In May 2005, a quiet corner of Wolf Lodge Bay near Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, became the center of one of the most disturbing true crime cases in Pacific Northwest history. When a neighbor discovered blood on the porch of the Groene family’s rural home, it triggered a massive investigation that soon uncovered a brutal triple homicide—and the disappearance of 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan. What followed was a 7-week search spanning Idaho and the remote Lolo National Forest of Montana, leading authorities to serial predator Joseph Edward Duncan III. This episode explores the Groene family murders, the kidnapping that shook Kootenai County, the heroic rescue that finally brought Shasta home, and the long criminal history that exposed severe failures in the justice system. A heartbreaking but important case that forever changed how the region views safety, wilderness, and the dangers that can lurk in even the most peaceful landscapes.  

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Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26300428
https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/duncan-joseph-edward.htm https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article262213562.html#storylink=cpy

Thanksgiving Day, 2001: deep in the quiet forests of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, searchers made a grim discovery — the body of 52-year-old Canadian hiker who had vanished after setting out for a short afternoon hike. What unfolded in the days before and after her death paints a chilling picture of a random, violent attack in one of the Northeast’s most popular hiking corridors.

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Sources:
WMUR — “White Mountains Mystery: The Killing of Louise Chaput” https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-white-mountains-mystery-louise-chaput/42126315
Concord Monitor — “Twenty years later, Chaput murder is still unsolved” https://www.concordmonitor.com/2021/11/29/twenty-years-later-chaput-murder-is-still-unsolved-43696199/
Boston.com — “On 10th anniversary, N.H. authorities seek clues in slaying of White Mountains hiker” https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2011/11/22/on-10th-anniversary-n-h-authorities-seek-clues-in-slaying-of-white-mountains-hiker/

Listen to Nancy share one of her Ranger Tales with special guest, Ranger Kristin.  The two of them were crime fighting partners one night in Yellowstone and proved that no one is above the law.

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In the shadow of the world’s largest trees, a midnight encounter between park rangers and an intoxicated camper spirals into a chaotic and violent confrontation. What begins as a routine DUI investigation in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks turns into a desperate struggle for control, pepper spray flying, and a suspect fleeing into the darkness of the Kaweah River

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Big Bend National Park is a place of vast beauty and haunting isolation—where the desert meets the Rio Grande and desolation and silence stretches for miles. But in February 2022, that silence was broken when rangers discovered an abandoned truck deep in the backcountry. Inside were the belongings of a man and his daughter—but no sign of either of them. What followed was a desperate search through one of the harshest landscapes in Texas, uncovering a story of survival, heartbreak, and the thin line between devotion and danger.

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Sources:
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/missing-dad-daughter-found-in-mexico-weeks-after-going-missing-in-big-bend-national-park-bexar-father-9-year-old-child-alive-well   https://bigbendsentinel.com/2022/05/18/june-trial-date-set-for-hector-flores-jr-man-indicted-on-child-endangerment-charge-after-going-missing-with-daughter-in-big-bend-national-park/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/22-50910/22-50910-2025-02-20.html   https://bigbendsentinel.com/2022/11/16/hector-flores-jr-re-arrested-as-he-appeals-judgment-in-bbnp-child-endangerment-case/
U.S. District Court 
Western District of Texas (San Antonio)
CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 5:21-cr-00245-XR-1

In the news: an arrest is made in the case of 2 teens found dead in an Arizona National Forest; Convictions for illegal BASE jumping in Yosemite; Hikers take cover as shots fly over their heads in a wilderness area in California; Seeking information for an assault at an NPS campground; Justice served for the murder of a man found dead in a wilderness area in Colorado; A man arrested for murdering his girlfriend and disposing her body in a National Forest.

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In Yosemite National Park, Tenaya Canyon is known as both stunning and cursed. Legend says Chief Tenaya, the last leader of the Ahwahneechee, placed a curse on the land after his people’s destruction. Ever since, hikers and explorers who enter the canyon have met with strange accidents and misfortune — earning it the name “the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite.”

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Sources:
Tempting the Curse of Chief Tenaya - Tahoe Quarterly
The Far Side of the Sky - Christopher E. Brennen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaya_Canyon

Deep in Alaska’s Wrangell–St. Elias National Park, the abandoned Kennicott Mines stand as a ghost town frozen in time. Once a thriving copper operation, it now draws visitors for another reason — the echoes of those who never left. From mysterious footsteps to ghostly figures in the windows, this is the haunting story of Alaska’s most famous mining town.

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Sources: 
https://www.adn.com/features/article/teeth-chattering-tales-kennecott-copper-mines-keeps-government-officials-away/2013/10/31/  
https://www.cnet.com/culture/ghosts-of-kennecott-exploring-an-abandoned-copper-mine-in-alaska/
https://www.nps.gov/wrst/learn/historyculture/kennecott-mines-national-historic-landmark.htm
https://www.adn.com/features/article/teeth-chattering-tales-kennecott-copper-mines-keeps-government-officials-away/2013/10/31/

Deep beneath the crystal-blue waters of Lake Crescent lies one of Olympic National Park’s darkest secrets. In 1940, a body surfaced—wrapped in blankets, bound with rope, and perfectly preserved by the icy depths. Locals called her the Lady of the Lake, but investigators would uncover her true identity as a woman who vanished three years earlier.  Left behind are whispers that still haunt the lake today. Join us as we dive into the eerie beauty, grim history, and ghostly legends of Lake Crescent—the lake that doesn’t give up its dead.

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Sources: 
https://www.historylink.org/File/8599 https://www.myolympicpark.com/park/history/the-lady-of-crescent-lake/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/23/lady-of-the-lake/ https://thebadassintrovert.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/weird-history-part-5-washington-state-and-the-lady-of-the-lake/

Ranger Butch Farabee shares a post script to his Ranger Tale.  In other words, the Rest of the Story! 
PS, this is part 2. Don't listen to this until you listened to the first part.

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