Going West: True Crime - Darwin Vest // 76

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

In 1999, a scientist and venomous creature specialist went missing during his walk home from a night out in Idaho Falls. This is a man who had just landed a big deal for his latest invention, and a man who had supposedly found the cure to cancer. So, was his disappearance a tragic accident, or did someone want him gone? This is the disappearance of Darwin Vest. Bonus Episodes: https://www.patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/id-darwin-vest-48-idaho-falls-2-june-1999.282545/ https://trib.com/news/article_43843f6e-eaed-577a-ba23-4939c994a85c.html https://lmtribune.com/northwest/spidermans-fate-remains-a-mystery/article_8c1a4b8c-df46-5849-829c-052fabe31c3d.html https://www.facebook.com/EastIdahoColdCases/posts/waking-up-and-realizing-someone-you-love-has-gone-missing-is-scary-confusing-and/620366208169501/ https://rense.com/politics4/missing.htm https://lmtribune.com/northwest/still-missing-disappearance-of-renowned-spider-authority-and-former-moscow-resident-puzzles-friends-relatives/article_e180367a-36f8-5840-bd87-720ca84a4673.html http://worldcinemaparadise.com/2014/01/22/the-micro-movie-house-an-improbable-history/ https://magicvalley.com/news/local/article_dc768b8f-8264-5eb4-94d9-fc18619e8da5.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88993408/darwin-kenneth-vest https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/5c9s2r/a_prominent_toxicologist_disappears_under/ https://www.postregister.com/news/crime_courts/darwin-vest/image_4eb84a71-264c-5dae-b8f9-7ff3818c118a.html https://www.postregister.com/news/crime_courts/cold-cases-idaho-falls-bonneville-county-law-enforcement-continue-to-work-on-unsolved-cases/article_3777d9e6-bde1-584a-8233-84f7e26e6646.html http://missing411rvp.blogspot.com/2016/08/case-12-why-case-of-darwin-kenneth-vest.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host Tee and I'm your other host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. We have a very unique case today about the disappearance of a scientist in Idaho Falls, Idaho. This case doesn't seem to be very well known across the True Crime community, so make sure to share this so that we can get this story out there and help it get solved. Yeah, we're really excited to dive into this one today, but before we get into the show, if you guys are enjoying the show and you really like it, go over and leave us a nice review. It really helps out our show. It helps us become more

discoverable. And yeah, we'll give you shout out in the show as well. So if you do want to leave us a really nice review and you're looking for a shout out, make sure you head over to Apple Podcasts. Leave us that review, but make sure you leave your name and your location. And if you're all cut off on Going West and you just need more episodes, head on over to patreon.com slash Going West podcast for some incredibly interesting cases that we cover only on Patreon. The link is in the description below if you'd like to join. Yeah, I've got a couple of really good episodes for you guys this month, so make sure you head over there and subscribe. All right, guys, this is episode 76 of going west, so let's get into it In 1999, a scientist and venomous creature specialist went missing on the walk home after

a night out in Idaho Falls. This is a man who had just landed a major deal for a new invention and had believed to have also cured cancer. Was there a terrible accident or was someone out to destroy him? him. This is the disappearance of Darwin Vest. Darwin Kenneth Vest was born on April 22, 1951 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Margaret and Waldo Vest, and he had a sister named Rebecca and a brother named David. So Darwin and his siblings grew up in Idaho Falls, which is located in eastern Idaho along the Snake River. It's filled with national parks, hiking trails, and a massive waterfall, hence its name, Idaho Falls.

And because of this, it's known as one of the prettiest cities in Idaho. If you guys have never been along that snake river in Idaho, it is absolutely gorgeous. I mean, it's beautiful. I don't think a lot of people realize that Idaho is actually gorgeous. Yeah, it's actually very pretty. I think everybody kind of thinks of it as just kind of flat land with potato fields. I thought that first, too. And then I didn't even realize that it was a part of the Pacific Northwest until a couple years ago and looking at photos of it, it looks amazing. So in 1999 when this story takes place, Idaho Falls had a population of about 49,000 people.

So it's a pretty small city, but it also happens to be the fourth largest in all of Idaho. Darwin's mother Margaret worked as a licensed cosmetologist, but she also ended up working in real estate, sales, and even photography. Waldo, Darwin's father, had fought in World War II alongside his brother, Darwin, who was actually killed in the Navy in a freak accident when he fell off a Navy truck and fractured his skull in 1943. So Waldo decided to name his son, who remember was born about eight years later, after his beloved brother Darwin. Back to the Darwin that this case is about, he was raised to Mormon but later left his faith behind and considered himself more of an agnostic. He was always very interested in science growing up, and more specifically, entomology, which is the study of insects.

Darwin Vest was pretty much a pioneer in the field of entomology because of his work regarding the Hobo Spider, which he helped classify and also name. Hobo spiders are brown, aggressive house spiders, not to be confused with the brown recluse spider, which are very deadly, and Darwin actually helped study exactly how dangerous they are. After spending much time studying the toxicology, he determined that their bites can cause

irreversible tissue damage. Darwin was self-taught in his field, but he really knew a lot about the subject, particularly spiders, snakes, and even poisonous plants. So his work was also so impressive that he would sometimes help the FBI and the CIA with relevant questions and tests and sometimes testify about poisonous bites.

And he also appeared on the Discovery Channel a few times. He went on to own and run a lab called Eagle Rock Research with his sister Rebecca right there in Idaho Falls. And she helped him a lot with his research and studies in general by the way, so there were very much a team. In the late 1970s, Darwin moved to Moscow, Idaho, which is right on the Idaho Washington border. So he was close to Washington State University in Pullman, which is also right on the state line, which was where he would read textbooks regarding different venomous creatures and did his own research and studying regarding entomology. He didn't receive a degree or even attend the school, but he was able to work alongside the other research scientists for his own studies.

He lived there for about 10 years and during his time there, he was also working as a projectionist at a small theater called the Micro Movie House. Oh, that's kind of a dream job for me right there. Yeah, I think I thought that was really sweet that he did that because he was just a really smart guy in general So not only was he like a total genius when it came to insects, but he was a mechanical Wiz he worked here to kind of support his living while he studied independently at the university and People in the area really knew him as the spider-man and they'd bring him different spiders to the theater, or if they got bitten, they would kind of ask him his advice on it.

So he was kind of like this local insect guy, which I think is really cool. I also read this whole article by a screenwriter and film author named Stephen Bingan on worldsynemaparadise.com regarding the magic of this particular theater, since Steven himself was employed there with Darwin while he was attending the university. At this time, Darwin was in his 30s, and since Steven was just in his early 20s, he learned a lot from Darwin, and they really became buddies. Here's a really interesting excerpt that Steven wrote about Darwin. Darwin was a fascinating guy in a doomed F. Scott Fitzgerald sort of way. A quiet, soft-spoken intellectual with a neatly trimmed beard and an air of always being three steps ahead of everyone else but of being too polite to let on. He once invited me out for

drinks after, or maybe it was before, a shared shift at the micro. All I wanted to speak about was movies. Usually, he was fine with this, but on this night, he seemed to want to talk to me about some mysterious, impenetrable research he was engaged in on campus. I was still obsessing about the Herzog film our projectors had been mauling that week, but to be polite, I finally asked him what exactly it was he had been doing behind locked doors in the chemistry building every day. He took a drink and then looked around, as if spies might be lurking behind the potted ferns. Cancer, he finally whispered.

You've got it? I've cured it. He then told me exactly what it was he had been working on, something venom-related, surely, which had somehow led to his mysterious kitchen-sink cancer cure. But I could follow what he told me no more than I could repeat any of it today. All I can recall is that he said that in every test he had performed, the cancer cells had retreated. It needs a lot more work.

Years of work maybe, he whispered, but some day. It seems as though everyone has nothing but good things to say about Darwin. He was kind, unselfish, and very modest. He did amazing work, but he didn't shove it in everybody's face. Many people said that they didn't know a single person who didn't like Darwin. He was very devoted to his work, and he was asexual, so he wasn't focused on romance or any relationships, he just wanted to work. He had a girlfriend in the past that was pretty serious, but after they split up, he didn't

really do any dating. He just loved science. And also, he loved to drink. When he wasn't working, you could usually find him in a local watering hole having a beer or a few. He would sometimes go with friends, but usually he walked to the bar alone. Darwin really enjoyed walking and he would take strolls nightly. But in 1996, he was assaulted during one of his walks home. On the evening of Tuesday, March 5, 1996, Darwin walked to a local restaurant for a late solo dinner.

After he ate, he relaxed with a couple alcoholic beverages and enjoyed his quiet time alone at the restaurant. The rest of the night's events are a bit foggy in Darwin's memory. What he does know is that after leaving the restaurant, he got into a car after 1 a.m. and they dropped him off near his house. But when he got out of the car to walk the rest of the way home, two men inside the car jumped out and mugged

and assaulted him before leaving him for dead. But a little while later, Darwin was discovered beaten yet alive and laying on the side of the road by local Idaho Falls police. The officer helped Darwin get back home and tried to get a story of what happened to him. And he really wouldn't even remember these small details until the following day after he rested. And in no way would I ever try to victim shame, but I'm actually curious how much he did drink at the restaurant and if that had anything to do

with this altercation or if he was simply just mugged. Well, it seems like he maybe accepted a ride home, which I wish we knew why he did this because he doesn't even remember, but as we know, he always walked home. If he was at a bar with friends and they drove, they would offer him a ride home and he would say no that he wanted to walk. So it's possible that he was at a bar with friends and they drove, they would offer him a ride home and he would say no that he wanted to walk.

So it's possible that he was really, really drunk and then for some reason accepted this ride. But because of how badly they beat him in his face and his head, he just doesn't remember what happened. It's also possible that alcohol has nothing to do with him not remembering and possibly he was concussed from being beat up. Yeah, I don't think he doesn't seem like an instigator, he doesn't seem like somebody who wants to fight somebody, he's just not that kind of guy, so I'm sure that since they stole his wallet and once you find out who these guys are, I'm sure Darwin didn't do anything to bring this on to himself. After this incident, the police were trying to figure out who did this to Darwin so they could charge them with assault.

And like we mentioned before, Darwin wasn't known to have any enemies, so it bewildered him why someone would physically assault him so viciously, and if they were going to come back. Since Darwin's wallet was missing, police were able to track his bank purchases to try and piece the puzzle together and find the assailants. And they discovered that Darwin's card was used at a local motel, and not only this, his name was used on the reservation for the hotel room. As we know, Darwin definitely had no reason to check into a local motel that night, and

this happened after his assault anyways. So he was probably at home resting. Police were confident that this clue could lead them to the perps. This card was also used the next day at a restaurant in Idaho Falls, and then at a gas station. It's funny because it seems like this person has no fear about getting caught. I just feel like it's very silly to use the card locally when Darwin is either for all this guy knows going to be found dead or going to be found alive and they're going to eventually track his bank purchases.

So it's just weird to me that this guy just seems so careless. He's just in town buying stuff. Who cares? This totally reminds me of if you guys have seen the new unsolved mysteries on Netflix. Oh, that's so good. If you haven't, you need to go watch it. But there is a case where a dad basically murders his family and then goes on the run.

And he's using his bank card, you know, in different places. And so this is kind of reminiscent of that. Like, why would you use your bank card after committing a crime or use somebody else's bank card after committing a crime? This is also reminiscent of Gary Hilton, the National Forest serial killer episode we did. Yes, the episode he's talking about of Unself Mysteries is the craziest one.

It's the one in France. And yeah, this is very reminiscent of that and of Gary Hilton, but I'm just surprised, especially that this guy was in Idaho Falls using Darwin's card. It's a little, a little close to home, isn't it? Right, yeah. You're in the same town using somebody else's card. Like, did you not think that they were going to check those bank statements? Well, luckily he did do this because this is how they were able

to find him. So after further investigation, the police were quickly able to determine that this man behind Darwin's assault was a 31 year old-old man named Don Ellingford, and another guy named Randy Walker. Don had a pretty extensive criminal record, mostly regarding drug charges and theft, and he still has a link through criminal record, and he had been in and out of prison much of his adult life. Idaho Falls Police charged him with assault and robbery, and Darwin told police that he wanted to follow through with the charges to put Don in prison where he belonged.

Don, of course, wasn't happy about this, and once he was officially found guilty of the crimes against Darwin? He was very aggressive and upset at Darwin for having continued forward with pressing charges. And in court, for all to hear, John told Darwin something along the lines of, he was going to get him. Oh, that's, uh, yeah, that's pretty scary, honestly. Because if they only charge this guy with three years, there's you know that possibility Well, and I'm sure Darwin was very afraid of that because of course Darwin's gonna follow through with pressing charges He almost was killed by this man and what just to steal his wallet so he can go stay at a motel and buy some gas

It's just funny to me that dawn is blaming Darwin It's like maybe if you had just gotten out of prison, you probably shouldn't have committed another crime. Yeah, just stop committing crimes, you dumb asshole. And also, this also reminds me of the movie Cape Fear. If you guys have ever seen that movie with Robert De Niro, it's crazy. There's a lawyer that basically puts De Niro in prison. And once De Niro gets out,

he starts harassing this lawyer and his family. It's very crazy. And I feel like this is where this is headed. In early 1999, so about three years after Darwin's assault, things were looking up. Darwin had invented a hobo spider trap and since that particular kind of spider is popular in the Pacific Northwest, where Idaho is located, he pitched to Fred Meyer in hopes of selling it there. And in the spring of 1999, they had expressed interest in selling his invention. And by the way, Fred Meyer is a big supermarket here in the Pacific Northwest that sells everything from groceries, to home improvement, to garden supplies, to electronics, jewelry, and everything beyond that.

So he and his sister Rebecca landing this contract was a really big deal for them, especially since Darwin had done so much work in this particular field and didn't make very much money in it at all. And now he finally had a chance at success and something that he was really passionate about. So that night, which was June 2nd, 1999,

Darwin decided he would celebrate. It was a very chilly night in Idaho and happened to be pouring rain, but rain didn't stop Darwin from walking, which we know he enjoyed doing. At this time, he lived at his mother's house in her basement, which was fairly close to downtown where he spent most of his social time. And his father had died the year prior, so he helped to kind of take care of his mother while he also worked on his inventions from his basement room. And he pretty much picked up his life to help his mom. So it's not like, oh, he's just living in his mom's basement because he doesn't have anywhere else to live. He was living there to help her and just uprooted his life to go and be there to support her. He was that kind of guy. That night around 8 p.m.,

he made the 12 block track from his home to a popular Idaho Falls sports pub and eatery called the Frosty Gator, where he met his friend, Eric Senif, for trivia night. After a couple pictures of beer and an evening of trivia, Eric was ready to call it a night. Eric had driven himself downtown that evening, so he offered Darwin a ride, since again it was pouring rain. But Darwin declined and stated that he would walk home as he always did. Eric went on his way, and 45-year-old man named James Lee Curtis, not Jamie Lee Curtis, but James Lee Curtis.

Who was their casual acquaintance and fellow Idaho Falls native? Darwin and Lee weren't very close, but when Eric left for the evening around 11.40pm, Lee told Eric that he would take care of Darwin, because at this point, Darwin was pretty drunk. So it being a Wednesday, the frosty gator closed at midnight. So Darwin and Lee left within 20 minutes of Eric and decided to head over to another bar to continue drinking. About two blocks away was a diving bar called the Golden Crown. It was located in a basement in downtown Idaho Falls. After midnight, they sat at the bar and had a beer, but shortly after, Lee left by himself. Darwin hadn't even finished his beer by the time that he left within the

midnight hour, seemingly around 1230 to 1240. He walked out of the bar by himself to walk home. But hours passed and he never made it home. But remember, he lived with his mom, so his mom never heard or saw him walk through her front door again. Weirdly enough, maybe 10 to 30 minutes after Darwin left, Lee Curtis returned to the Golden Crown and asked the bartender where Darwin was, and they told him that he'd left. After Darwin's mother awoke that day and didn't see Darwin in the house, she asked around if anyone had seen him, but no one had. This was very unlike Darwin. He didn't ever stay out all night and not return home. So she called the Idaho Falls Police Department and reported him missing.

Darwin's mom had even called Eric that morning to see if he knew where Darwin was, but Eric had been out a town all day with family, and by the way this is a credible alibi. So he didn't find out until later that night that Darwin was missing. Since Eric was one of the last people to see Darwin, he was brought down to the station immediately to give a report of what happened the night before. After Eric told police everything that happened that night, which as we know was pretty uneventful, just some drinks at the bar. Eric went on his way and started searching around town for his friend Darwin. But luckily, Eric was able to give the police some useful

information. That Eric, in fact, hadn't been the last person to see Darwin, but that Lee Curtis likely was. And by the way, Eric was very cooperative with police and he's done various interviews regarding Darwin's disappearance. He seems like a really nice guy who genuinely cares about where his friend is, so there's really no suspicion at all surrounding Eric. So back to Lee. Since Lee had also gone out of town that day, he wasn't able to be questioned by police immediately.

But Lee's family did explain to police that Lee had been dropped off at home that morning, maybe around 1 a.m., which is only about 15 minutes after he left the Golden Crown. But the members of his family reported that he had gotten home at different times, so it's hard to confirm exactly when he walked through the door that morning. Lee was born and raised in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but moved away to Texas for college before joining the Air Force at the age of 24. During his time in Athens, Greece, where he was stationed, he was a linguist and was also known to be very intelligent in general. Sometime after Darwin disappeared, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona to work as a Medicaid administrator,

but really struggled with his mental health due to his PTSD from the war. He died in 2015 at the age of 61. When police questioned Lee about a week after Darwin disappeared, he explained the night's events. He noticed that Darwin was very drunk and wanted him to drink some coffee, but instead, Darwin got a beer. We mentioned before that Lee had left the bar for a short time, and Lee said that he had gone to a local

ATM to get some cash, but that he couldn't get it to work, so he went back to the bar to find Darwin gone. So he called a cab and then he just went home. But there was a lot of complications with this story because Lee had also been at the Golden Crown bar the night before, so it being a week later, he couldn't remember what events happened which night. Police also weren't able to confirm these accounts with the bartender or local cab drivers because such evidence didn't exist and by then their memories weren't as sharp. So basically there was no evidence that he did take a cab on that night, or even the night before. And he doesn't remember if he called a cab, if the bartender called a cab for him.

The bartender doesn't remember any of that happening, so it's just all over the place. Correct. The weird thing to police was that Lee had left during the night to go to Salt Lake City for some kind of military event. So just hours after returning from the bar, he got out of town. Police were wondering what his hurry was. But the issue with this question too is that Lee really didn't have an answer for anything. All Lee could definitely confirm was that Darwin was very intoxicated and he even suggested to police that maybe Darwin had fallen into the snake river.

The snake river is about three blocks away from the area that Darwin was bar hopping that night. However, to go home, he wouldn't have passed this river. And also, he was drunk, so it's very unlikely that he would have taken a detour or gotten lost because it was raining, and he already had a good 20 minute walk ahead of him. Also, he grew up in Idaho Falls and had made this very walk countless times. But police started to consider the possibility that he did fall into the snake river anyway. And this usually tends to happen when there are no answers, when police don't have any information. They sometimes can go with an idea and just run with it.

And I totally understand that because as a police officer or as a detective, if you're looking at a case and there's really no evidence, you can't go and say the craziest thing happened because you don't have anything to back it up. So you kind of have to go with the simplest thing. But for them to just say, oh, he's probably in the river, it's like, why don't you just at least look at everything else? Right, right. And they did.

So investigators actually did decide to fully check Lee out since he was the last person to see Darwin. And he had now been missing for a whole week without any sort of trace. And get this. According to police reports, they searched Lee's car and found traces of

substance that appeared to be blood. It wasn't obviously blood, but the investigator believed that it could have been, so he collected the evidence for processing. But, that particular evidence got lost and never ended up getting tested. And nothing else was found in Lee's home or car that pointed to him having anything to do with Darwin's disappearance. And they didn't have a body. So police still weren't sure if foul play was even involved. At that point, they let Lee off the hook and stop pursuing him as a potential suspect.

It's definitely suspicious to me that Lee's story is kind of wonky and he took off to Utah basically in the middle of the night, but I just wonder what his reasoning for doing anything to Darwin would be. I know his family is incredibly suspicious of Lee and believes fully that he had something to do with Darwin's disappearance, so I do think that that holds a lot of weight since they know everyone in this story, but I just really wish that we had more information and evidence. And regarding the potential blood sample, obviously it's horrible that that got lost. I don't know how that happened.

Also kind of suspicious, but the only thing to me regarding that is Lee apparently didn't drive that day or that night to the bar. How would Darwin's blood even get in his car? But I mean, I don't know. To me, it sounds like Lee didn't really know Darwin all that well, so I don't know what the motive would be there. I just don't see a real big motive. I mean, maybe I don't know all the details

and I'm missing some piece of the puzzle, but. And that's another issue with this case is there was a lot of different articles to read from regarding this case, but there's still so little information online about it because it's just not very widely known. So I'm sure there is a lot about Lee and about his questioning that we don't know that I wish we did know. Going back to the Snake River Theory.

This is a tough one because the Snake River is one of the major rivers in the Pacific Northwest and the ninth largest river in the whole United States. It goes from Washington, partially into Oregon, all across Idaho, and then into Wyoming. So it's very, very big. But creepily enough, the morning of Darwin's disappearance, so a few hours after he left the bar, a woman called police stating that she believed to see the body of a man floating down the snake river.

This woman lived just south of Idaho Falls, and this could make sense because the river runs south. So if Darwin had either fallen into the river or been killed and thrown into the river, his body would have gone south down the river, meaning this woman's sighting could be correct and it could have been Darwin. But by the time police got to the area, they didn't see anything. Yeah, and the sad thing here is that police themselves admit that the search of the river wasn't at all thorough so they didn't do really much of an extensive search of the Snake River.

So if this was indeed Darwin, they absolutely had their chance to figure it out, but they didn't ring any alarm bells and have the whole town come down there and help search for him. Since rivers float at different speeds depending on various factors, we're not sure how fastest river runs past Idaho Falls. And the same thing goes for depth. That also varies from where you are, so we can't be sure about this either. But we do know that there's a large dam there

and the river appears to be very wide and likely pretty deep as well in Idaho Falls. There's a reddit thread about this case as well in Idaho Falls. There's a Reddit thread about this case and someone from Idaho Falls stated that in their particular stretch of the snake river, there's a bunch of deep fishers, which basically means cracks in the Earth's crust. That Darwin's body could have gotten stuck in.

So that was their particular theory and looking at it on Google Maps, it doesn't look like a small rocky river like I was originally thinking it's very wide So this isn't like a rushy wild river right there in Idaho Falls and I can't really imagine that Darwin would have accidentally Fallen in and wasn't able to get himself out of it because of course it's a river so it's flowing But even in the YouTube video I watched it seems pretty calm but if he were deceased going down it it makes sense that it would take a few hours to get out of Idaho Falls if what that woman saw was him.

The bars are parallel and east of the snake river like we said earlier about three blocks away so he would have been along only one side of the shore if, like we said earlier, about three blocks away. So he would have been along only one side of the shore if he was coming from the bar. And that side of the shore is super grassy, and it kind of seems like if he had fallen into it, he would have been able to get himself out. It wasn't this deep like drop off or anything like that. There was a shore. But I will say that since it was raining, it could have meant a more treacherous situation than on a regular sunny day.

And I checked and apparently water temperatures around this time of year were usually 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15.5 Celsius. Since there was still snow runoff from the colder months, it could have been colder than that. And I know that at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius, you can freeze to death within an hour. If he was drunk and had fallen in or he was injured and fell in, he definitely could have died from the river's temperature. Yeah, and, you know, to me, it sounds like from Lee's account that Darwin was pretty drunk,

pretty heavily intoxicated that particular night. And like we said before, he usually walks home and it takes him about 20 minutes and he walks this routine, you know, most nights. What in particular would make him go towards the river that night? It just doesn't seem, it seems kind of off, but you never know when people are drunk,

they do things that they wouldn't typically do, especially if they're very drunk. It's true, but I did read on an article that Darwin hated the rain, so even though he did walk there in the rain, it doesn't seem like he would have taken a detour and gone by the river, because that's really not smart anyways, and he was a really intelligent guy. Yeah, we also have to consider the rain, Yeah, that's one thing that I keep forgetting about is the fact that it was raining that night. So there's probably no reason for him to take a detour, especially in the rain. There's not really no reason for that. And it would have been like a 10 minute detour,

at least, to walk from the bars to the river, and then he would have to go another 25 minutes to his house. Like, why would he do that? Right. So solely based on the information that we have about the river, about Lee, and about other suspects, in my opinion, we got to go back to those guys from the very beginning. Other than Lee, someone that probably comes to all of our minds in Darwin's disappearance is Don Ellingford. But at the time he disappeared, Don was still incarcerated for his crimes against Darwin in 1996,

and this was confirmed by prison officials. Throughout the day that Darwin went missing, June 2nd, 1999, there were three bed checks done that confirmed Don's presence. Since his sentence was almost complete, it kind of seems silly that he would risk more jail time anyway, even though it's definitely possible that he had someone else get rid of Darwin for him. But there was no evidence that anything like this happened at all. It's just a very strange coincidence that Darwin, who was this nice, intelligent scientist with no known enemies, was assaulted by a stranger in 1996, and then he put that stranger in prison and was then threatened by said stranger, and then three years later,

he goes missing and is never seen again. Like, what are the odds that this is... that Darwin has this bad of luck? Right, and it's very, very strange. The strangest part is that Don was still in prison. That is what makes me feel weird about this whole theory because it's physically impossible for him to do anything to Don, or to Darwin, unless he had hired someone to take care of Darwin. Well, I'm glad you bring that up because during June of 1999,

Don was a part of this program at the Idaho Falls correctional facility he was at, where they let the inmates out during the days to work, but they would have to return at night. So they did this for inmates who were going to get out soon to kind of help them transition into normal life. So let's talk about the bed checks because even if Don had left that day for work, he would have been gone during the day but then he would have had to have been back at night for the bed checks.

But what's weird about that is the following evening and it made in the same facility escaped and didn't return that night and no one noticed for many hours. So it's believed that Don Ellingford could have escaped that night, the night Darwin disappeared, undetected, killed Darwin, and then returned without being noticed, because it's possible that these bed checks weren't very thorough. And this to me makes sense in a lot of ways, because it seemed like he could have easily snuck out and returned without being detected, and if successful, this could have been a genius way to get away with the crime, because he would have had a solid alibi.

I was in prison. But I don't know how Dawn would have known where to find Darwin and how to kill him without anyone seeing him, because it's not like he was a local celebrity, he just looked like a normal guy, but if Darwin had seen him, he would have been terrified. So I just don't know how dawn could have located Darwin, and then hidden from him, and then killed him, and then got rid of his body, and then got back to prison completely undetected.

But it's possible, and Darwin's family believes that it is too. Yeah, I don't know how likely this scenario is really gonna be. I mean, I know that Dawn had this deep hatred for Darwin, but wouldn't it make more sense for him to just get out of prison if he was gonna get out soon anyways and then kill Darwin? I guess like you're saying, it would be the perfect crime if he was in prison, he would have an alibi, but at the same time, it just kind of seems a little wacky to me, but it could be possible. And there's the huge risk there of getting caught and having the prison know that you left and then now you're in trouble for escaping prison and where are you? Oh, you murdered a

guy now. So it's definitely there's a lot of risk, but it's also possible that he had someone else do it for him. Right, and let's talk about that for a second. We know that Don had a 27-year-old nephew who lived in the area whose name is Michael Ellingford. And the day after Darwin went missing, police were called to a home in Idaho Falls after neighbors reported hearing the sound

of windows being broken. Police reported to the scene and upon arrival heard what seemed to be the sound of a shotgun being pumped. That's when they found an intoxicated Michael Allingford inside and they arrested him. Since he had multiple warrants out for his arrest, and we're not sure what these charges were for. So we know that at the time of Darwin's disappearance, Don's nephew Michael was in Idaho Falls and had been committing other crimes.

So it's definitely possible that he could have had some kind of involvement after being directed by his uncle Don. But again, we don't have any hard evidence to support these claims. It's just one of those possibilities. Another potential theory is that someone involved in the spider business wanted him dead so they could take over his spider trap company that was supposed to be a very lucrative and successful company. Someone did end up taking his company over and they were never a suspect and no incriminating evidence ever came forward regarding that. So again, just a possibility.

Going back to the snake river again, it's really strange to me that police didn't do a thorough search of the snake river when that woman called to say she saw a body of a man floating in it. Because regardless of who it is, you would assume that they would want to recover this person's body. And with Darwin being reported missing shortly after this woman called, you'd assume that they would have put two and two together and searched while Darwin could have still been in that general area. To me that doesn't make any sense because this is their biggest theory and if this is your biggest theory why aren't you searching it? Right, and another crazy and disappointing thing regarding this river theory is that a few years after Darwin disappeared, a police officer actually came forward and stated that he saw someone lying by the Snake River in Idaho Falls in the early morning hours after Darwin went missing.

So at this point, it hadn't been reported, but the officer didn't check on who the person was because he assumed that it was likely a transient. The weird thing about this is that it was pouring rain that night, and someone was just lying there, and the officer did nothing about this. This is so weird. This definitely could have been Darwin, but since no one was found dead in the area later on,

it makes you wonder where they would have gone. This thing, this is such a weird part to me because first of all, I'm so frustrated with that police officer for seeing someone laying in the pouring rain and not at least checking to make sure they're okay. And I understand I don't know the homeless population in Idaho Falls, but it's kind of your duty to check on people and make sure that the community is safe. So if someone's lying on the ground in the pouring rain, you should probably shake them and see

if they're okay. Well, to me, it doesn't sound like Idaho Falls is a gigantic place. It doesn't seem super big. So yeah, it's possible that it could have been a transient person, but if they're just laying in the rain, typically even a transient person would find some cover from the rain. Right. And just like you had said that, if this person was dead there, then why weren't they

there later? Because obviously no one was found dead next to the river. That kind of makes me believe a little bit more that it was a transient or somebody else because if this was Darwin, then where did he go from laying next to the river? But I just wish that we could have that confirmation and unfortunately we can't because that officer did not check on this person that night. Yeah, that's a really big shame in this case. So here's my personal opinion of what probably happened that night.

Even though Darwin was drunk, he had taken this inebriated walk countless times before because every time he went to the bars, he walked. We do know that on occasion, Darwin walked by the snake river to look for critters and spiders, but not in the pouring rain at night when he's drunk. We know he walked a lot, so he would usually look for critters while there was still light in the sky. So I really don't see him going to the snake river on his own, especially since it was out of the way. It was not on his way home at all. I think it's more likely that he was met with a dangerous person after leaving the bar, and I do think it's possible that someone killed him and then threw his body

in the river, because I think it's too weird to be a coincidence that a woman called that very morning and said she thought that she saw a man's body in the river. I did read someone say that there are one or two bodies found in the river every year. So it's not very common, which is why I think it's a really big possibility that this woman did see Darwin in the river that morning. Again, I don't know why Lee would want to kill Darwin or why anyone would, but I think that Lee and Don are good suspects. And unfortunately, since Lee passed on, we may never know if he was involved.

I do wish that they would bring sonar detectors into that part of the Snake River to see if he is in there, but I feel like if he was and didn't get stuck on something, his body probably should have surfaced somewhere, or at least been witnessed by more than just one person. I believe at this point in time, there's probably not much left of Darwin if he did get stuck in the river, and if they did find him snagged on a log or something like that. I did have a buddy in high school who passed away who was intoxicated and who was actually floating a local river here in Oregon, and he was snagged by some brush, and his body didn't surface for about three or four days. So it's likely that that could have happened to Darwin, but I'm just really not sure about that.

It's so hard to say because again, since this river is so large, I just feel like at some point, his body probably would have floated to the surface and would have been seen by somebody. And again, I don't know this Nick River well at all. It just appears to me that he would have surfaced to the top. Yeah, I mean, and that's a possibility for sure. I'm actually not sure if things that get stuck in brush, like in under toes and things like that, in logs, if they end up staying there for a long period of time, I think sometimes that kind of varies,

like maybe if it was really that stuck, it's possible it could have stayed there for a very long time, but I just don't really know. I think that all of the suspects that we have are pretty good suspects. I think Dawn is a good suspect. I think his nephew is a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think he's a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I think Dawn is a good suspect. I think his nephew is a good suspect. We know that Lee left town after Darwin disappeared, so in my mind, I honestly couldn't tell you what my main suspect or what my opinion is on this case, but I do think that police should investigate every avenue and every suspect that we have talked about so far on this show. And one other thing I had to say about this episode is that if Darwin was indeed working

on a cure for cancer, it's very possible that some shady shit could have gone down, because that's a huge thing for Big Pharma and the cure for cancer is a very large deal. So if there was some kind of behind the scene, stuff going on with that, that's also a possibility we have to take into account. I completely agree with you. And unfortunately, it police don't believe that foul play was involved

in this case, and they feel confident that he just fell in the river and drowned, which is why after their initial questioning of all the people involved that we discussed, they pretty much dropped the whole case. According to police, they followed up every lead they could think of and nothing came up.

And since there's no trace of a body, police aren't even considering him dead. They're still considering him a missing person. But his bank card was never used and none of his family has heard from him, which isn't something Darwin would ever do to them. And having just landed a huge deal with Fred Meyer for his spider traps, why would he disappear on purpose? A year after his disappearance, his friends and family held a candlelight vigil in his honor.

And in 2004, nearly five years after Darlwin disappeared, his family had declared him legally dead. They thoroughly believe that he was met with foul play and are disappointed in law enforcement's lack of continued efforts in trying to find out what happened to him. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Darwin Vest, please contact the Idaho Falls Police Department at 208-529-1200. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you so much everybody and next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. This is such a strange case and I really wish that more people knew about it so we could help bring this poor family justice and this incredible man who doesn't have justice himself for whatever happened to him.

So please share this case. I completely agree. Now it is time to give you guys the shoutouts that you so well deserve. The people who gave us five star views over on Apple Podcasts. We love you guys, so let's kick it off. Thank you so much to Leah in Buffalo, New York, Linda in Kimberly, Alabama, and Chris in Bayon. In a big thanks to Amy, we're not sure where you're from.

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