keeping an eye out but with no
active leads. Yet in the midst of despair,
Drake's father found reason to doubt the suicide theory.
He clung to a heartfelt letter Drake had left behind, which
Brenda even had tattooed on her arm.
In it, Drake wrote. I truly love and cherish every
soul I met and will meet in my lifetime.
Love Drake To Robin. It doesn't seem to me like
someone who's going to kill themselves, he said, holding on
to hope. In media interviews a year
later, Robin expressed a painful uncertainty.
I don't know if he's out there trekking around trying to find
himself. I don't know if something
happened to him. Until there's proof otherwise, I
have to believe he still is alive.
That hope sustains them. But reality has been cruel.
As of today, 10 years later, Drake Kramer remains missing,
his fate unknown. The Canyon has yielded no clues.
His disappearance came a midwinter quiet with fewer
tourists around, making it chillingly plausible that he
could slip away unseen. Whether Drake ultimately found
the communion with nature he saw it is a question only the Grand
Canyon can answer. His story blends sorrow with
mystery, the tension of not knowing if this was a young
man's tragic final act or an accident on the unforgiving
cliffs. Either way, the Canyon kept
Drake's soul among its depths. Morgenheimer 2015 vanished in
the Rapids. Now we shift to June 2015 deep
within the Grand Canyon itself. Picture the Colorado River at
mile 213 near a landmark called Pumpkin Springs, a turquoise
pool etched in orange travertine.
On June 2nd, a commercial rafting trip is 6 days into its
eight day journey through the canyons roaring Rapids.
Among the crew is Morgan Heimer, a 22 year old river guide from
Cody, WY. Morgan is in his element here,
blonde, athletic and confident, leading adventure seekers
through one of the world's greatest river canyons.
That afternoon, the group pulls ashore near Pumpkin Springs for
a hike or a swim. Accounts vary.
Morgan is last seen around 4:00 PM wearing his dark colored life
jacket, PFDA blue Plaid shirt, Chaco sandals and a maroon
baseball cap. He also carries a purple water
bottle. There's nothing unusual until
the moment everyone realizes Morgan is no longer with them.
One minute he was there, the next he's gone.
A fellow guide radios the alarm at 8:00 PM when Morgan hasn't
reappeared. The location is remote, far from
the tourist crowds, accessible only by river or a strenuous
Backcountry hike. The National Park Service
mobilizes a search at first light on June 3rd. 3 ground
teams fan out along the riverbanks while a river patrol
searches the water itself. They search late into the night
amid 100° heat, thick stands of tamarisk bushes, and boulders
that create countless hiding spots.
The swirling Colorado, still powerful even at summers lower
flows, is a constant presence, cold, deep and indifferent.
Day after day, the search widens. 14 miles of river and
four miles of shoreline are meticulously checked over six
days. Helicopters scan from above, and
every rafting party on the river is alerted to watch for any sign
of Morgan. The hope, of course, is that he
simply lost or injured upriver or in a side Canyon awaiting
rescue. But not a single clue emerges.
Morgan had vanished without a trace in the middle of a group
trip, something nearly unheard of.
How could a fit, capable guy disappear so suddenly?
If he'd fallen into the river, surely his life jacket or helmet
would be found downstream. If he'd wandered inland, why
didn't the ground teams find footprints or clothing?
There were no shouts heard, no struggle witnessed.
As the days passed, the mood among the searchers turned grim.
On June 8th, the intensive search was scaled back to
continuous but limited mode. Rangers would keep an eye out
during routine patrols, but the full scale effort had to
conclude. Grand Canyon Chief Ranger Bill
Wright admitted no additional clues were guiding further
search efforts in the park's incident log and press releases.
The dry language couldn't mask the perplexity.
Despite a nearly week long search, no additional clues
about his whereabouts have been found.
Morgenheimer had simply disappeared into the Canyon.
Some who knew him found it hard to accept he drowned.
He was last seen floating in calm water with that life vest
on. One theory is that perhaps he
climbed onto shore and up a side Canyon alone and suffered a
fall, ending up in an inaccessible crevice.
Others speculated he might have been swept into an underwater
cave or rapid while swimming. But these are just theories.
The fact remains, Morgan was there, and then he was gone.
For Morgan's family and fellow guides, the Canyon they loved
turned into an enigmatic void. Friends described Morgan as a
careful, passionate guide, not someone prone to taking reckless
risks. The group he was leading could
only report that one moment, Morgan was chatting and walking
near the water's edge, and the next moment, silence.
In a blink, the Colorado River had claimed one of its own.
Or so it seemed. Decades from now, veteran river
runners will likely still speak of Morgan Heimer, the young
guide who went missing on a routine hike by the river, a
reminder that the Grand Canyon can guard its secrets even in
plain sight. By the end of 2015, the Grand
Canyon had two new unsolved mysteries on its hands, The
poignant case of Drake Kramer with his spiritual goodbye and
the bewildering disappearance of Morgenheimer in the river's
depths. Both men were the same age, yet
their stories could not be more different, except for the aching
void left behind. The year would go down as one of
the most disturbing in park memory, but unfortunately the
pattern did not stop there. The canyons baffling trend of
vanishings continued into the next year and beyond.
Floyd Roberts 2016 Lost in the land of heat and shadow.
June 2016 The western Grand Canyon swelters under an
excessive heat warning. In this remote section of the
park on the Shivwitz Plateau, even the cactus seemed to wilt
by afternoon. It's against this harsh backdrop
that 52 year old Floyd E Roberts and two companions embark on a
multi day backpacking trek. Floyd is no novice, he's an Air
Force veteran and a high school computer teacher from Florida.
He's been hiking the Grand Canyon with his best friend Ned
Bryant for decades. This trip was meant to be
another grand adventure, a nine day route through rugged canyons
slated to end at Separation Canyon on the Colorado River.
It was day one, June 17th, 2016. Spirits were high as Floyd, Ned
and Ned's daughter Madeline trekked through scrubby terrain
near a dry water hole called Kelly Tank.
But that afternoon, as temperatures soared above 100°,
the group made a fateful decision.
Faced with a steep hill, they split up.
Ned and Madeline went over the top, while Floyd opted to
contour around the base of the hill, meeting on the other side.
It was a simple plan among experienced hikers.
Yet when Ned and his daughter reached the other side, Floyd
wasn't there. Minutes passed, then an hour.
Concern mounting, they backtracked, calling Floyd's
name in the empty desert air. They even laid out bright
sleeping bags on bushes to signal their camp and waited
through the night. No sign of Floyd.
By morning, fear set in. Ned hiked to higher ground until
he found a cell signal and called for help.
The official search began on June 18th.
Rangers, search and rescue teams from Grand Canyon and
neighboring counties, even a specialized Hell attack crew
from Mesa Verde converged on this extremely remote area.
The search zone spanned over 10 square miles of brutally rugged
canyons. In mesas.
Planes and helicopters buzzed low over ravines.
Ground teams scoured under ledges.
Despite the deployment of at least 15 personnel and
volunteers, including some of the most skilled Canyon hikers,
nothing was found. In those first critical days,
Ned Bryant was beside himself with worry.
In a brief, heart wrenching Facebook message to his wife
from the field, he wrote. I am very worried.
Everything was going perfectly until the split.
Helicopters all afternoon couldn't find him.
Those words carry the weight of a man watching a best friend of
40 years slip into oblivion. Ned had introduced Floyd to the
Grand Canyon back in the 90s. They had made wonderful memories
here. Now that same Canyon had
seemingly swallowed Floyd without leaving a clue.
Everything was going perfectly until the split.
Helicopters all afternoon couldn't find him.
How could this happen to a prepared hiker?
Floyd had been carrying 2 gallons of water, a week's worth
of food and a detailed map of their planned route that Ned had
made. He wore a long sleeved red
shirt, jeans, Nike hiking shoes, a large blue backpack, highly
visible attire, yet no item of his was discovered.
Over six days, searchers combed the canyons branching from Kelly
Tank places named Trail Canyon, 214 Mile Canyon and the ever
ominous Separation Canyon. Did Floyd perhaps misjudge his
path and descend into the wrong Canyon?
The extreme heat was a merciless factor above 110° in the shade,
if any shade could be found. Dehydration and heat stroke can
incapacitate even the fittest. By June 24th, after an intensive
operation, the Park Service had to admit defeat.
Floyd Roberts was still missing. The search shifted to limited
continuous mode. Like others before it, a missing
persons investigation stayed open, but with no leads, there
was little to go on beyond circulating Flyers and urging
hikers in that seldom visited area to keep watch Floyd's
photograph. A friendly looking man with salt
and pepper hair and glasses now stared out from bulletin boards
at South Rim trailheads, a silent plea for information.
For Ned and his family, the pain was immense.
Ned's wife, Heidi Bryant, expressed the agony of helpless
waiting. All I can do is wait for the
call, she said as day after day passed with no news.
The call as of today has never come.
Floyd Roberts, the third, remains missing in the Grand
Canyon Backcountry. Perhaps one day a hiker or a
rancher will find a sun bleached clue, a piece of clothing or
gear and some hidden ravine. But for now, Floyd has become
part of the canyon's lore, the experienced Canyon trekker who
vanished on day one of a grand hike, leaving his best friend to
replay that moment of the split again and again, wondering what
might have been. His case reminds us that even
preparation and experience can be overmatched by nature's
unforgiving extremes. The Shivwitz Plateau, with its
maze of side canyons and mesas, gave Floyd no mercy and so far,
no answers. The vanishings of 2017.
Two men. 2 Mysteries 2017 would bring 2 new mysteries to the
Canyon mere weeks apart. Unlike earlier cases deep in the
Backcountry or on the river, these incidents unfolded at the
very rim of the Grand Canyon, where thousands of visitors roam
each day. One man disappeared after
failing to check out of his lodge.
Another's car was found at a popular overlook with no sign of
its owner. The Canyon, it seems, does not
discriminate. It can take lives in the
Backcountry solitude or in the midst of well traveled tourist
hubs. Travis M Butler 2017 the
unchecked check out August 1st, 2017 to Sayen, Arizona.
It's check out time at a Best Western hotel just outside the
park. The cleaning staff knock on the
door of room 209 where 37 year old Travis M Butler from Ohio
had been staying. No response.
Travis, a solo traveler, was due to leave that day, but his bed
is still slept in, his belongings still in the room.
He's nowhere to be found. Travis Butler had driven across
the country to visit Grand Canyon.
He arrived in late July and by all accounts, was excited to see
the sights. Surveillance cameras likely
captured him coming and going from the hotel into Sion, but
nothing seemed to miss. Yet on August 1st, he didn't
check out as scheduled. Soon, the authorities were
notified of a missing guest. The rental car Travis was
driving, a blue Nissan Maxima, also turned up abandoned inside
the park near the South Rim. Its exact location, according to
later reports, was a long desert view drive not far from the
renowned Lipan Point overlook. Consider the scene.
Lipan Point is a spectacular viewpoint where the Canyon opens
wide and the green ribbon of the Colorado River can be seen far
below. Tourists come for sunrise and
sunset here. Travis's car, sitting lonely in
the parking pull out, might have drawn notice.
After a day or two, Rangers ran the plates and realized it
belonged to the man missing from Tusayan.
They now had a starting point for the search for days.
Ground teams and helicopters searched the area around Lypon
Point. They hiked along the rim into
drainages, scanned the cliffs for any sign of a body or
belongings. But like so many before him,
Travis Butler had vanished into the ether.
The search was intensive, but ultimately fruitless.
By the end of the summer, the park announced it was reducing
the scale of active searching for Travis.
His case, too, transitioned into continuous but limited mode.
What could have happened? Travis was an avid photographer,
some said. Did he venture too far to get
that perfect shot and lose his footing?
There are sheer drops of hundreds of feet at Lipan Point,
and a fall could easily be fatal and concealing.
Or did Travis decide impulsively to hike down a bit on an
unofficial route and succumb to heat or an accident out of
sight? We know he was alone, which
meant no one could pinpoint his last steps.
The only testament to his presence was that car in the
Overlook lot and his untouched hotel room back in Tusayan.
Travis's family back in Ohio were left in bewilderment.
One day he's posting updates about his cross country
adventure, the next, silence. The Namus Missing Persons
database would later note the bare facts.
Travis Butler was last seen in Tusayan on August 1st, 2017, on
route to Grand Canyon and never seen again.
As the Charlie Project, which documents missing persons,
succinctly puts it, the circumstances of Butler's
disappearance are unclear. His case remains unsolved.
In an eerie coincidence, Travis's disappearance
foreshadowed another just six weeks later, as summer turned to
fall, yet another visitor to the Canyon went missing, this time
leaving behind a vehicle and little else.
Zhongyang J1 2017 The Car at Moran Point September 17th, 2017
South Rim of Grand Canyon Park Rangers come across a white
Toyota Camry parked at Moran Point, a scenic overlook named
for the painter Thomas Moran. The car had apparently been
there overnight. Curiously, records show it was
previously spotted near the New Hans trailhead, not far away.
Moran Point isn't a campsite, it's a viewpoint.
Visitors seldom leave cars there for long, especially not without
note running the license plate. Rangers identify the owner, 45
year old Zhongyang. One of Los Angeles, CA friends
called him Jay. He had no overnight Backcountry
permit, no known hiking plans in the Canyon.
In fact, no one even realized Jay was missing.
Yet he hadn't told anyone he was going to Grand Canyon at all.
To this day we do not know what drew him there, but on September
17th, 2017, his abandoned car signaled that something had gone
wrong. A search was launched focusing
on the network of trails accessible from Moran Point and
New Hans. The New Hans trail is an
infamously rugged route down to the Colorado River.
Moran Point has steep trail, less terrain below it.
Did Jay attempt a solo hike down one of these, or did he wander
to the edge and fall? The possibilities are many and
grim. Rangers looked for footprints,
broken brush, any clue, but none was found.
Zhang Hyeon Wan had vanished as completely as if the canyons red
rocks opened up and swallowed him.
His family and friends were in disbelief.
One day Jay was in Los Angeles, the next park Officials were
calling to say only his car had been found.
No signs of struggle, no note, no witnesses.
Official reports noted that one had no known plans in the area
and his current whereabouts are unknown.
Despite exhaustive efforts, he has not been located.
As with Travis Butler's case, investigators were left with
almost nothing to go on. Two men a month and a half
apart, each on solo visits, each leaving a vehicle in plain sight
and then vanishing. By late 2017, Grand Canyon
National Park had an uncanny roster of unresolved
disappearances. From 2015 through 2017 alone, at
least 5 individuals had gone missing and never been found.
Drake, Morgan, Floyd, Travis, and Jay.
The park's investigative services branch, essentially the
detectives of the National Park Service, had their hands full.
Cold case Flyers for each were circulated, and tips trickled in
occasionally, but none led to breakthroughs.
It was almost as if a strange curse hung over the Canyon those
years, leaving Rangers and families equally mystified.
Charles Lyon, 2021. The Vanishing Tourist in June
2021 After a brief lull and disappearances during
20/18/2020, the Canyon claimed another Charles Lyon, a 49 year
old traveler from Tyler, TX, checked into the very same Best
Western in Tusayan that Travis Butler had stayed in.
It was June 10th, 2021 and Charles was on a road trip by
himself. He was last seen that evening at
the hotel. The next day, June 11th, his
car, a silver Subaru, was found abandoned along Desert View
Drive on the South Rim, not far from Moran Point, ironically
near the area where J1's car had been found four years prior.
Desert View Drive is a 25 mile scenic Rd. along the canyon's
edge leading to Desert View Watchtower.
Charles's vehicle was discovered near Leapan Point, the same
vicinity as Travis Butler's disappearance.
The coincidence was not lost on park authorities.
They quickly initiated a search for Charles, hoping this would
not be a repeat of 2017. For days, Rangers, search dogs,
drones and helicopters canvassed the area.
The summer of 2021 was blisteringly hot.
On June 15th, temperatures at the rim soared to 113°.
Time was of the essence, as one news report warned.
But despite the urgency and extensive search, no trace of
Charles Lyon turned up. This case was especially
frustrating because Charles was a mainstream tourist, not an
intrepid hiker pushing into unknown canyons.
How could someone disappear, essentially, from a parking area
in a popular part of the park? Yet it happened.
By September 2021, after weeks of fruitless effort, the park
formally scaled back the operation.
As they had with others, Charles's face joined the
gallery of missing persons. The Investigative Services
branch kept the investigation open, but no clues have surfaced
as of today. His family, stunned and grief
stricken, has remained relatively private.
One can only imagine their anguish.
Tyler, TX is a long way from the Grand Canyon, and the sheer
distance likely compounded their helplessness.
Charles Lyon, described as a big man, 6 foot three with a gentle
demeanor, simply vanished into the Wilds he loved to explore.
Whether he fell, suffered heat exhaustion, and wandered off or
encountered foul play, rare but not impossible even in national
parks, remains unknown. His disappearance is a stark
reminder that even a casual trip to a viewpoint can turn deadly
under the right conditions. Secrets of the Canyon
Reflections and Unfound Clues. The stories we've heard Justin
Adam, Drake, Morgan Floyd, Travis, J Charles span decades
and differ in details, yet they converge on a common theme, the
Grand Canyon's ability to guard its secrets.
This magnificent chasm carved by water and time seems at times to
open up and erase people from the earth.
It's no wonder that Grand Canyon National Park is often cited as
a place with an outsized number of missing persons cases.
Search and rescue experts will tell you there's nothing
supernatural at work. It's simply the canyons,
vastness and treacherous terrain with sheer cliffs, hidden caves
and extreme environments. From scorching inner Canyon heat
to rim top snow, the Canyon can hide A body or evidence for
years. And indeed, sometimes it
eventually gives them back. In September 2021, amid the
search for Charles Lyon, an unexpected discovery underscored
this point. Cruz, while looking for a
different missing man, a Hungarian tourist who tragically
fell to his death, stumbled upon human remains in a remote area
below the rim. It turned out to be a separate
individual entirely, the body believed to be Scott Walsh, a 56
year old man who had stepped off a South Rim shuttle bus and
vanished back in 2015. For six years, Walsh's remains
lay hidden about 600 feet below Pipe Creek Overlook, camouflaged
by the rocks and blended into the landscape.
Searchers weren't expecting to find him there at all.
It was pure chance that the helicopter spotted something.
Park spokesperson Joelle Baird later remarked on this uncanny
incident. It happens every once in a while
here during searches that we end up finding people we weren't
expecting. In other words, the Canyon keeps
its own council on when and if it will reveal the missing.
Scott Walsh's identification brought a sad solace to his
family and a glimmer of hope to others.
Hope that maybe eventually answers surface.
Each of the cases we explored remains open.
The National Park Service's Investigative Services branch
continues to solicit tips on these missing persons to this
day. Flyers with Morgenheimer's
smiling face still adorn bulletin boards.
Floyd Roberts's name is still known to Canyon hikers who keep
an eye out for any hint of his gear.
The families of Drake Kramer and Justin Richardson still pray for
miracles, or at least the discovery of remains to lay
their loved ones to rest in the shadow of these mysteries.
The Grand Canyon is still the Grand Canyon, eternally vast,
gorgeous and indifferent. Millions visit safely, but a few
each decade walk into its wild heart and are never seen again.
Is it simply misadventure? A slip on loose rock here, a
dehydration collapse there? In most cases, likely yes.
The strangest thing about these disappearances might ultimately
be nothing supernatural at all, but just bad luck in a big
place. Yet listening to these stories,
1 cannot help but feel a sense of awe and unease.
There's a reason we're drawn to them.
They remind us of the fragility of life and the enduring mystery
of nature. As we conclude our journey
through these cases, let's take a moment to reflect on the
people behind the names. Justin, a boy who wanted to fit
in with older friends lost in the woods under tragic
circumstances. Adam, a young man possibly
seeking purpose on a solo odyssey ending at the world's
edge, with questions lingering. Drake, a free spirit torn
between his love of life and a yearning to transcend it,
leaving behind grieving parents and a haunting message.
Morgan, a passionate guide swallowed by the river he loved
without a ripple of explanation. Floyd, a seasoned hiker who took
a wrong turn into oblivion with best friends who never stopped
looking to the horizon for him. Travis, a traveller whose
vacation turned into a mystery, his hotel room left as a time
capsule of an abruptly interrupted life.
Jay, a man who may have sought solace or adventure at the
Canyon and met an unknown fate beyond the safety rails.
Charles, a father and husband who simply vanished on a summer
morning, reminding us it can happen to anyone, anywhere, even
on a routine sightseeing trip. For each of them, dozens of
people, family, friends, Park Rangers, volunteers, have shed
sweat and tears in the search efforts.
In each case, a piece of the Grand Canyon story has been
written in sorrow. The sun has set on our journey,
and as the last light fades over the Grand Canyon's walls, the
darkness below reminds us of the unknown.
If you visit the Canyon and find yourself at a quiet overlook,
you might feel a presence. Not ghosts, perhaps, but the
weight of untold stories lingering in the air.
The missing are still there in spirit, part of the Canyons
mystique. We end with the hope that
someday the Canyon will give up its secrets.
As Joel Baird noted, sometimes those secrets emerge when least
expected. Until then, we remember the
names, we support the ongoing searches, and we tread
carefully, both physically and in telling these tales with
respect for the Canyon and those it's taken.
This has been Canyon of mysteries, bizarre
disappearances in Grand Canyon National Park.
Thank you for listening, and may these stories ensure that the
missing are never forgotten. Safe travels, whether on the
trail or in life's journey and take care in the wild places for
they are as powerful as they are beautiful.