National Park After Dark - Swallowed by the Jungle: Corcovado National Park

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

With so many National Parks around the world, we can’t help but venture to far off lands. Someone else who had that urge, was Cody Roman Dial. The son of a National Geographic explorer and field biologist, Cody (who preferred to go by his middle name, Roman) followed right in his father’s footsteps. His own travels brought him all over the world. His final adventure brought him to Costa Rica, where he walked into the jungle for the last time. Come along with us as we learn about Roman’s life, disappearance, and the lengths his family went to find out what happened to their son. For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Prose:  Get a free in-depth hair regimen and 15% off your first custom hair care order at prose.com/NPADWicked Clothes: Get 10% off of any purchase when you use our discount code NPAD at check out or go to our link www.wickedclothes.com/NPADFor a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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If you don't know what happened to your loved one, how are you? you supposed to accept it? This week, we travel to the jungles of Costa Rica's Corkavado National Park with Roman Dial, known by many as the famous National Geographic World Explorer, field biologist, and professor, but known only to a couple as dad, and it is as a father that brought him on one of the longest, most emotional, and most important journeys of his life. one that sought the answer to the question, what happened to my son? Welcome to National Park After Dark. Welcome back, everyone, to National Park After Dark. I'm Danielle. And I'm Cassie. We are here for another week, another story, and we're going international again. Is it the third week in a row? Yeah, we're on kind of a kick right now where we have left the U.S. We are going all around. We'll come back to the U.S.

but it's been fun. I mean, there's so many parks out there across the world. So I like traveling abroad. Travel, it's just calling me. And you know what else is calling me? Apparently, spicy hot honey. Oh my God. Everyone who said that spicy hot honey,

I thought I was on like this whole life-changing thing with regular honey. And I'm like, Canada does it. And everyone in Colorado is like, no, hot honey, put it on your pizza. We have been doing it. They were sending us recommendations on where to get it. I'm like, okay, a whole new world has opened. So probably we're just going to have to fly into Colorado and go. I think it's Bojo's or something.

Bojo's. Something like that. I saved the message so we would know which one. I'd have to look back. But the message, we got like so many. And I did actually, because I felt like an imposter because everyone's like, it's a Colorado thing. And I'm like, I lived in Colorado. Well, I thought of you when we got those messages.

I was like, Danielle, why did you not tell me about this? You lived there for years. Well, I guess I was out of the loop. But all right, hot honey, it's on the list for this weekend. I'm going to have to go to Trader Joe's and get some. But for this week, what we're focusing on is a really heartbreaking story. And one that I have been looking forward to doing for quite a while. It was a few months ago that I was window shopping in Seattle and a book caught my attention.

And it said The Adventurer's Sun in big red letters. And it had a nice jungle scene with mist on the front cover. And it was right around the time when Cassie and I were just starting to get the podcast going. And lo and behold, the first book that I see with the podcast forefront on my mind is this book. I bought it, read it cover to cover in a night while I was camping. And I really kind of waited to do the episode because it is one that is pretty tough. I'm just decided to share it with you today because it also takes place somewhere that we have both been and both love and would love to go back to. And that is Costa Rica.

Well, I'm really excited for this because you know if you read a book in one night, it's good. Oh, yeah. And also, Costa Rica is, I had such a dream. trip there. I love it. It's so beautiful. I'm stoked. Tell me, tell me the story. I'm ready. Corkavado National Park is located on the Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica. Established in 1975, it encompasses an area of 164 square miles and is the largest park in Costa Rica. Called the most biologically intense place on earth in terms of biodiversity by National Geographic, this park is renowned for a rich array of flora and fauna.

Spider monkeys, oscillots, toucants, tapirs, jaguars, crocodiles, tamandua ant eaters, sloths, golden orb spiders, fertile ants vipers, collared pecarries, and poisoned dart frogs are just a handful of the species that live inside of this park. And I just rattled off a few because 500 species of trees, 104 species of mammal, 367 species of bird, 117 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 40 species of freshwater fish is a little much to list, but that just gives you a full picture of just how biodiverse this area is. The park's dense jungle is where most of these species live, but the park also encompasses shoreline on the Pacific Ocean,

and several species of whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and sharks all navigate the waters there. The landscape of this park and the surrounding conservation areas house 13 different major ecosystems, including one of the largest lowland tropical forests in the entire world. Mangrove swamps, lagoons, palm groves, cloud and montane forests, freshwater swamps, jungle rainforests, and coastal beaches can all be found within this national park.

Rivers and streams cascade over waterfalls from high elevations and out into the sea. From a naturalist's eyes, this remote park is a must see. but this park is not for the inexperienced, as it is one of the most dangerous in the world. Venomous snakes such as the Bushmaster, fertile ants and eyelash vipers, along with constricting boas drip from the trees. Pumas and jaguars stalk through the vegetation, crocodiles and bull sharks swim through the estuaries, and seven-inch Brazilian wandering spiders scurry across the forest floor.

Seven inches? I don't even want to think about it, to be on. honest. No, thank you. I have for some reason, and I say for some reason, like, I'm shocked. I live in a converted garage legitimately. And this last like three weeks, there have been so many spiders crawling out of every nook and cranny around here. And we have white walls. So every morning I'll turn on the light somewhere and there'll be a giant spider just sitting right there on the middle of the wall. I can't even. I can't even. We have where our storage area is, the door that you walk in, the lights are always on at night in our building area. So all of the spiders congregate around there. So if you go to go through the door, there's literally

like probably 50 spiders that all have little webs and they're all collecting all the moths and everything that's attracted to the lights and they'll go over the door. So if you have to go through at night, you're, it's not good. Yeah, there's just something about, I mean, it's fascinating to watch spiders do their thing, but I do remember, and it's funny, in Costa Rica, I was going to this dinner, and we had to walk through this jungle path, and it was just lit by torches and things like that. And I just remember putting out my hands in front of my face, because the worst feeling in the world is walking through a spider web and having all that shit all over your face. Yes. When I used to teach outdoor education. I was always in the front when I was leading the hikes, obviously,

and I would have a stick that I would hold out in front of me because I walked through spider webs daily. Yeah, it's not a good feeling. Probably the worst feeling in the world to walk through a spider web made by a seven-inch long spider. No, thank you. No, thank you. So any of these creatures can take you, but that's not all. This national park is known for other dangers as well. Corkavado and the surrounding area is wild, but it's also somewhat of a lawless land. Despite its protected status, environmental legislation such as the mining code, biodiversity law, and national parks law, it has not stopped criminal organizations, miners, smugglers, and hunters. Drug trafficking, illegal wildlife smugglers, and poachers run rampant in and around the park. They can access the

part through a lot of different ways. There's a ton of trails and waterway entries, that they use to snatch vulnerable and threatened species. Jaguars are taken for their fur and for the meat trade. Fins are sliced from sharks and endangered turtle eggs are stolen from their hatches, just to name a few of the eco-crimes, not unusual for the area. The same dense jungle that Credo's wildlife also hides monsters. Illegal miners and loggers can reside in the park for weeks at a time, going largely undetected, and they've even been known to submit false sightings,

or tips to distract park rangers from areas where they are actually committing the crimes. Ranger staff in the park is also limited, and it's a very dangerous job. Run-ins with the people involved in illegal activities can be deadly, and even though the Rangers are armed and trained, it's still very risky. The danger is not isolated to the Rangers, though. In 1993, a Canadian woman named Kimberly Ann Blackwell moved to Costa Rica and established a small eco-community on a farm right next to Corcovado. She started a project with local women called Samaritan Chocolat,

selling fair trade and sustainable chocolates made from the wild cocoa plant she found on her property. The local women were paid double the average wage so that they could avoid buying products sourced from criminals. And Kimberly was known for her support of the Rangers and often offered them meals. As her property was right next to the National Park, she caught poachers trying to sneak in by trespassing through her land quite often. Her neighbor, a well-known jaguar hunter, and whom Blackwell threatened to report to the Rangers, who seemingly supported those sneaking into the park, even shot and killed her two guard dogs. And she responded by allegedly running him over and breaking his leg.

Good. Go, girl. Kill your dogs? Yeah, run him over. Her stance on ethical business, fair wages, and her friendliness with the law enforcement combined with being very vocal and denouncing the ecological and ethical effects of the environmental crimes in and around the park was sadly her undoing. On February 2nd, 2011, Park Rangers coming for a visit, found her dead body on the ground outside of her house. She had been shot execution style

and was the fourth foreigner homicide victim in the area in just two years. Someone just doing the right thing, you know? Yeah, that's horrible. Even Olaf Westberg, considered the father of both Corcovato and Cabo Blanco National Park, was murdered in the the jungle as well. Likely due to all these perils coming from the dense jungle, those who lived in it, and hid in it, the park enacted new regulations, and they did this in February of 2014, and that new legislation required that any and all visitors who were coming into the park, they had to be accompanied by a licensed guide. Despite its danger, this park draws in thousands of visitors who believe the benefits of getting to experience this magical place outweigh the risks

of visiting. And for Cody Roman Dial, a man involved in nature since he was a child, raised to love, appreciate, and marvel at our natural world, the allure of experiencing one of the few remaining truly wild places on Earth was definitely worth the risk. And to understand Cody and his love and passion for the outdoors, we have to start with his family. And just as a side note before we really get into the dials and this family and his story, it might get a little confusing at times because Cody Roman Dial has a father named Roman Dial. And the two of them are big characters in this story. So it can kind of get a little confusing at times when I'm like Roman, Roman Dial, Roman Dial. And that's because Cody, when he was a kid, when I think he was around six or seven,

he was very adamant that he wanted to be called Roman himself, just like his dad. Aw, that's really sweet. I kind of want, I want to do justice to that and continue his wishes. But at some points when it does get confusing, because we're talking directly about his father, Roman, and Cody, aka Roman. If it gets too confusing, I will say Cody from time to time. But just so everyone is aware, he went by Roman. So his parents, Roman and Peggy, met as teenagers at school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Roman was studying wildlife management and Peggy studied elementary education.

And although she didn't study the outdoors in an academic sense, she was definitely not a stranger to the natural world at all. She was born in Boston, East Coast Girl, but she grew up in Alaska in the Arctic Circle before heading off to college. Roman was a self-proclaimed dirtbag and spent most of his time outside of the classroom scaling peaks, and he even participated in the first wilderness classic. And if you are not familiar with what that is, it is an epic 150-mile wilderness traverse through the Alaskan Mountains. Both Peggy and Roman worked odd jobs between classes and saved up for trips, something I think we can all relate to. Absolutely. But maybe something we can't relate to is just to. how epic their trips were. One of their bigger ones was months long. They bought a cheap car and drove it

all the way to Mexico. And along the way, they rock climbed Yosemite, snowshoot through Yellowstone, hiked the Grand Canyon, bicycled through Arizona, and then spent three glorious months on the Baja Peninsula. Wow, what a wonderful trip. Also, what active people to be climbing and biking and just all this stuff. What a, what an awesome trip. I mean, we get pumped when we have three days off and we go somewhere. We go hiking. We do a six-mile hike and we're like, hell yeah. And they're like, yeah, we're going to rock climb up in Yosemite, like in Yosemite, and we're going to go to 10 different national parks.

And then we're actually just going to go to Mexico real quick. What a time to be alive. And like I said, Roman was a huge climber. However, he almost lost his life on a climb of McGinnis Peak back in Alaska. and after that he gave up difficult technical climbs for sport. He and Peggy married in June of 1985, honeymooned in Maui, and attempted the middle leg of the 1,000 mile traverse of the Brooks Range

on cross-country skis. So here we go with the adventurous lifestyle. They pulled sleds with equipment and food, four weeks' worth of it, and they were just going through this traverse, cross-country skis camping along the way, and it was here on this 350-mile journey. that Peggy found out she was pregnant with her first child.

Oh my God, that's so sweet to find out on a trip like that. Yeah. Cody Roman Dial was born February 22nd, 1987. His childhood was filled with travel and adventure, to say the very least. He and his dad were also very close. And at the age of six, they went on a 60-mile backpacking trek through the rough terrain of the Aleutian Islands. And it was on this trip that Cody and six. on being called by his middle name, Roman.

And on this trip, he also really loved having his dad read him Charlotte's Web at the end of the night, which I thought was super sweet because there's such a contrast in the book of sometimes when you're reading about Roman, the son, especially as a child, you get lost in his character and his personality and his maturity that you forget almost that you're you're reading about a child, you know, a six, seven, ten, fifteen-year-old child because he was so far beyond what I think of. What his adventures are what adults are doing? You know, you don't hear about kids doing all this stuff. Like he's, I can definitely see where people might get confused about his age

because a lot of adults don't even try the things that he's doing. So it's cute that he's reading Charlotte's Web and it does. It brings you back to, oh, he's a lot of, a child doing this. Right. Yeah, so much respect. And he did grow up primarily in Alaska, but he and his younger sister Jazz were brought all over the country and the world. He backpacked in Denali, took a 1,500 mile long road trip through Western Australia, took four separate trips to Borneo, spent time in Costa Rica, the Himalayas, Thailand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the ice fields of the Kenai Mountains. What a dream life. It's amazing.

So this like 60 mile backpacking trek through the Allusions when he was six, it was kind of just like a springboard for all of these other adventures. And it's just so funny because a 60 mile backpacking trek through the Allusions is kind of a goal for a lifelong goal for many people, adults. And he's like, oh yeah, I did that when I was six. I'm going to try something else. Yeah. Right. Well, that's like, did you just see in the news? There's a, he's five or six and he just completed the Appalachian Trail with his parents. Yes, I did see that. Your parents are so cool.

I know. And I don't want to have, my stance right now is I do not wish to personally have children. However, if that ever was to happen, I really hope that I am something like Roman Dial or those people who had their son just complete the Appalachian Trail. You're just raising an already really cool person. Right. A great addition to the world. Yeah. As he got older, outside of travel, he did enjoy other things, quote unquote, normal teenage things.

In middle school, he started throwing summer parties with his friends with a little twist. He threw solstice parties. So on summer solstice, him and his friends would get together, have campfires. spend time out in the endless day of Alaska. I don't know many people who ever had a solstice party, but I wish I did. No. I wish I was this cool. My parties, I did sleep over little makeup parties or something like that where we had like

that shitty glitter makeup that we'd throw on our eyelids. Like, it was never a solstice party. You don't even have to tell me, I already know what the palette looks like. It's like that jelly consistency of eye shadow. Yes. It's like what the fuck with that? It just wipes glitter all over everything you own. Oh, it's so embarrassing. Well, Cody really loved to read. He loved books by authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King and Mark Twain. And he read Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter as well. And he played Dungeons and Dragons with his friends and especially loved learning. He was always deep. immersed in his studies, and he particularly loved economics, biology, and ecology. And of course, his travels continued. At age 16, he immersed himself in a month-long Spanish language class, but it was in

Mexico. He didn't just take Spanish in high school. He went to Mexico and deeply immersed himself in the language and ended up becoming very proficient in it to the point that he was pretty fluent. I wouldn't expect anything less from Roman. Why would he take it in a class? when he could just go to the country. That doesn't make any sense. And I'm pretty sure I didn't write in my notes, but I'm pretty sure his grandfather bought him that class. So it's a family affair.

He and his father packrafted the Appalachians, Brooks Range, Mexico, Tasmania, Bhutan, and even the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, where they were the first paddlers permitted to packraft its entire length. And at age 17, the two Romans participated in the Wilderness Classic together as a pair. His academic fieldwork with ice worms actually landed him several publications in scientific journals. So in short, by the age of 25, he had accomplished more than any of us will in a lifetime. But kids got to have a break.

He's done all this stuff. He wants some time off. So after paying off student loan debt, stashing $15 grand in his bank account, and wanting a break from all his graduate studies, he did plan a trip. He wanted to travel throughout Mexico, Central America, and into South America. So in October of 2013, he broke off the relationship he had with his girlfriend at the time, although they remained friends and she even met up with him when he was in Mexico, to explore some ancient Mayan ruins, casual, the norm. And she left in 2014.

And when she left, Roman's dad met up with him in Mexico to go on another pack rafting trip. The pair spent two weeks rafting and exploring around with friends that actually joined them from back home in Alaska. When the trip drew to a close, Roman saw his dad off at the airport. He told him, as always, he would stay in touch and keep up with him and his mom with all his plans and adventures. They hugged, exchanged goodbyes, and said their I love yous. A memory that Roman's dad would hold on to forever. The first week of February, Roman climbed Orzaba, the highest peak in Mexico. He wrote to his parents frequently via email, as international phone calls were pretty pricey.

Plus, on the night before his 27th birthday, his phone was actually stolen, so he didn't really have any other means to communicate other than email exchanges. And there he would write his travel plans to his dad, and this was his goal. He would travel through Latin America and onto Brazil for the World Cup in July. He would climb volcanoes in Guatemala and swim the blue hole in Belize. He remarked that he would then go on to Honduras, although it was known to be quite dangerous. He was going to surf in Nicaragua, visit Corcavado, National Park in Costa Rica, and then head onwards towards Panama. And he went on to travel that exact route. He met friends at hostels along the way and kept in touch with his family often, keeping them

up to speed with everything he was doing, he was happy to share his adventures, and he would occasionally ask his parents for advice as well. His next big adventure would be in mid-March, in the form of a 63-kilometer trek into the jungle to an undeveloped Mayan ruin in Guatemala. And 63 kilometers for us here in this states is around 40 miles, so this is no joke. This journey to El Patin would be his most dangerous yet. The area was notoriously crime-riddled, and the jungle was full of things that could sting, bite, and poison. He shared his route with his dad, detailed on a map along with his out date, April 18th. Like any father, the elder Roman did his search to see just what his son was getting into. He read a post from another traveler that kind of concerned him. That post said,

it is almost impossible to do it by yourself unless you have been trained by the Marines or are a Navy SEAL, and you have perfect knowledge of the jungle. You must be very careful. Otherwise, you can be easily lost. But Roman proved himself. His journey proved successful, despite the hundreds of crawling ticks, miles and miles of bushwhacking, running into wild pigs, pumas, and almost stepping on six-foot-long snakes. He completed his journey and went onwards just like he planned to do. He went to Belize and then Honduras, where he earned his advanced diver certification while swimming with whale sharks, and then made his way to Nicaragua. His next journey would be somewhere he had been before, with his family, Corkavado National Park, on the Osaw Peninsula of Costa Rica. He said it would be training for the Darien Gap, which is an actual gap in the transcontinental road system between Colombia and Panama.

and is also known as one of the most dangerous places on earth. Roman knew that, and even typed an email to his friend saying in part, quote, It's fucking stupid, and there's a really good chance that I die or get kidnapped. Again, he never left his family out of the loop and fully disclosed his travel plan complete with maps. On July 6th, Roman arrived in San Jose, bought another pack for use on his travels into the park, and finalized his plans. Two days later, he hopped a bus to the Osa Peninsula with his site set on the National Park, where he would embark on his final adventure.

July 8th, Roman arrived in Puerto Jimenez and checked into one of the several hostels in the area, called the Corner Hostel. The next day, he used the internet at a cafe, a block away from his hostel, to email a friend. He said, quote, currently on the Ossa Peninsula, on the Pacific, right next to Panama. There's a national park I'm going to try and sneak into and bushwack around in. practice for the Darien. Costa Rica is burning through my cash. Otherwise, I wanted to see Columbia and climb some mountains and go trekking.

I think South America is going to have to wait for another trip. That same day, he also emailed his parents and told them of his plans. He gave them detailed descriptions of his plan, where he was going, the route he was taking, including specific trails, and even a link to a copy of the exact map that he would be using. He detailed his knowledge of the dense and difficult to navigate jungle. and acknowledged that it was rainy season and questioned how passable some of the train would be. He said, I am not sure how long it will take me, but I'm planning on doing four days in the jungle and a day to walk out. Five kilometers a day is an abysmal pace, but it's hard to keep a straight line

without a horizon. I'll be bounded by trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever. After his emails were sent, he withdrew about $95 dollars US from his bank account. He bought five days worth of food and after cooking his dinner in the hostel kitchen went through his gear for his upcoming trip. He had several bags with him, a yellow duffel bag, which he stored his guidebook, beach supplies and spare clothing, another larger pack where he stored his tent, warm clothes, and extra gear, and a third pack, the one he would be taking with him into the national park. He filled that one with gear he'd need for this particular track, including a machete, mosquito net, tarp, compass, and map.

The following morning, he paid for his previous two-night stay at the hostel and then handed the clerk an extra 10 to reserve a bed for the night he got back. He left his yellow duffel bag and a large pack in storage. He grabbed transport to Dos Brazos, a small village right on the edge of Corkavado National Park, likely sensing that familiar feeling of excitement for a new adventure, and he stepped into the jungle. While Roman was stepping into the jungle, his dad was in Alaska on his own adventures. In between daily chores, he managed to do a few day trips and packrafting trips with friends in the Telkeetna Mountains. Anxious to hear from his son, he came home on July 14th to scan his emails, nothing from Roman yet.

With no word yet, him and Pegg decided on a drive to the Kenai Peninsula for a short fishing trip to stock up their freezers. While they were there, they spoke about Roman and wondered how he was doing. how his trip was going. It had been six months since they'd last seen each other, and they missed him. But more pressingly, they were anxious to hear from him. On July 18th, the day they returned from their fishing trip, still nothing. But again, no alarm bells quite yet. Their son was definitely far from inexperienced, and this was far from his first trip. They trusted him and his abilities. But by July 21st, 12 days after his last email, that began to change. Let me know when you get out, his dad wrote as a direct response to their email thread about the maps.

Then, on July 23rd, while out on errands, his parents realized it had been two full weeks since they last heard from Roman. This is the longest they had ever gone without contact, and a sinking feeling started to wash over them. Instead of scrolling their email through their phones, they decided to go home and sit down at the computer to really dissect. all of the emails. Was there something that they missed? This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen.

Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Yes, there was. On July 9th, the day Roman had sent emails about his plans and a link to the maps, they had missed a crucial calculation. His out date. Four days in the jungle and a day to walk out, Roman had written. That would have put his out date at or around July 14th, 10 days ago. Feeling the world crumbling underneath them, they sprang into action.

Unlike his son, Roman was not fluent in Spanish, which made his desire for immediate and direct communication extremely difficult. They emailed the Osa Corkavado tours, describing the situation in detail. They included Roman's plans, a physical description of him, as well as his pictures, his planned route, and a map. Roman bought the next flight to Costa Rica, departing the very next day. He reached out to his adventure friends in hopes to find reliable and experienced help for his search, for his son and linked up with Tyverzone. Currently a physician's assistant in Alaska, he had experience in the Wilderness Classic,

was a mountain guide in Peru, Alaska, Nepal, Antarctica, Ecuador, and Bolivia. And as a huge added bonus, he was a Latin American studies major in college and was fluent in Spanish. And I want to know where you find these friends. Where do you find these friends? I don't know, I love you and everything,

but you're not that. I'm just kidding. Honestly, though, I mean, what a great group of people to be able to surround yourself with, you know, just to have so many people who have so much experience and cool things that they've done with their life. It's really cool. And the fact that he was like, okay, out of all my friends, these are all the people that I could possibly contact. It wasn't just I have one friend that is a good fit for this situation. He was like, okay, who can...

He's connected. He knows a lot of people in this world. Which was a huge help for him. With what remained of the time before his red eye flight, Roman contacted the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, emailed his work to let them know of the situation, and contacted close friends and family to give them details of what was unfolding. They immediately set up a fund and contributed finances for search efforts.

Roman spent the night tossing and turning going over every scenario, in his mind, racking through the heart-wrenching thoughts. I should have known. He emailed his son, I am coming to look for you, and boarded his flight. Ty and Roman arrived to Costa Rica on July 25th, and made their way to the iguana lodge, a beachside resort owned and operated by an American couple, Toby and Lauren Cleaver, who had been lawyers in Colorado 20 years prior to their life in Costa Rica. The iguana would serve as their base camp. After dropping their gear, the two men headed to the office of the Ministry of Environmental Energy, which is a mouthful, but they are the agency that is in charge of the National Park. Groups of local police, park employees, and volunteers were already waiting for them

in a meeting room, and the site of posters with his son's face, name, and Mucacho Perdito, missing person, knocked the wind right out of Roman. Thinking he was walking into a deep brief of a search, he had after all just sent over all his son's plans prior to his flight, He had expected them to kind of have a search already underway. He was expecting to walk into this room, have a debriefing of what they've done so far, boots on the ground in the jungle. Instead, he was questioned and pretty heavily. And Ty, his friend, translated all the questions and then in turn translated Roman's answers. When's the last time you saw Cody?

Had he been exhibiting unusual behavior? Does he do drugs? Does he have enemies? Does he have a phone? Does he have a GPS? all of these questions. He responded, six months ago in Mexico,

no unusual behavior, and other than social drinking, no drugs, no known enemies, and no to the GPS or the phone. Roman answered all of these while reciting and adding emphasis

to the details he had already provided them. His son's mapped route, he reiterated his experience as a solo traveler, familiarity with the area, and the history of constant communication

with people like him, his family. In other words, something was seriously wrong here, and Roman was frustrated. He was anxious to get the search going, but found himself being grilled by seemingly bothered people, especially the man heading all this questioning, a man named Dondy. Don D'E explained that his son had been seen walking a trail outside of the park with a well-known local drug dealer named Pata Delora. They had allegedly came back into Puerto Jimenez, where Cody then paid Pata and then left to go surfing. Roman was shocked. This did not sound like his son.

The story did not fit his son's plans or his character. In the book, The Adventurer's son, Roman says, quote, Donnie's story didn't fit. Roman knew more about tropical ecology at the age of 11 than most of my college students. He hung out with friends he'd known since its kindergarten. Pack-rafted rivers, studied molecular ecology. He hugged his family and friends. To change his character so fundamentally, and then lie about it to us all, seemed not just unlikely, but fucking impossible.

Well, you know, for most parents, you're like, when parents are like, no, my kid would never do that, you're like, uh-huh. But with Roman, it's like, no, this isn't his character. Stop wasting time here. He's not with a drug dealer. He's not surf. You know, that's just the feeling I get here just from what you've said. It's like, that's so out of character.

And his parents are like, no, this isn't true. This can't be true. And I feel like I'm on their side too with this. I'm like, this doesn't make any sense based on his solstice parties and his adventures. Now he hangs out with sketchy drug dealers. It's like, no, something's wrong here. Exactly. And we've known Roman for the last 20 minutes.

his dad has known him for the last 27 years, you know? And we already have a sense that this seems kind of off base. Something's weird here. Like, if he was with this guy, something had to have been wrong. Like, it couldn't have been, you know, something's off. Something's off here. And that's exactly what his dad thought. So again, he showed the group all of the emails.

He spoke to his son's character again and disputed the likelihood of the Pata Delora story. but he was met with resistance. Hours passed and the sun started to set with no feet on the ground. Frustrated, Roman and Ty left on a mission to start the search, and that began with finding out where his son was staying. They walked the streets in town and went from hostel to hostel with a photo of Roman. Less than an hour later, they came to the corner's hostel, and the woman working the front desk recognized Cody from the photo.

She showed them where he had signed in on the register and took them to storage where his bags were being kept. Roman didn't recognize the larger pack in storage and thought it belonged to another traveler, but he did recognize the yellow bag from his son's previous travels. He wrote a note saying that he was worried after he didn't hear from him and that he had come all the way to Costa Rica to look for him. He went on to say to contact him or go to park headquarters

once he found the note. He also said, there's a big search going on for you and ended it with, Hope you are okay, dad, and stuck it inside the bag. They made their way to the iguana, met up with Toby and Lauren, and kind of gave them a rundown of how the day went. And when they mentioned the Pata Delori story, the couple kind of sighed.

They explained that they heard from an employee that same story and went on to describe Pata as a black sheep from a well-renowned family of the area who had been disowned. He was heavily into drugs, was a thief, and overall a pretty bad guy. Lauren went on to say that the local police cannot be relied on to do a quick or an effective investigation and made her point by describing the murder of their friend Kimberly. She explained that it was her and Toby who had to hire a private investigator to solve that case as the local government was pretty useless. And Kimberly, their friend, is Kimberly Blackwell,

the woman that we talked about with the chocolate company earlier in the episode. The woman that was murdered? Yeah. The next day, Roman found out that Potta had been called. questioned by the Costa Ricans version of the FBI. According to Pata, Cody had paid him for a guide service, and after taking him around, they went their separate ways and Cody went surfing. Again, this sounded strange. Why would Cody pay for a guide, an uncertified one, to boot, when he was so confident with his own plans and his own abilities? And another thing to know is he had never

employed any travel guide in any of his other travels before. So why all of a sudden would he do that here somewhere he's been to before? And why would they be outside of the park? Why do you need a guide outside of the park? Yeah, none of this is making any sense. And that surfing portion of the story, if that was true, then why would Roman leave all his beach clothes and dive cards and beach accessories in the hostel in his bag. Yeah, especially knowing how prepared he is for things that he does. Why would he not bring any of that stuff? Right. If it meant he was alive, his dad was going to believe anything. It gives him some hope to hold on to anything to follow. But deep down, it just didn't sit well with him. Next, Ty and Roman went to karate. And I have no idea if I am

saying that right. However, that is just how it looks to me. So we are going to say that. and it is a popular jump-up point for day hikes in the national park. And he met up with a ranger there who said he had seen Pata and a quote-unquote gringo. But after being shown Cody's picture, the ranger said that it was unlikely that it was actually Cody that Pata was with. Roman and Thai walked up and down that town strip, questioning every local and every tourist they saw. Despite the Pata story, whether it was true or not, this is the place where Roman had intended to end his hike, and it deserved a thorough sweep. They received every type of answer from everyone there.

From no, I haven't seen him, to yes, I saw him with Pata, to, no, I saw Pata and a gringo, but it's not the gringo that you are looking for, back and forth, up and down, peaks and valleys. These emotions were difficult, but they had to get to the bottom of what was going on with these stories. The OSA was a very dangerous place. From 2009 to 2011, four non-locals living and working on the peninsula were murdered, two of them by Patta's cousin, and overall, less than 5% of murder charges in Costa Rica and in conviction. According to the locals, Cody had allegedly been seen in all of these areas where all of these crimes had been committed.

Was Cody tangled up in trouble? Another twist came when the lady at the hostel changed her story and said that Cody had left, came back and then left again. According to this new story, that would mean that Cody had been there only four days ago and Roman was relieved. Sightings were coming from everywhere and everyone around the peninsula. Even though this behavior still seemed very weird to Roman, if he was being seen by people, but for whatever reason wasn't responding to friends or family or acknowledging the missing person's poster with his face on them, whatever the reason may have been for that, You'll accept it, especially if you're desperate to believe that your loved one is alive.

You'll accept that they are, for whatever reason, just ignoring you instead of, you know, the worst alternative. You come up with excuses of what might be going on. He sent his son another email. Everyone is looking for you. Wish you'd emailed us when you have the chance. They say you've crossed the mountains twice now. Practice for the Darien. Hope to see you safe and sound soon. Roman wasn't the only one not convinced of this Potsa story.

And on the next day, July 27th, there was a helicopter with infrared capabilities dispatched to search the park for Cody. Roman was biting at the bit to search the park himself with Ty. They were both seasoned and very experienced navigators. Ty sympathized with his friend, but reminded him that they had to work with and establish credibility with the park service, as they were trying to avoid another potential problem with two men, one of the park. during around the jungle themselves. The park service was reluctant to allow Roman to spite his expertise to enter the park to search for his son. Roman had not only been a part of, but actually had organized search and rescues before, but here in Costa Rica, it was a different story.

Officials viewed him as desperate, unstable, and distraught, whose emotions could easily cause a deadly mistake. At one point, they even threatened to arrest him if they learned that he went into the park to search on his own. Roman was going crazy. He felt helpless and useless during the most important time of his life. All he could do was keep his ears open and question everyone and everything.

There were so many stories coming in, most of which didn't make any sense. They either didn't match up with his son's personality, MO, schedule, or description, until on July 30th. A local gold miner named Jenkins Rodriguez stepped forward. He took forward. told Roman that he saw the missing man everyone was looking for.

We saw him in the mountains on a trail near a small creek called Zelodon about 15 to 17 days ago. He stuck out because we had never seen gringoes or foreigners there. He told us he was in the forest for two days. He said his name was Roman. He was from Alaska and he was a biologist. Roman felt his heart race. Now this. This sounded like his son.

This sentiment was solidified as Jenkins continued. He said that they had a friendly conversation in the jungle, which started in Spanish, then switched over to English. Roman had told them where he had hiked and camped and where he was headed. Jenkins even described all the gear that Roman had with him, which all matched the gear that he had brought, from his jet boil stove, sleeping pad, and maps. With this new information, new hope, and direction to head, nothing, not even threats of arrest in a foreign country, was going to stop Roman from entering the park now.

Well, there's finally a real siding. Everything else, he's been like, does this make sense? I'm going to follow it because you're saying it. And now he's like, wait, this is real. You know, like, you can't stop a parent once they're trying to save their kid. Especially when he was so experienced. Like, this is his forte. Yeah, let me out there.

I will find him. I think it might have been a little bit of a different story if it was parents. They weren't as experienced. as outdoorsmen and navigators and things like that. They may have been more hesitant and more reliant on the park service to do the majority of the searching, but Roman, this is his jam. This is his bread and butter. He wants to get out there.

And he had what he needed now. A lead with real weight to it. But he needed a guide. Park officials had banned him from the park, so he had to get creative. Jenkins offered to bring him to the spot in the park where he had run into his son. So Jenkins, Roman, Thai, and another man named Vargas met up the next morning. And Vargas was a pretty interesting addition to this group. He was a suspect in Kimberly Blackwell's murder.

He was a poacher and a well-known palm oil farmer in the area. So despite his rough background, he knew these mountains like the back of his hand, and he would be a valuable addition to this group. The locals led Roman and Thai through the dense jungle, through streams and waterfalls, slick rock walls, flats, and canyons. After an hour, they reached the park boundary and kind of hesitated. There would be repercussions and stiff penalties if they continued. Remember that there was that requirement, that new requirement that you needed an official guide to enter the park. And Roman offered to go on alone. He didn't want to get anybody else in trouble. He thanked

them for bringing him this far, and he knew, based on Jenkins' description, where to head from there. But all of the men sympathized with him and continued on with him. They pushed on through soaring temperatures and 99% humidity. Slashing through the vegetation with machetes, careful to avoid the venomous eyelash vipers, who actually hang with prehensile tails off of the vegetation and trees, and they're kind of just like dripping there. And they're called eyelash vipers because they're right at your eye level.

Oh, no, thank you. Spooky. They made it to the spot where the miners had seen Roman, and his father cupped his hands and shouted, Roman, Roman, over and over, with no response. With no physical clues and no responses to his cries into the jungle, they reluctantly turned back to the car, empty-handed. That afternoon, after changing and washing up, Roman and Ty met for a meeting with everyone involved in the search effort, which was now on its seventh day. The debriefing revealed that many different groups had performed several large searches throughout the park, but there were a lot of challenges. Any rain would wash away any tracks, making it appear that no one had been in the area at all,

despite knowing several hundred people were crisscrossing the same exact spots. Fallen trees, overflowing streams, thick brush, and tree canopies made GPS signals impossible to follow. And the tangled vegetation made following a clear compass direction. extremely difficult. The next three days of searching revealed nothing, and the search was officially called off. The park service would continue to keep a lookout for Cody, but no active search and rescue teams would be organized or dispatched. Again, the park threatened Roman with arrest if he was to disobey the orders of entering the park, and again, Roman ignored them. He went back to the Zealodon with his small misfit group to search. Roman called his son's

name until his voice went hoarse, slashed through the brush hoping that at every turn he would stumble across a clue, any clue, that his son had been there. He was about 30 minutes from the Zelladon Creek when the breeze carried a putrid, rotting smell. Stomach sinking, he followed the odor, fearing the worst. He stumbled through the brush, bracing himself to find his son's body, only to come across the carcass of a tamandua, a black and cream-colored anteater. The emotional roller coaster went on as they bushwhacked through bamboo forests, waded through the streams, wandered through the mountains, and scaled canyon walls. The journey was tough physically, but also emotionally.

Roman struggled with memories and pangs of guilt with every step. He and his family had been here before and relished in the flora and fauna of the park. He could see 13-year-old Cody pointing out lizards and splashing in the pools under waterfalls and couldn't help but blame himself. He was the one who instilled a love for adventure and exploration in his son at an early age. Was he to blame for his ultimate disappearance? Roman said in his book, Parents aren't supposed to pass out pills, smoke dope, or drink booze with their kids,

and we never did. Instead, we bought them airplane tickets to exotic lands. travel itself can be an addiction. Adventure is. Here I was, searching for Roman missing on a trip that traced directly back to me. I had not simply introduced him. I had included him again and again. Once again they left the jungle with empty hands and empty hearts. Tye had to return home to Alaska to his family, and his small search party disbanded. The official search was over, but officials reminded Roman to be careful on his own search efforts and to resist the urge to offer rewards. There had been cases of tourists going missing and their families offering cash rewards,

only to be given false leads, their hopes dashed, and drained of money from scam artists looking to cash in on their desperation. And that's something we see a lot in the news, I think. Yeah, it's really sad. I feel like as soon as you put a reward out, people are like, oh yeah, I saw so-and-so with someone with a blue hat and they're just hoping like maybe they'll guess the right thing that will help them solve this mystery and then they'll cash in on it. And there's so many, you hear of so many false leads in those kind of situation so I can see how that would be something that would be hard to want to attract. Well, there's that and there's also people who are just so heartless to say, oh yeah, I have your son. or I have your daughter, but you need to give me X amount of money for me to give their location or for us to exchange or whatnot, you know, just bullshit like that.

That it's really sad that that happens in the world and that it's something that is actually fairly common to the point that Roman had to be warned to not do that because it was something that happened so frequently. Yeah, that's really sad. As the story of Roman's missing sun spread, so too did the desire to help. He had friends from the states with extensive outdoor experience, like we mentioned before, and they actually flew down to help in search efforts. The searches continued eventually with the permission of the park service.

It turns out, Roman's friends had friends that had connections with influential people and power in Costa Rica. And that apparently changed the tide for the park's willingness to allow them into the park to continue the search efforts. And that continued for weeks. However, Roman was required to fax a lot of paperwork. Twelve pages worth of permit applications to several different offices. He had to present detailed search plans at three different meetings, which included day-by-day objective descriptions, equipment lists, a plan for communication, and the qualifications of every single person on the team.

How frustrating, like, you just want to get out there and start your search and keep doing your search and you have to sit in a office. and file paperwork. Like, oh, that must have been such a frustrating feeling. And I get it to a certain extent, you know, the park service has to keep track of what's going on. They already have rules and regulations in place for just plain visitors. And now there's someone coming in here saying, I'm actually going to search this entire area. I know what I'm doing. Let me go. So I get both sides, but as a parent who's in a desperate, desperate situation, this just seems like roadblock after roadblock. And he wasn't the only one that was helping out with this search effort.

Peggy was involved too, just in a different way. She organized and coordinated help, filtered through emails, managed their financial contributions from friends and families and donors. She worked with the U.S. and Costa Rican banks to decipher her son's last financial transactions, sent updated photos of Cody to authorities, and spent endless hours asking and answering questions. from embassies, the FBI, and various politician offices, both in America and in Costa Rica. She told her husband word was starting to get out. And even if it seemed little empathy and attention

was giving to their son's situation in the Costa Rican government, news outlets in America were catching wind of this story. ABC News, men's journal, and various media outlets all contacted the dials, and suddenly Cody's story was in the spotlight. The Calvary was coming at last. Only, it wasn't. There would be no American military-based search and rescue as the legal authority did not exist as the search and rescue was not requested for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief. Six weeks of ups and downs, this emotional roller coaster was just reaching its peak, but ended up taking a devastating plunge instead. Theories of what happened to Roman were spoken throughout theosa. He deserted his family

for a brand new life. He was murdered. He got caught up in the wrong crowd. He simply vanished. They went on and on. After searching for almost a month in the area of the park that Roman was certain his son would have been, with no luck, he was starting to become more and more convinced that foul play must be the answer. His wife and daughter Jazzy arrived in Costa Rica to support his searching. Peggy wanted to get her own boots on the ground and see for herself the situation. She was not ready to accept that foul play was the answer without searching herself. They entered Corcovado as a family and began another search. They printed out photos of the gear that Roman would have been using on his track and advertised a reward for them, and they hung those posters all over the Osa Peninsula,

all the while searching clotheslines and people's outfits for any sign of their son's clothing or equipment. Jazzy left to return back to Alaska, but Peggy State, it had been two months since they last heard from their son. And now here they were, trekking the exact same route their son had mapped out. It was overwhelming, trying to get into Roman's mind of where he would have set up camp, where he would have chosen to walk, rock scramble, or wade. Massive storms raged throughout their trip. Downpours drenched them, and trees crashed around their camp as the wind whipped through the forest. After weeks, the foul play theory came to the forefront of everyone's minds, including Peggy's. Okay, she's, she said, let's talk to a private investigator. They were put in touch with the private investigator

who solved the case of Kimberly Blackwell. He and his team interviewed hundreds of people, including Pata Delora, and pride incessantly with hard-hitting questions. A canine investigative team was brought in, and the dog led them to a small tunnel where bones of a minor were found. Whether Cody had crossed into Panama, was kidnapped, or murdered, it seemed apparent that he just was not here. So in mid-September, running out of options, Peggy and Roman left Costa Rica and returned home to Alaska. Trying to live a semblance of a normal life was pretty awkward. Watching Netflix, going out with friends, and trying to get back to work, all felt so wrong. In December, Roman and Peggy returned to Costa Rica. They searched more, upped the reward for the missing gear, and traveled to the Costa

Rican and Panamanian border, all without success. It has now been six months after their son had disappeared, and they knew the odds of him being alive were near zero, but they couldn't give up. Psychics contacted them, offering their visions that Roman was alive somewhere. And that combined with reading stories of remarkable survival tales, despite hefty odds, only fueled the little hope that they had left. And another weird twist of this story, TV producers had been reaching out to the dials. And the dials had been ignoring them to this point. It seemed as if every publication or story about their son's disappearance was either sensationalized, exploitative, or flawed in some way. And they were pretty upset about that because it made an already deep,

fresh wound sting even more. Jeff Dunsavage, the founder of the Missing Americans Project, one that maintains an online presence with updates of missing Americans in foreign countries connected with Peggy. And he said that publicity and the media is at times what moves governments into action. In other words, get a TV show, get the government to help. After discussions with producers, making sure that this would not be a reality show, the docu series Missing Dial set to be aired on the National Geographic Channel was a go. Although hesitant about the project, the dials thought that the publicity, easier access getting permits and assistance from trained personnel, was worth it if it meant making headway for their son.

Criminal investigators, Air Force, and DEA veterans all joined in as well. Soon after the contract was signed, the embassy notified the dials that they had one of Cody's backpacks. In it were many of the items that they had posted on reward posters. Roman had no idea that this pack belonged to his son and kicked himself for not looking further into it, especially as he reflected back on a photo that he took. It was back in the hostel. He took a photo of the original yellow duffel bag that he saw Cody had in storage, the one that he wrote that note in and stuck it into that bag.

This bag he recognized. Cody had had that in previous travels, and his dad had seen it before. but what he had not seen before was the other bigger bag, and that bag was actually in the photo of the yellow devil bag. Its strap was in the corner of the frame. The embassy had received this bag months prior from the new owners of the hostel, but hadn't told the dials until the final day of the maximum 60-day holding period, whether it was the running out of the 60-day holding period

or the news that the dials now had a television series going on for this search effort. No matter what, this was kind of a good sign. Publicity and pressure from the media was important, but it did come out of price. Despite the initial agreements, the show quickly became dramatized, and at times it was staged and overproduced, and even worse, they were unable to secure permits back into the park. The show followed around criminal investigator Carson Ulrich around the Osa Peninsula. The dials traveled back and forth from Costa Rica to Alaska while the investigation and show moved forward.

On one trip, Roman returned alone and was told to meet Carson at the iguana. He was wired with a microphone and entered a room full of producers. There were several cameras pointed at a table and Carson was sitting at the head of it. Roman sat down across from Carson and Carson leaned in. Honestly, there is no easy way to tell you this. But Pata Delora took your son, and he met up with a group of minors. They were all doing drugs, and they killed him. Roman was stunned.

The Pata Delora story again. The one that seemed too difficult to believe. The one that involved a version of his son that he did not know had appeared again. Choking back tears, he exclaimed, what? How? Did they have a body? Carson responded, this is the hardest part to tell you. They dismembered him and fed him to the sharks. Roman was shocked, cut down emotionally and devastated. But even more, he was angry. He was not about to let this

warped version of his son and strange tale of events from an unreliable source with no hard proof be the end to this story. He refused to believe it and he pushed back. But to add insult to injury, the film crew was getting just what they wanted. Another blow up from a distraught father. God, that's so horrible. And I'm on his side too. Like, what? He was dismembered and was doing drugs?

Like, this is back on the same thing where it makes no sense. And now you're on camera telling a father that this happened to his child. That's horrible. That's awful. It's just the worst. I can't even imagine. And this show, Missing Dial, did. premiere. It was on National Geographic, so you can, I'm sure it's on YouTube. I've seen different

trailers and clips of it. I haven't watched the show in its entirety, but this moment that's on captured on film is out there. You can watch it. And you're watching in real time a father being told this devastating, life-changing news that his son was killed, dismembered, and fed to sharks. And it's all for public for reality television. And it's just, sick and it's exploiting. It's so heartbreaking and such a terrible position to be put in. And it makes you angry. Just like you said, Roman said, he's like, I was pissed. Yeah, I don't even want to watch that. That's horrible. That's such a, how did you do that to someone as a person? Like, never mind the whole publicity, money, whatever, but just as a human being, how could you

knowingly put a father into that situation? That's just awful. I hate that. And the worst part is it It wasn't just this guy. It wasn't just Carson. You know how many hands that had to go through and how many approvals that had to have to get put on the show. He was miced up, ready. Like, the whole thing was so staged and he was set up. This was planned. Yeah. That's just, yeah, it's disgusting. So that night, the night that Roman got that news, he replayed every event from the last year. Every single story he had heard, every search he conducted, every trail he walked on. And that mixed with over two decades of memories with his son. He questioned everything and everyone. What was the truth? Some pieces seemed to fit while others didn't belong to this puzzle at all. Carson had interrogated Pat to DeLora, who gave a full version of what happened to Cody, allegedly. But what wasn't alleged was the 30 witnesses that came forward to say that they did see the two together. Things were not looking good. Peggy emailed her husband, her own thoughts of what was unfolding. She said, we know our boy.

He would never be so stupid. Don't let anyone try and sway you to join their uninformed opinion. Such a united force, you know, and that's just such a partnership to be in. It's like you're trying to stay strong. This is months and months in. You're starting to question everything. And your partner is like, no. We know what's going on.

We know our son better than anyone. And this just doesn't feel right. don't give in, don't give up yet. And that says something because they have all this pressure from not only people around them, but the media too is staging this. There's so many people that are like, this is true. And they're like, no, no, no. They're holding their ground, which is a lot.

And Roman even met with Pata Dolora for the show, and he spoke to him. Potta recanted his version of the story. He said that a man took Cody away at gunpoint. And during their discussion, Roman was listening. to him, but he said deep down he sensed that Pata had never been with her son at all. He even said he felt sorry for him. He clearly had psychological issues and had a pretty abusive past and a difficult one as well. So he's sitting here in front of this man who to everybody else is guilty of being involved with Roman's murder. And Roman, the dad, is just looking at him like, I hear what

you're saying, but I just don't believe you. I don't think that this is true. And again, back to Alaska. Roman went back to teaching full time, but made time to visit Costa Rica with Peggy four separate times January through March of 2016. And these times were more significant because they were with more support. Park access was finally granted. And now the dials were accompanied by the embassy officials, police, rangers, red cross members, detectives, and dog teams. They offered a $50,000 reward for their son's remains. And here comes Pata Dolora again. He came forward with another story. He said this time that he actually knew where Cody Roman Dyle's bones were, that they were underwater in the ocean, but he just needed some money to get some scuba equipment so he could go into the ocean and retrieve

them. This guy has just got to get out of here. We don't believe anything he's saying at this point. He's like, well, now if you give me money, I'll tell you the real, I'll show you. Like, okay, dude, get out of here. Fuck off. And also, here it is. Like, this is exactly what they were warned of. Do not offer a reward because you're getting it all these people coming out of the woodwork trying to get that money from you. And this is exactly what Pata de Laura was doing. In May of 2016, the trailer for missing dial was out, and the executive producer actually warned the dials to not watch it. It was clearly dramatized and outright a full-blown reality TV show, something that they had feared from the very start. The trailer itself had images of blood dripping from a machete with a body

laying face down in a creek. Despite the warning, they watched the first six episodes, and they were not thrilled with them, but still, they thought that they could be used as leverage to push the government into continuing recovery efforts. The first episode was set to air to the public on Sunday, March 22nd, 2016. A few days earlier, on Thursday the 19th, Peggy and Roman went to Washington, D.C., to have interviews and promote the show, and were scheduled to head to New York to do the same the following day. After their interview with two different FBI agents in D.C., Roman checked his phone. He had a message from a Costa Rican number requesting a call back.

Ravi, the council general from the U.S. Embassy, answered his call. Roman. I'm not sure there's any other way to say this, but directly. Human remains were found today near Dos Brazos with camping equipment. A minor was in the mountains today and found bones in a stream bed along with camping equipment upstream and contacted authorities. It seems as if this could be your son. Ravi then forwarded photos of the scene, and Roman and Peggy leaned over the glow of his cell phone to study the images. A bright green salmon shoe pushed against a fallen tree limb, toe down, and half buried in the sand and debris.

A pack partially wedged beneath a rotten log. A cookpot. A yellow and gray colored folding sleeping pad half shoved beneath a log. A compass with a black lanyard. A blue pretzel headlamp. And a north face pack. Each and every item squeezed Roman's heart tighter and tighter. Because he knew each and every one of these.

items belonged to his son. And then, the final blow. The last picture. A human skull with the upper jaw visible, half buried in sticks and debris, backed up against a termite mound. Roman and Peggy held each other and cried right there on the sidewalk. The GPS coordinate location of the remains were forwarded to them, and Roman plugged them in. The location was half a mile past the Zeleodon, upstream in a canyon, a canyon which Roman had passed many, many times in his search. He was so close. How did he miss him? Oh, that's so hard. Roman arrived again in Costa Rica a day prior to his wife. The discovery site was on a small creek named El Doctor, named after a doctor killed many years ago there in an airplane crash. The spot is known for high winds that frequently

knocked down trees. Roman made his way to the site with Rangers and members of the TV show, which ironically was set to air that day. A forensic team was already set up and yellow crime scene tape cornered off areas of the jungle. A forensic anthropologist named Georgina toured Roman through the area. He tried hard to keep it together while seeing Roman's belongings. Some of the items he had given to his son as gifts, but he lost it all together when he saw what was left of his son. bones and clear plastic bags. After he composed himself, Georgina explained that they found many bones already, which had been washed downstream, along with some equipment, and trapped behind logs. His pelvis was still in his shorts, and one of his femurs was under a log. Some of his bones

were still in one of his green shoes, but the other shoe was empty, meaning that he had on at least one shoe when he died. Years of flooding and activity in the stream scattered most of his campsite and his remains, but they all thankfully were relatively still close by. As Roman looked around the site, he realized just how close he had been to the ridge above the canyon, where his son had made his final camp. He had searched less than 200 yards away at least six different times. He had been so close. Peggy arrived the next day, and together they went through what the detectives had collected. All that remained of their son and what he had left behind. They also, trekked to Roman's campsite and made their way along through the dirt, debris, and fallen trees

themselves. Knowing full well that the investigators have already came and cleared the area, they just couldn't help but look for themselves. And it's there that they discussed what could have happened to their son. With all of the evidence coming together, it seemed as if what likely happened to Cody Roman Dial was this. He had entered Corcovado National Park on foot, alone, and camped for a couple of days. Then, on July. July 10th or 11th, he had run into Jenkins and his friends. After their conversation, and they left, Roman finished his breakfast and proceeded to follow the trail that Jenkins and the miners had taken. He bypassed the canyon, made his way through a series of waterfalls upstream,

and then set up his final camp. But how did he die? Murder? Seemed unlikely. Why go through all the trouble of disposing him in this very difficult to access location? Also, none of the bones showed any signs of trauma. No bullet wounds, no notches from a machete or a knife, no indication of dismemberment. Plus, everything looked pretty naturally deposited, not buried by a criminal. His pack also still contained his wallet, passport, and cash. Why would valuables be left behind if someone murdered him? Like, what's the motive, you know? Yeah. I mean, this is kind of sounding a little bit better than what we've been feeling. I mean, it's not a good situation, but we've been fearing, we've been hearing he's been killed by this drug dealer and dismembered and thrown

into the ocean and all the stuff. And now it's kind of sounding like it wasn't foul play at all. Exactly. And I think that was probably a little bit of a, for lack of a better word, a relief to his family, a more of a natural death versus a death that came, A, at the hands of somebody else but be in a way that did not match up with who they knew for so many years, you know? Exactly. And it's also unlikely that he died of starvation because his pack still had some food in it. And that leaves the natural causes. His camp stove was found with dent in it.

The burner was snapped from the canister and the threads of the burner itself were pinched inwards. It appeared as if something large had hit it with extreme force, like a falling tree. Parts of his body were found under logs. but it was difficult to determine if that happened as a cause of death or happened to him after he died post-mortem. He did also have only one shoe on with bones in it. Maybe he was bitten by a fertile lance. A snake that was found in the camp area, which is actually pretty significant.

These vipers are known to stay close to a home location. They don't travel great distances and are the cause of more human deaths than any other American reptile. On average, they inject 105 milligrams of venom per bite. A lethal dose for a human is only 50. Was Roman bit? Did he sit down to take his shoe off to examine the wound and then died, later to have a tree fall over his remains? And that remains to this day a question that only Cody knows the answer to.

But for the dials, they take solace in knowing that an accident claimed the life of their son, not another human. By August, dental records came back as a match for Cody. And in October, DNA taken from the tibia served as the final piece of evidence. The remains found in the jungle belonged to Cody, something that the dials knew to be true the second they saw the photos of the camp almost six months prior. In November of 2016, the Dial family flew to Costa Rica once again, paid the minor who discovered Cody, and visited with Jenkins,

likely the last person that saw Roman alive. They had elected to have him cremated, but wanted to see him one last time before that was done. They stood in the funeral home with his remains on a table in those final moments, touching what was physically left of their son. Back in Alaska, a memorial was held for Roman on the winter solstice on December 21, 2016. Just like those parties that he had thrown in the summer solstices with his friends as he was growing up, they would share stories around the fire, and it was a fitting way to reflect back on Roman's life. Friends and family members took their turn recounting the years of memories that they shared with. him. His obituary summed up many of his grand adventures, difficult to include in a single paragraph,

but in part it read, he told great stories, less about him than about those around him. He had a habit of scratching his head with both hands, of thinking before speaking. After graduating college of William and Mary in Virginia with a degree in biology in 2009, he moved back to Anchorage, Alaska, took a year off, then entered a graduate program at Alaska Pacific University. Living in Anchorage, he commuted by mountain bike year-round for well over a decade, and pioneered whitewater pack grafting. He once raced across the Talkitna Mountains in the Wilderness Classic. He worked for 10 years at the USGS Molecular Ecology Lab.

For his master's degree, he sequenced the DNA of isopods, published peer review articles on the DNA of snowy owls and the biogeography of ice worms. He did fieldwork too, catching shrews and voles in the gates of the Arctic. In lieu of flowers, his family elected to honor him by giving the option for friends and family to contribute an eco-friendly memorial tree, which would be planted in a forest with the greatest need at the best suitable time by a team of certified arborists. Even now, years later, Roman is still plagued with a degree of guilt. He says, quote, would I have raised Roman the same way, knowing that he would die on a path

that I led him along? The answer is obvious, but unfair. We never know the future. There was no single moment in Roman's upbringing that can be traced forward to his death. No chain of events, no cause and effect. Accidents happen. I don't want to say, well, it's great that Cody died doing what he loved. I would never say that. I don't think that it's great to die anyway, but there are risks anywhere. You know there are risks when you cross the street and there's risks that you take when you're in the wrong part of town. And I guess that we all have to die. And you know, if you're going to die a natural death, his was about as natural as it gets. And that is the story of the extraordinary life and tragic death of Cody Roman Dial. Wow.

Oh, thank you for sharing that. I've never, I've never heard anything. about that story before and what an interesting and wonderful life he lived. I mean, even though he did die young, he lived a really fulfilling life, you know? Yeah. And that's all I kept thinking was when I was reading the book, you know, like so many of us would feel so accomplished in our lives if we just did a fraction of what he did with his short life. And to have left such an impression on so many people and left the world a better place than it was before he got here. I think that is all that any of us can hope for. And even though his family went through a really, really difficult time and experience that I'm sure they don't wish upon anyone, it's just, I don't even know where I was

going with that. It's just Cody couldn't have asked for better parents, you know? Absolutely. They one raised him to do all these beautiful amazing things and then at the end of it they really came through and searching for him and doing whatever they can despite what anyone else and everyone else was saying they knew him and they worked really hard to find him and did and the other thing that I was thinking about is how fortunate they were to be able to make as many trips as they did to Costa Rica. Alaska to Costa Rica, I think that Roman, the dad said he made over 20 separate trips back and forth from Alaska to Costa Rica. And I know so many people, probably my family included, that despite the desire to be in Costa Rica full time or wherever your loved one is missing

financially and logistically, you just can't make that happen. So for them, I think that they were in a position that allowed them to do that, which was probably a big relief. And I didn't watch that full show, and I don't think that I will just based off of their experience with it, you know, coming from the dials point of view. But if you are interested in just seeing what it was kind of like, the trailer is online. You can find it anywhere. But if you enjoyed, I think enjoyed is a weird word, but if you, if this story spoke to you and you want to learn more about it, that book, The Adventure's Son, is super good. It's obviously written by Roman's Dad, and it's such an in-depth and intimate look into their relationship, both of their lives, all of their adventures,

and of course, the search and recovery. So definitely check that out. I'll link it to our book recommendation list on our website, which is npaddpodcast.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at National Park After Dark. I'll be posting a lot of pictures from this episode. And let me see. What else? Oh, we have a Twitter. We do. Our Twitter is NPAD podcast. So you can find us on there. We've been tweeting. We update when we post episodes. We respond to people. Oh yeah. And we are trying to get together another. listener story episode, another trail tale episode, and we've been getting a lot of listener stories. You can email us at NPAD podcast at gmail.com if you have one. There's also a listener form

submission link through our website that you can fill out. So if you're interested in sharing an outdoors, spooky, odd, crazy story, please email us and let us know. And maybe it will make it into our next listener story episode. And I think that wraps it up. That was an intense long one. And I know it's late for us here. Cassie, it's like... It's 1.30 in the morning here. It's always so late. We just do this after work and it's just, yeah, sometimes it's late nights for us. But as always, thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate it. We will see you next week. But in the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch your back.

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