Park Predators - The Lens Cap

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

A teenage girl disappears while on a horseback riding trip in Yosemite National Park during the summer of 1981. Park rangers are left mystified and baffled when only the lens to her camera surfaces as a clue to what happened to her. The fate of Stacy Arras remains a haunting mystery after more than four decades.Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit parkpredators.com Park Predators is an audiochuck production. Connect with us on social media:Instagram: @audiochuckTwitter: @audiochuckFacebook: /audiochuckllcTikTok: @audiochuck

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra, and the case I'm going to tell you about today is one that's gone unsolved for more than four decades. It's the story of a teenage girl who did something every single person does while visiting a national park, took photos. But at some point, after just walking a short distance away from one of her parents to snap pictures, this young woman vanished, never to be seen again. The only clue left in her wake was the lens cap to her camera. Even 42 years later, the mystery of what really happened to Stacey Aris continues to haunt the history of Yosemite National Park. I've told you about other cases of missing people and murders in Yosemite before on this show, but there's just something about Stacey's case I can't

let go of, and I think it's because I'm partly just always overwhelmed and in awe of the vastness of Yosemite. The section of the park Stacey was in during the summer of 1981 is called Sunrise High Sierra Camp. According to Yosemite.com and Travel Yosemite, it's known as a place to catch amazing sunrises and provides exquisite views of distant mountain ranges. It's also designed for visitors. There are designated trails and nine cabins at the camp, which allow hikers to leave their belongings behind while exploring the area. A lot of people venture into the high country of the park from this spot, either on foot or by mule. And that's exactly what Stacey and her father were doing one afternoon when she briefly slipped out of his sight and disappeared.

Rumors about what happened to her have ranged from accident to abduction to runaway, and getting to the truth has proven harder than anyone back in 1981 could have ever imagined. This is Park Predators. Around 3 p.m. on Friday, July 17, 1981, George Aris and his 14-year-old daughter Stacy had just arrived at Sunrise High Sierra Camp in Yosemite National Park. They'd spent the last few hours horseback riding, and so far their journey had taken them roughly three miles, and they still had another mile and a half or so to go before they reached their destination, a place called Sunrise Lakes. The adjacent lakes were back in the direction of the trailhead George and Stacey had entered

on, but were technically through a different part of the terrain. So to help break up the hike, Stacey and her dad had decided to stop for the day at the cabins at Sunrise High Sierra Camp to offload some of their gear and enjoy a well-deserved rest. The plan was to stay the night in a cabin there and then start toward the lakes the next morning, Saturday, July 18th. Deciding to stop on Friday afternoon was good for the rest of the people they were with, too. You see, based on which source material you read, Stacey and her dad were part of a group of

anywhere between six and twenty travelers who were on a week-long pack ride with horses or accompanied by mules. And I don't know about you, but I've been horseback riding in mountainous terrain like this before, and let me tell you, a break from being in a saddle on the back of a horse is life-giving, especially after you've gone for a few miles. So I completely get why the group wanted to take a pause and recharge. Something to note about Sunrise High Sierra Camp is that it's located several miles from the closest paved road on the southeast side of Tenaya Lake. The terrain all around the camp is rugged, with some patches of alpine meadows, but

then out of nowhere, large swaths of rock just pop up and go for miles. There are some areas with steep ravines, too. The uneven landscape makes it difficult to traverse, even for the most experienced hiker. The website Yosemite.com states that the camp sits 9,400 feet above sea level, or about a mile and a half up in altitude. By the late afternoon, Stacy and her dad had cleaned up and changed out of their sweaty clothes, and she was eager to check out the views around the area.

According to an article by Strange Outdoors, Stacy asked her dad if he wanted to go with her for a short walk to a nearby ridge so she could take some pictures, but George told her that he wasn't interested in doing any more walking and said it was okay if she went by herself. According to McClatchy News Service and that same article I mentioned from Strange Outdoors, before Stacey took off, George cautioned her to change her shoes. After showering, she'd put on open-toed sandals, and he thought it would be safer if she wore hiking boots up to the ridge. So Stacey took her dad's advice and switched into her gray hiking

boots. Before walking away, she pointed about a hundred yards away to an older man who'd been traveling with their group. And she told her dad she wouldn't venture far from where that guy was sitting on a boulder. The source material isn't specific about how much time elapsed after Stacey walked away from her father, but the later it got, nobody at the camp, including George, really noticed that Stacey hadn't returned. None of the articles I read go into detail about if her dad started asking around for her or not, but what is clear is that shortly after Stacey left to go take pictures, the elderly man who she'd pointed to sitting on the boulder walked back into camp and alerted everyone that he thought something might have happened to her. According to several news reports, this man was 77 years old, and most of

the research material doesn't state his name, but that one article by Strange Outdoors that I mentioned earlier did give his name, Gerald Stewart. So I'm going to refer to him as Gerald. And Gerald's story was that when Stacey passed him while he'd been sitting on the boulder, she mentioned she was headed to a nearby lake. Now, just to give you some context, the closest marked bodies of water on a map of this area are Sunrise Lakes, a trio of smaller lakes clustered beyond the main lake. But from what I gathered after reading the source material, it was also possible that summer flooding in meadows right next to the camp could have created temporary bodies of water between the cabins and Sunrise Lakes.

So it's unclear if Stacey was going to take pictures of those spots or if she was planning to walk all the way to Sunrise Lakes. But based on what she told her dad, the longer walk doesn't seem like that was her intention. Either way, whatever the distance was, Gerald told the people at the camp that he felt obligated to accompany Stacey to wherever she was going. However, about 20 minutes after they started walking together, he'd begun to feel fatigued, so he sat down to rest.

He said Stacey went on ahead of him and became shielded by trees as she hiked further down the trail toward the water. Shortly after that, he noticed she hadn't returned. Instead, a group of three people passed him coming from where he'd last seen Stacy dip out of sight, and he asked these people if they'd spotted her on the trail. When the hikers told him, no, they hadn't seen a teenage girl, that's when Gerald said he realized something might be wrong, and he made his way back to the camp to notify everyone, especially George, Stacy's dad.

After a few minutes of people at the camp searching the trail for Stacy and finding no sign of her, they decided to flag down a park ranger at the camp and officially report the 14-year-old missing. As soon as that happened, things kicked into high gear. The Statesman Journal reported that the National Park Service quickly assembled a search and rescue team, and they started looking all around the woods and rock hills near the camp. The two designated trails near the camp were the John Muir Trail and the Sunrise Lakes Trail. But as you can imagine, there were also many other paths intertwined around those, so searchers had a lot of ground to cover. By the next morning, Saturday, July 18th, a helicopter had joined the efforts and a command post was set up at

a park ranger station in Tuolumne Meadows, roughly five miles from Sunrise High Sierra Camp. Meadows, roughly five miles from Sunrise High Sierra Camp. Stacey's description went out to everyone involved in the search and noted that she had shoulder-length blonde hair, stood roughly 5'5", and weighed 120 pounds. It's unclear from some of the source material if she had a set of metal braces or just retainers, but what was more important is that she was last seen wearing an off-white pullover windbreaker jacket, a white blouse, and light blue and maroon striped shorts, clothing that more than likely should have stood out in the mountainous landscape. Her missing persons flyer also listed a variety of jewelry she would have been wearing,

like blue stud earrings, a gold ankle bracelet, and a necklace. wearing, like blue stud earrings, a gold ankle bracelet, and a necklace. But the items authorities knew would really be crucial to tracking her if they could find them were her Olympus camera that had a woven multicolored neck strap and a pair of binoculars. But even more important than her clothing and accessories was the fact that no one saw Stacey carrying a pack when she left, which meant that if she was lost in the woods somewhere or injured, she had nothing to help keep her warm or allow her to signal for help. According to reporting by the San Francisco Examiner, the NPS noted that temperatures in the park had dipped close to freezing during the nights,

so the fact that Stacey was without a coat wasn't an encouraging thought to search and rescue teams. On Sunday, two days after she disappeared, dozens more people and eight dog teams joined the search. Together, the groups combed miles and miles of mountainous terrain northwest of the camp. Two more helicopters even took to the skies to get a better vantage point, but the renewed efforts hit some challenges. According to an article by McClatchy News Service, the scent dogs had a hard time picking up Stacy's smell because they said the conditions in some parts of the park had been unusually dry and dusty that summer,

which, according to the dogs' handlers, that dryness made it nearly impossible for the dogs to track Stacey. Then there was also the matter of knowing where to look. The landscape near the camp had a lot of downed trees and rock crevices that authorities believed Stacey might have wedged herself into to stay warm overnight, but then been unable to get out of. Authorities had a hard time proving that theory, though. They needed something to surface to indicate that's what Stacey had done.

In the end, despite scouring the landscape as thoroughly as possible, no trace of Stacey turned up. Regarding how bizarre the circumstances were and how narrow the window of time Stacey had disappeared in was, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service told the press, quote, in that short period of time, she either got off the trail or something happened to her. And then later she said, there's just not a clue at this time, end quote. The only solid information the NPS had to go on had come from Gerald,

and his story warranted a second look. The only solid information the NPS had to go on had come from Gerald, and his story warranted a second look. National Park Service investigators determined after interviewing Gerald that based on what he'd said, he was likely the last person to see Stacy. So naturally, that made him a person of interest. But I couldn't find any source material that states the NPS or anyone publicly pointed the finger at Gerald. But it didn't take long before rumors began swirling that Stacy had probably been a victim of foul play.

The Fresno Bee reported that NPS officials were quick to shut that kind of thinking down, though, and dismissed the rumors as being too speculative. Again, I want to be clear, there's no source material that explains why Gerald wasn't pressed further about if he had any involvement in what happened to Stacey. But based on what I know from confirmed sources is that because Gerald had that interaction with the group of hikers on the trail who were returning from where Stacey had been headed, and those folks might have been able to corroborate that they saw Gerald taking a rest by himself shortly after Stacey vanished. That may be one reason why NPS

investigators figured it might not be possible for him to be doing something to Stacey and also spotted by those witnesses on the trail around the same time. I don't know. Again, the research isn't specific on this. But regardless, I think one of the big reasons authorities didn't want to jump to an abduction or murder scenario right away was because everyone genuinely believed Stacey was just lost or had fallen. I don't think anyone at that point had really begun to process a situation in which she'd been taken or killed. According to case information posted on the NPS's website, while questioning Gerald and other people at the camp, authorities learned that a guide who'd been leading Stacey and her dad on the group trip

reported seeing Stacey in the distance, standing on a rock roughly 50 yards down the trail from the camp, before she disappeared. Unfortunately, this witness didn't know exactly when they'd seen Stacey, but based on their sighting and what Gerald provided, investigators determined that this guide had actually been the last person to spot Stacey. Which wasn't surprising because the area where she'd vanished was well-traveled. There had been people all over there on that Friday afternoon. So if Stacey had been taken against her will by someone,

investigators believed it was weird that no one had heard her or witnessed something suspicious and come forward to report it. Feeling like they just kept hitting dead end after dead end, the NPS decided to drum up more leads and began pulling all the wilderness permit applications visitors had submitted for July 17th and 18th. Investigators started calling those people to see if they remembered bumping into Stacey, but unfortunately, that was a dead end too. No one who'd been hiking

or camping in the area remembered speaking with or coming in contact with Stacy in those crucial minutes after three o'clock on Friday, July 17th. Search efforts continued Monday and Tuesday the following week, but despite more than 100 people out looking for Stacy, the NPS continued to get nowhere. According to the Charlie Project's profile and an article by Strange Outdoors, the only thing that turned up in all the days of searching was the lens cap to Stacey's camera. It had been found in the woods just off the trail that Gerald had last seen Stacey hiking away from him on. But the lens cap didn't provide much insight to investigators as to what could have happened to her. So by Wednesday, July 22nd, authorities decided to scale back the search and regroup.

Stacey's mother, Carol, told the San Francisco Examiner that her daughter's absence was out of character, and it was not like Stacey to be irresponsible while hiking. She told the paper that Stacey had been a summer trekker her whole life, and going on these kinds of trips every summer was a regular thing. But because the NPS had found no sign of her in the mountains, officials had to consider whether Stacey voluntarily ran away. They told reporter Karen Klinger and Fresno Bee writer Jean Rose that it was possible Stacey could have hiked on her own for a few miles and made it back to the main road, where a motorist might have picked her up.

Now, I know some of you are probably screaming, no, this can't be a case of runaway. And if you're a Gold Star Park Predators fan, you're feeling all the same feelings you probably did when you listened to the Trenny Lynn Gibson episode in a previous season. But before you make up your mind in Stacey's case, let me give you some background. The Aris family was from Saratoga, California, a suburb of San Jose, which is roughly four and a half hours west of Yosemite Valley. above San Jose, which is roughly four and a half hours west of Yosemite Valley. Stacey was a typical teenager. She had lots of friends and enjoyed exploring the great outdoors with her family. She had three other siblings and was this close to becoming an aunt. In the summer of 1981,

she was looking forward to starting her sophomore year at Westmont High School, but things at the heiress' home weren't completely rosy. According to an article by McClatchy News Service, in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Stacey had been having issues at school and with her parents. None of the source material is clear on what specifically those problems were, but McClatchy News and the Fresno Bee both reported that the problems might

have had something to do with Stacey missing her boyfriend, who McClatchy said was also a teenager. But in the Fresno Bee article, Carol specifically said that Stacey didn't have a boyfriend that she missed that much, which feels kind of contradictory. So I don't know exactly why there was so much back and forth about a boyfriend or a no boyfriend, but whatever the reason, I think Stacey's family didn't go into detail too much about whether she would have been upset or not because they didn't even want to give the energy

to the theory that Stacey had run away. They simply did not believe that was the case. There's also something else, though, about Stacey's family that I found interesting, but not necessarily incriminating. Jean Rose reported for the Fresno Bee that George, Stacey's father, waited two whole days before letting his wife Carol know that Stacey was even missing. Yeah, seems odd, right? According to the article, Carol said that George delayed notifying her about Stacey's disappearance on July 17th and 18th because, quote, they didn't want me to worry.

He, the Rangers, and everyone else thought they would find her in a couple of days, end quote. Now look, I don't want to speculate too much on this because I truly don't know the dynamics of the Aris family back in 1981. But for some reason, George's delay in telling his own wife their daughter was missing just feels off to me. But the 1980s were a different time. So I don't know. I don't like chalking it up to that, but I just have nothing else to go on. And even though this may have felt odd, it didn't make

NPS investigators look sideways at George or Carol. In fact, I couldn't find any research material that goes into detail about how many times they were interviewed or what information came from interactions with the family. All I know is that no member of the family was ever publicly named a person of interest or suspect or anything. And to be honest, the more I read about this case, the more I ended up having questions for the National Park Service. The Tribune and the Fresno Bee reported that a little over a week after Stacey disappeared, search efforts for her were completely called off. Just done. No more trips up the mountain. Nothing. The NPS told reporters that any information or clues that surfaced in the case would be looked into.

But at that point, the number of resources that had been dedicated to trying to find Stacey were dwindling, and the agency had no choice but to suspend the search. McClatchy News Service reported that in total, searching for Stacey had cost the NPS at least $50,000, but some reports even said it was much as $55,000. Which, if you compare that to today's dollar, it's close as $55,000, which if you compare that to today's dollar, it's close to $180,000. Now, I would argue you cannot put a price on trying to find a missing child, but I guess back in 1981, the NPS saw it differently. Because despite all of their hard work and financial efforts,

the NPS still had no way of ruling out if Stacey had been injured, killed, or just ran away. And they thought ceasing all search and rescue operations was the best move. A month later, the San Francisco Examiner published a follow-up story that reported more than 500 people had been interviewed in Stacey's case since she first disappeared. Many of those people were either on the trail near Sunrise High Sierra Camp on the day she vanished or were staying at the camp in the days before and after the search for her started. That article also mentioned that as an agency, the NPS had been conducting an internal critique of its handling of the case, which is something I found interesting. Especially considering that what the NPS did in this investigation

and who they would eventually tell about it has become a highly contentious issue, at least with one researcher. A man named David Palladis, who authored a book called Missing 411, claimed for years that the National Park Service refused to grant his Freedom of Information Act request to get more details about the Stacey Aris case. Full disclosure, if you watch David's 41-minute-long YouTube video about this case, you'll probably get lost and question a lot of things he presents. But I wanted to bring his claims up because if you Google this case,

it's for sure going to be one of the first things that pops up. So take it with a grain of salt. That's all I'll say. As far as what the NPS's reasoning was about why it shut down both of David's FOIA requests is anyone's guess. He claims the agency's secrecy points to mishandling or possibly corruption within NPS regarding what happened to Stacey. But again, that's not a widely held belief. It's just what David thinks. What I do know is that the investigation is still considered open with the National Park Service, which means the government can claim exemptions on all the records

and keep them sealed from public view. Now, in my personal opinion, the fact that it's been over 40 years and we still don't have much information or answers about what happened to Stacey or how her disappearance was investigated, it does feel odd that the NPS is still so unwilling to share much. But to be fair, the agency hasn't completely stonewalled. It released some documents about the case via FOIA to the Yosemite National Park archives. The document dump included several photos taken in the 1981 search and rescue efforts, as well as several large photos of her that were printed on her missing person flyers. There's also a bunch of miscellaneous news reports, grid maps of the topography,

and a few memos from the park superintendent at the time. But other than that stuff, no one has ever laid eyes on the full Stacey Aris case file with the NPS, except the NPS. Today, the National Park Service and the California Attorney General's Office still have Stacey's information and missing person profile listed on their websites. Both entities say they hope that one day the right person will come forward with a tip that leads to some answers. Either that, or perhaps Stacey's remains will be found. In September of 1981, she would have been 15 years old.

If she's still alive now, she'd be 57 this year. Because so little is known about what NPS investigators did or who they interviewed in this case, theories have run rampant for literally decades. Countless bloggers and internet sleuths have speculated about everything from foul play to animal attack to accident to alien abduction. And I imagine that kind of thing has been tough for Stacey's surviving family members to endure over the years. So the stuff I'm going to talk about next hopefully is not something that will amplify any pain they've gone through. But the one clue my mind spins in circles about is the lens cap to Stacey's camera. The fact that it was the only physical clue found in the wake of her disappearance makes my inner detective want to analyze every theory and ask all the questions.

Like, why was it in the tree line near where she was last seen? How did it end up there? If she fell, she and the rest of her camera should be somewhere nearby. But that clearly wasn't the case. So was the lens cap something she left behind to mark the spot where someone took her? Is the lens cap even relevant? I don't know the answers to these questions. It's just impossible to know with the limited information out there. While writing this episode, I thought about all these rabbit holes I could go down, and my heart just broke.

Because no matter which theory you think holds the most weight, Stacey is still gone. She's been missing for a very long time. She never got to graduate high school. She never got to celebrate birthdays or holidays with her family. And as far as anyone knows, she never got to hike in Yosemite ever again. Her mother, Carol, told reporter Jean Rose for the Fresno Bee that every day after Stacey vanished, she found herself staring at young women with blonde hair like her daughters. Carol said, quote,

As I drive down the street, I keep looking at other blonde girls who are about 15 and 5 feet 4 1⁄2 or 5 feet 5 inches. All blonde girls that age seem to look alike. I don't think habits like that ever go away for parents of missing children, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad habit either. I think it's human nature to see your lost children in the lives of other kids, to believe that somewhere, Stacey is still waiting to be found. Maybe somewhere,

someone is still alive who knows the truth. Or maybe the key to Stacey's disappearance will forever remain a secret of Yosemite National Park. Park Predators is an AudioChuck original show. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?