Up and Vanished - Aubrey Sacco Case | Chapter 1: Somewhere In the Clouds

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

From Up and Vanished comes Status: Untraced — a 3-episode mini-series. A trek that should have ended in days. Fifteen years later -- still no return. Her story begins here. Catch episode 2 and mor...e by following the Status: Untraced feed. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to a tenderfoot TV podcast. When does fast delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without its grainy mustard. When the barbecues lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer. So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus, enjoy zero-dollar delivery fees.
Starting point is 00:00:30 on your first three orders, service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Hey guys, it's Payne. I'm here with a quick announcement about our series, Status Untraced, presented by Up and Vanished. Our true crime podcast, Status Untraced, is back with a brand new mini-season. And this time, our host Liam looks into the disappearance of Aubrey Sacco, a young traveler who vanished in Nepal under very strange circumstances. circumstances. This case is still unsolved. Check out episode one right now. And when you're done,
Starting point is 00:01:07 go search Status Untraced in your podcast app to hear the rest. You're listening to Status Untraced, a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. This podcast also contains subject matter, which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thousands have gathered in the city of Rio de Janeiro in one of the biggest carnivals in the world. There was the first carnival after COVID.
Starting point is 00:02:18 So I made a lot of friends. They told us, Lana, come to our apartment. We're going to have dinner there, and then afterwards we're going to their party. their party. So I went there, but then I was so very tired because I had to work the next day. So I told them around 11.30 p.m., like, no, I'm just going to Uber myself to my hotel. But I broke my role. There's a rule that I never, ever walked towards my Uber. I always have to have my Uber drive towards me. I was already so late and my Uber said, oh yeah, you pinned it here and I cannot park there.
Starting point is 00:03:01 So I was like walking around the street, finding for my Uber. And then all of the sudden, I see two big headlights coming up towards me. And then there was this huge van pulled up and opened like sideways. And this guy came out. And they started talking to me like, Ola, Buena Noich means good evening in Porteague. And I said, I don't speak Portuguese. And then all of the sudden, I felt an arm behind me, literally rammed me like that,
Starting point is 00:03:38 and tried to pull me in a freaking van. So I screamed, I yelled my lungs out, and I started kicking like a maniac. I remember someone told me, if something happens like that, video, what I should do is to throw myself on the ground and kick with my strongest muscle, which is my leg. my legs, so I was kicking like a maniac in screaming for my life, and before I knew they were gone.
Starting point is 00:04:07 There's danger in life, in any and everything we do. Step outside, chase a dream, get on a bus to nowhere in particular, and you risk something. It's part of what makes life worth living. And travel, especially, is a negotiation with the unknown. But the truth is, not everyone gets to move through the world with the same ease. For women, traveling solo can mean being seen not as bold, but as vulnerable, a target. The next day, my friend called me and explained to me it's common there in Brazil that they kidnap girls in the band and they rape them. most of them get in the human traffic.
Starting point is 00:04:56 I was so scared. I was like, what the fuck? It just happened to me. And mind you, I love Brazil. Brazil is like my favorite country. And I didn't want to spoil that because of that one evening. So that morning, I'm like, okay, what should I do? So I should probably conquer this fear with another fear of mine.
Starting point is 00:05:21 So a few hours later I booked paragliding because I fear heights And literally I was crying mid-air Releasing all the trauma that happened to me My friend Lana still travels Still goes alone 23 countries in counting Her rules are tighter now
Starting point is 00:05:46 Her instincts sharper But for her The danger is never enough to outweigh the way wonder. Not everyone is lucky. Not every traveler has the chance to scream, to fight, to be found. Some disappear without a sound. No headline, no manhunt, no cliff to jump off the next day. Their stories don't end in survival. They end in silence. Fifteen years ago, a young woman vanished in the Himalayas. The search faded, but her family, never stopped pushing for answers.
Starting point is 00:06:24 What I didn't see at first, what I see clearly now, and what you'll soon come to understand is why they never gave up. Because even after all these years, there are still things no one said. Sometimes I get the feeling I'm lost, just hiding it's never enough. Now I find that every mirror of ghosts. Only once I saw the killer, once I saw the killer.
Starting point is 00:07:20 I'm Liam Luxon, and this is status untraced. Our case, Aubrey Sacko. Chapter 1, Somewhere in the Clouds. July, 2025, Los Angeles, California. So I was not sure if you've heard of, Aubrey Sacco. It's a case that was submitted to us a long time ago. I kind of just reminding me of Justin's case
Starting point is 00:07:57 because she's on this spiritual journey and she's super close to her family and then they are expecting a call from her and they don't hear from her. I thought, you know, you might be interested in digging into it a little bit more. It's been a little over a year since we released status untraced
Starting point is 00:08:13 and nearly four years since I was deep in the Himalayas, chasing any threat I could find about the disappearance of Adventurer, Justin. Alexander. Yeah. That's the spot. That ledge right there, that one right out there. You can assume so, yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Since then, I've had time to reflect, to integrate, to ask myself what came next, not just in my work, but in life. Getting to put together Justin's story was one of the most profound and intense chapters I've ever lived, and the response, from listeners, from his friends and family, was more than I ever expected. It was transformative, gratifying. But through that experience, I also came to understand the quiet burden that comes with diving into stories like Justin's, the kind rooted in loss, uncertainty, and ache of unanswered questions. It's a weight most people don't see, but it doesn't let up. It lingers, long after the story's been told. So in a way,
Starting point is 00:09:17 I started to pull back. In conversations with new people, I stopped bringing up my time in India. I avoided talking about the podcast over drinks and dinner parties, and I threw myself into other things, attempted working in sports media, hit the bars and late nights.
Starting point is 00:09:35 Maybe a few too many of both. I felt like I was trying, trying to let it go, let Justin go, to quiet the questions that didn't have answers. Yet somewhere in the back of my mind, there was still an itch for adventure, for purpose, to do it again. I wasn't sure I was ready to take on another case, but I kept my ear to the ground, and I made myself a promise.
Starting point is 00:10:01 If I ever did this again, it couldn't be just a retelling. It had to feel necessary. And that's when one of our producers, Jamie, called. We went missing from Nepal in 2010. And she was actually in the Lingtang National Park. And so it was just really interesting, the circumstances surrounding it, because her parents have done so much to try to find her. 2010, man, it's old and I was like 15 years old, huh?
Starting point is 00:10:31 Yeah, and it's crazy because if you look at the Facebook page and the nonprofit that they've created, her family has spent so much of their own time and money just to ensure that she hasn't been forgotten. I pulled up the Facebook page and started scrolling. Jamie wasn't exaggerating. The effort to find Aubry Sacco was massive. From CBS...
Starting point is 00:10:55 The desperate search for a missing woman from Colorado is underway in Southeast Asia this morning. 23-year-old Aubry Sacco has been hiking alone through the Himalayan Mountains and was last heard from about six weeks ago. Her family is desperate to find her. To ABC News. On Facebook, close friends have dedicated a page
Starting point is 00:11:13 to the missing hiker. Meanwhile, the search party continues to scan more than 600 miles of mountainous terrain looking for signs of life. People doing foot searches, they've deployed the district police. We're trying to get hundreds and hundreds of people out to a new area. And numerous local news stations in Denver. Starting Wednesday, mobile billboards with a 23-year-old picture are also traveling around Washington. The FBI is now involved.
Starting point is 00:11:42 Where do her parents live? They're in Colorado area. Close to home for me. I grew up there for a little bit. You know, we'll be in Colorado in September. Our team will be. I think you're going too, so it might be a fit to chat with them. Something about Aubrey's case struck me,
Starting point is 00:12:01 the way it had lived online for years, flickering in and out of forums, old blog posts, the Facebook page kept on life support. And then there were her parents, still searching, still showing up. still carrying the weight like it was day one. It didn't feel like a cold case, it felt like a story stranded in the middle of a paragraph,
Starting point is 00:12:25 unfinished, and worse, forgotten. I didn't know if this would be a full second season of the podcast. I wasn't chasing headlines or trying to build something big, but if her family was open to it, if they still wanted her story told, I'd do it. What I didn't expect was how much they'd never shared, how much they'd been holding in. Grab a coffee and discover Vegas-level excitement with Ben-MGM Casino.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Now introducing our hottest exclusive, friends, the one with Multi-Drop. Your favorite classic television show is being reimagined into your new favorite casino game. featuring iconic images from the show, spin our new exclusive, because we are not on a break. Play Friends, the one with Multidrop, exclusively at BenMGM Casino. Want even more options?
Starting point is 00:13:27 Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games from Blackjack to poker, or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only.
Starting point is 00:13:42 Please play responsibly If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge, BetMGEM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple, and in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games.
Starting point is 00:14:25 Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866-531-260-19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggettcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly. The new BMO, V.I. Porter MasterCard, is your ticket to more.
Starting point is 00:15:07 More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card and then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterCard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:15:27 Visit bemo.com slash VI Porter to learn more. I mean, she really, really is a special person. that probably every father believes their daughter is special. It's almost like she wasn't ours. She was from another place. I called Paul Sacco, Aubrey's father, now in his 60s, for an interview. And I was honored to have her mother Connie join as well.
Starting point is 00:15:59 They sat on the other side of a computer screen in their home in Windsor, Colorado, not far from the house where Aubrey was raised. She was in college when she was supposed to go with a girlfriend to Japan. and the girlfriend got in trouble with her parents and so they made her cancel her trip and Aubrey didn't tell us that her friend wasn't going so I would say that was her first travel alone
Starting point is 00:16:23 she was their only daughter bright stubborn full of wanderlust and the way they talked about her it was easy to imagine she had that rare gift of turning something as simple as a grocery run into an adventure she was a big thinker We used to say that we could drop her out of an airplane in New York City and come back five years later and she would be the mayor.
Starting point is 00:16:47 They smile as they reminisce. But like Justin's parents, I can sense the quiet, the stillness that settles in when someone never comes home, as if her room is still just down the hall, untouched, just in case. I was amazed that she could be so independent from such a young age, And in many ways, that may have precipitated problems we had with her later and ultimately, you know, her going missing. For the last six months, Aubrey Sacco has been backpacking through Southeast Asia, documenting her incredible journey online. But now no one's heard from her since April 20th when she set off hiking alone.
Starting point is 00:17:31 After setting out alone for a 10-day track through Langtang National Park in Nepal, the 23-year-old went missing. Her parents haven't heard from her for more than two months. They say she would normally write them every four days to update her condition and whereabouts. We just feel the energy, and we just feel like she needs our help to help her get home. Aubrey was just 23 when she set out on her Southeast Asia globetrotting adventure.
Starting point is 00:18:00 But what brought her there wasn't vacation. It was an internship, a position at an Amin Hotel on remote island, off the southern tip of India. December 18th, 2009, Sri Lanka. She brought a job for Sri Lanka, teaching yoga classes at a high-end resort that a lot of Europeans would go to. It was this really hoity-toity hotel,
Starting point is 00:18:32 and so she was there, I want to say, three weeks. So the plan was to take some classes in India that she had heard some of her other friends had done and she was going to continue learning yoga to become a master of teaching. Coming off the internship at the Amin, one of the most pristine high-luxury hotel groups in the world, Aubrey was choosing a different path,
Starting point is 00:18:55 one that leaned toward the rugged, towards authenticity, towards people and kids who actually needed her help. Paul and Connie checked in with her often and through grainy video calls and short messages they caught glimpses of how she was getting by January 13th, 2010 Bangaluru, India
Starting point is 00:19:18 Phone coverage was very spotty in 2010 it was not real good and she managed to connect with us on something similar to FaceTime Oh Skype A sky, okay. And she's on a rickshaw, and we come onto the call. And instead of, hello, mom and dad, I love you, she's yelling at the guy that's the rickshaw thing, arguing over the money. She felt that he might have been taking advantage of her, and she wasn't going to stand it.
Starting point is 00:19:54 And I mean it, that was half the phone call, is us waiting for the argument to end. And then we talk. God, I love that girl. It's intense. Late March 2010, Mysuru, India. She had just come upon this poor village school and said, hey, do you need any help?
Starting point is 00:20:17 And they said, yes. So she came in and would sing songs and do artwork and stuff. So she was just, you know, a loving person. And Aubrey had also said that some people that she had met said, why don't you go to like a nicer school? And she's like, why they don't need me?
Starting point is 00:20:40 The poorer schools need volunteers. April 4th, 2010, Darjeeling, India. The plan, at least on paper, was simple. Head back to Sri Lanka, meet up with friends, Catch the return flight she had already booked. But Aubrey wasn't much for sticking to the script. Something else was calling. And people, you know, saying, go to Nepal, go to Nepal, and do this hike.
Starting point is 00:21:11 And she talked to us about it. We had watched the movie together seven years in Tibet with Brad Pitt. I never even knew where Tibet was. I didn't even know where Nepal was. But I remember saying to her, when you're there, don't you dare go up to Tibet. because it was so dangerous. And she just was talking to us back and forth about how she wanted to do this truck.
Starting point is 00:21:38 And she had a book by the Lonely Planet, Nepal, it was called. And it had directions on how you could hike an easy trail in the Langtang National Park. Many of you probably know what the lonely planet is. Recognizable by its bright blue spine, it's a travel guide that first hit shell, in 1973. Since then, it's grown into a global empire.
Starting point is 00:22:04 In the Best in Travel Awards, that Nepal came out as number one for best value destination. With over 450 titles, it offers curated routes, must-see stops, and insider tips for just about every corner of the world. And it's all sorts of things, from Tibetan carpets to Buddhist statues, wonderful paintings. So you need to go to Nepal with at least some credit left on your credit cards. I picked up the 2012.
Starting point is 00:22:29 edition of their Nepal guide, and found the same Langtang trek itinerary Aubrey took. It briefly warns about weather, advises you to register with the embassy, and notes a military checkpoint along the route. It's a destination with so much history, so much culture. It is a great value destination.
Starting point is 00:22:49 Here's the problem, in my opinion. The lonely planet, for all its reach, all its influence, has a way of glossing over the realities. It oversimplifies. It romanticizes. There's no mention of crime. No discussion of how overexposure from tourism can shift local dynamics. I've reached out to their press team on this, and no word back.
Starting point is 00:23:14 She was not real happy with how hot and how populated India was. So I think she just couldn't wait to get to the mountains. Yes, the mountains would look as promised, painted prayer flags strung from rooftop, and views so vast they almost felt unreal. But what the guidebook didn't mention, what no one warned her was how quickly you become visible in a place like that.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Even as men, it happened to my producer and I when we were in the small Indian mountain towns. Out there, memory works differently. People remember who you are, where you stayed, when you left.
Starting point is 00:23:55 So I can only imagine For a young, white American woman traveling alone, she wouldn't be just noticed. Aubrey Sacco would be logged, watched, marked as a foreigner. That's all it takes. After she arrived in Kathmandu and boarded a bus headed towards a small mountain town, she made a call home, her last. My very last words to her were, I love you.
Starting point is 00:24:27 And I'm sure she said the same thing to me. And not a lot of parents ever get to say that, you know. It'll lose a child in an auto accident or after an argument. And it was nothing like that. I got to say, I love you. In 2013, two brutal murders left the city of Davis, California, paralyzed in fear. The victims were an elderly couple. It was up close and personal.
Starting point is 00:24:57 I'm 48 hours correspondent Aaron Moriarty. He's a, I think the word is psychotic. This is 15 inside the Daniel Marsh murders. Follow and listen to 15 inside the Daniel Marsh murders on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Saprabessi, Nepal. She was up in Sarabesi, which is the beginning of Linktank Park. And Paul is going to have a surgery, and she had said she wanted to do this track.
Starting point is 00:25:42 I was pleading with her, well, can you wait until dad has his surgery, just so we can tell you if he made it out of surgery? And she was, oh, he's going to be fine. She didn't want to wait. And she was saying that she was preparing to do it. do this truck. Paul wanted her to take a guide and she said, oh, they're too expensive or the lonely planet said you can do this by yourself. It's a national park. It's patrolled by the military. You know, it's safe. And we didn't know a thing about Nepal. I mean, nothing. Other than that the Himalayas were there, you know. The lonely planet was just stupid. They were
Starting point is 00:26:21 clearly naive about what really happens in Nepal and what we later learn. Paul and Connie studied the route Aubrey would take, and they didn't fight her. They trusted her judgment. She did send us an email saying, I'm leaving in the morning, and I'll be back in seven to ten days. She was born and raised in Colorado. We know she knows how to hike in the mountains. Her last email was sent to her brother on April 19th, making plans for an upcoming bike trip. The next day, she arrived at the trailhead.
Starting point is 00:27:00 April 20th, 2010, Langtang National Park. She set off alone. Days passed. Then a week. April drifted into May. I just thought, you know, we should have heard from her by now. And maybe I was overstepping, maybe I was too early. And so I had found in the Lonely Planet, they had phone numbers of these tea houses. And so I started calling the different places that were on that trail to see if maybe she was staying there.
Starting point is 00:27:32 And I didn't realize how they operated. I thought they were just like a hotel. You come in, you register. You're given a key to a room. And I learned from somebody that did speak English that said, no, it's not like that at all. they don't have a record of who's staying there. For the most part, I was unable to figure out where she had stayed. But I had learned that there were demonstrations going on by the Maoists.
Starting point is 00:27:57 The Maoists had literally closed down the entire country. The Maoists were more than just a political faction. They were a movement, born in the mountains, isolated, grassroots, and fiercely anti-establishment. Officially known as the Communist Party of Nepal, they launched a violent insurgency in 1996, aimed at overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a people's republic. The revolution was started by the Maoists. They fought many a battle against the security forces in these years.
Starting point is 00:28:29 And in their fierce battle, many innocent civilians were killed. This decade-long conflict, known as the Nepalese civil war, cost over 17,000 lives. People were tortured, extremely. and threatened to join their groups and work for them. Despite lacking formal communication infrastructure, their leadership relied on word of mouth and mountain networks. A message passed from one village to another could summon thousands. Entire communities would descend from the Himalayas
Starting point is 00:29:00 into Kathmandu for organized demonstrations, and sometimes those demonstrations would unfold into chaos. It would be dangerous to argue with them. They would abduct the arguers and even kill them. kill them. So when they mentioned a demonstration happening in Kathmandu, it was a lot more than just a protest. I had gotten through to the embassy, and it sounded like the janitor answered the phone. And he said, well, we're closed because there's a demonstration. I'm like, what? What does that mean? And they said,
Starting point is 00:29:33 you know what, don't worry, she's probably just holding up there because all the buses. People can't get down. They can't get out of the city. They told us it was just moving slower because of the demonstration. So we just held back and just waited a few more days. Some hikers checked in with the local embassy before starting their trek, a precaution that helped track who returned and when. I remember calling the embassy and they said, ah, you know, everybody pretty much has gotten back. And then I filed a missing person's report. And then Paul had said, okay, if we don't hear from Aubrey by Friday, then I'm stepping in. Yeah, and then probably that day, I get a letter in the mail.
Starting point is 00:30:21 It was a wonderful letter, right? And Daddy, I'm having a great time or something like that. Yeah, I miss you. And I miss you. And I think of you every time I look at the clouds. And then she drew these little puffy clouds at the bottom. and then she signed the letter. It had been written days earlier,
Starting point is 00:30:43 a message full of life and wonder, floating in just as she was vanishing. It brought hope, the devastating kind, because there was still no actual word from Aubrey. So Paul took matters into his own hands. We have some friends of ours, some very, very good family friends. they happen to have a relative that had a relationship with a Nepali person named Dinesh, Shakya.
Starting point is 00:31:14 So we're making connections with Dinesh and his brothers. We're also making connections with an NGO there called the Mountain Fund. An NGO is a non-governmental organization, someone not tied to the state, but often connected to resources. aid, and local influence. Scott McClennan, the head of the NGO, reached out to us and said, look, I'll try to help you if I can. And then on the other side of things, we used Dinesh, who called his brothers out of Kathmandu,
Starting point is 00:31:49 who went up the trail, the exact trail where Aubrey went. The search began roughly 10 days after Aubrey was due back. Their first stop was Sepra Bessie, where they questioned an officer at the entrance of the park. A woman remembered her that distinctly remembered her. She was a police officer woman and remembered Audrey waving at her after she had passed the checkpoint.
Starting point is 00:32:13 But what they found, much like I've experienced myself, is that not every discovery means progress. There was lead after lead after lead of really confusing information. There's language disparities. The people that went up there for us, Dinesh's brothers, they were showing pictures to everybody. And some people would say, oh, we just saw her here.
Starting point is 00:32:39 And others would say, oh, I haven't seen anyone like that, even though we later found out that she had gone through these villages. So I would say much of the information was not reliable. It was at this stage that Connie started digging through Aubrey's accounts, searching for anything overlooked. I had gotten on her email account to just see like, hey, is she come here? communicating with people, and I found an email from a guy named Renjin Dorje. And he was a guide, and he had met her there, and they spent a lot of time together.
Starting point is 00:33:14 And Renjin had said in an email, are you back yet? You know, because they were supposedly going to meet up in Kathmandu. Well, just so coincidentally, that Scott McLennan with the NGO knew him. They reached out to Rengen, who cooperated and confirmed on April 21st a day into her trek. Aubrey spent the night at the Namaste Treehouse in the village of Pahiro. She met up with him, and they separated ways the next day. The next reported sighting was at a place called Lama Hotel, an area with lodges and cafes about three miles deeper into the trail.
Starting point is 00:33:49 Lama Hotel is to this day where the most reliable and consistent information has come from. When the search team arrived, they spoke with villagers who remembered seeing her around April 22nd. A local chef filled in more details. Piece by piece, a story began to take shape. But when other people talked to them, they said, oh, yeah, we saw her, you know, she was reading this book, this and that. She was eating pizza and drinking a Coke. Well, this Rengen guy from Namaste gave her the book. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:24 Other people said they saw her. reading. Well, and then people at Lama Hotel said they saw Aubrey and talked to her. Later versions of the story identify the group as three young local men. Likely teenagers are in their early 20s. According to the villagers and the retelling, the encounter turned tense. What began as a conversation soon escalated into a disagreement. She had said she's going to Riverside. She's going to stay there that night. And these three guys that she was speaking with were saying, oh, no, no, stay here, stay here. Riverside is too far. And she said, supposedly, no, it isn't. It's only 10 minutes or whatever. Yeah, it's not that far. She's arguing with the
Starting point is 00:35:15 local. Don't lie to me. We're like, oh my God, that sounds like Aubrey. No, that really did sound exactly like Aubrey. And that's another reason why we absolutely believe She was at Lama Hotel. She used those words. She was like, don't lie to me, I know. And not many people say that. So through Dinesh, the Nepali friend and this other family, they were getting the word out. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:42 And the Tilly Lama, he had hiked up to Gora Tabla, which was the army base. There was another check in there to see if Aubrey had gotten that far. She signed in, and he did not find her signature. Technically, it wasn't required to sign in at the military checkpoint before entering Langtang. Like many things in Nepal, enforcement could be inconsistent. But Paul and Connie are confident. Aubrey would have. She'd done it before at the start of her trek, and this checkpoint was official.
Starting point is 00:36:20 There was a forest area after Lama Hotel and before. And it was believed by the locals that were known through the NGO, that something happened to Aubrey in the woods. May 16, 2010, Catmandu, Nepal. Paul, a father, recovering from hip surgery, flew in to take over the search himself. No more back-and-forth emails, no more waiting for answers from half a world away. world away. He was on the ground now, calling shots, asking questions, pushing hard. And just days in, he found something. They brought Renjin in because he was in Kathmandu. Yeah, Renjin was at the NGO compound when I first talked to him. So then Paul interviewed him, right? And then
Starting point is 00:37:17 he told you, yes, they had seen each other, right? Yeah. You know, I'm not a police interrogate. but I do know how not to ask leading questions. Yeah. So I did a pretty good job of talking to him for a long time, maybe 45 minutes, and nothing, no good information from him, you know. You guys didn't happen to record those, did you? Oh, yeah. Yep, we haven't.
Starting point is 00:37:46 Oh, maybe, I don't know, some case maybe happening. Because of a checkpoint, something like that, maybe, I don't know. Because of what? During this checkpoint, maybe it could happen. It could be happened with the armies or maybe moist. I don't know. Because we are, we can see also entry records on, I don't know, I can see anything. Would the mouse do something like that?
Starting point is 00:38:20 Would they kill a girl? and I have interviewed him maybe two or three times. And I know that looking back now, the embassy has interviewed him, the investigators, the police, everybody in the world. He's been polygraphed too. Brenjin was cooperative,
Starting point is 00:38:38 which left the focus on the only other lead, the three men from Lama Hotel. The next step were either the embassy or the police coming through there as well somehow between the time that our guys questioned him and the police they change their stories
Starting point is 00:39:01 these three men have no real ties to Aubrey and when the original search team came through they were totally open giving no signs of suspicion they said she left on her own but now with Paul here a father not just a stranger asking questions
Starting point is 00:39:20 something was different. The mood had shifted. It became very frustrated because now we're starting to believe, holy shit, they did something wrong and they're covering. If you have tips or information on the individuals in this podcast
Starting point is 00:39:47 that you'd like to share, please email us at status untraced at gmail.com or leave us a message at 507-407-2833. Status Untraced is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. I'm your host, Liam Luxon. Executive producers are Alex Vespestead, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsay.
Starting point is 00:40:13 These episodes written by Alex Vespestead and myself. Our editor is Tristan Bankston. Research provided by Jamie Albright. Publishing by Jordan Foxworthy. Original music by makeup and vanity set. Our theme song is Colder Heavens by Blanco White. Artwork by Trevor Eiler. Mix by Cooper Skinner.
Starting point is 00:40:37 Special thanks to the Sacco family and CrimeCon. For more podcasts like Status Untraced, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app. or visit us at tenderfoot.tv.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.