WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: Disappearance of Stephanie Stewart 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.800 This episode of Thinking Sideways is not brought to you 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.880 by Louis Mr Teeny twot. Instead, it's brought to you 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:11.799 by all the other furry creaters in the world that really, 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.280 really really want to give you some loving. So listen, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.000 you you need, you need some friendship. You really would 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.480 love to have a friend. They're waiting for you when 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.720 you get home. And guess what, there's somebody who would 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.720 love to be that friend waiting for you when you 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.800 get home. And that is a critter from your local 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.200 animal shelter. So go visit your shelter and adopt a friend. 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.599 And if hey, you've already got enough friends that live 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.040 in your house a k a. Your rulers, the little 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.040 furry ones, well you can still help out by volunteering, 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.720 by donating. There's a bazillion ways to do it, So 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.800 go out, give your time, give yourself. It's all for 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.560 a great cause and we we know you're gonna do 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.480 a good job and the little ones are gonna be 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:20.199 happy sickly. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Thinking 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:25.360 Sideways the podcast. I Am Devin, joined as always by 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:31.880 Steve uh and Joe. I love that you. I think 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:36.360 maybe I don't know. I don't remember. I don't remember 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.080 my alias showed up. Today we're going to talk about 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.039 a mystery and it's a disappearance and I'm willing about 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.360 it's one you've never heard of. Yeah, I would say 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.720 most people have not heard because it's from Canada. Yeah, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:57.240 that's a few people have heard of Canada. America's hat Yeah, um, sorry, 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.280 there are going to be some Canadian shows. What does 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:05.760 that make Mexic I don't want Okay, America's pants Okay, Yeah, anyway, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.960 today we're going to talk about the disappearance of Stephanie Stewart. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:13.240 It's nice alliteration. What Canadian name is? Yeah? And um, 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.399 actually Megan suggested this mystery in two thousands sixteen, so 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.399 thank ye thanks Meg. Yeah. Um, well, I guess let's 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:26.079 get to it. In two thousands six seventy year old 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.120 Stephanie Stewart disappeared. She was an avid outdoors woman and 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:34.040 had spent eighteen consecutive summers fire spotting. You guys know 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.639 what fire spotting is, right, you should probably tell their listeners. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.760 She's not everybody's gonna know. It's literally sitting in a 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.640 tower with like binoculars looking to see if you can 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.239 see any fires, happy smoke smoke. Well, typically you're looking 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.480 for smoke, looking for smoke. Yes, anyway, so um, the 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:53.919 last thirteen years of her fire spotting career were spent 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:58.560 at the same cabin slashed tower combo, about fifteen miles 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:04.520 orkilometers outside of Hinton, Alberta, Canada, which is about three 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.640 hours west of Edmonton, Alberta, which I think is the 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:13.600 largest closest largest city. Everybody knows where Edmonton is, so yeah, 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:18.160 it's it's up there, yeah, yeah, north parallel. Yeah. The 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.040 tower is called the Athabaska Tower, And I have heard 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.600 that it's not like terribly remote. It's only like three 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.960 miles or five kilometers off of a fairly major highway. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.240 And this one is a nice it's like just a 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.560 drive up and we'll talk about that and all that stuff. 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.680 But it's also really close to Edson, Alberta, just if 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.320 anybody is like familiar with that area. So it wasn't 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.920 such a lonely outpost to be at, I guess to 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.720 be clear, I said cabin tower combo. So the way 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.560 these things work is you have this big tower, at 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.560 least this particular one. Most of them worked this way 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.600 do they. I think most of them do. Like around here, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.800 most of the towers around here, it's like the cabin 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.480 in the tower combined. Yeah, the cabin is at the 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.800 top of the tower. That's where you live, which probably 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:12.760 would have been a better situation. Yeah, But the way 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.920 that the towers work in Canada, or at least in 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.719 this area of Canada, is their tower cabin combos. So 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.159 the tower is relatively small at the top. You know, 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.720 I think it has room for you know, chairs and 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.080 desks or whatever, but it's pretty small. Otherwise you're just 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:30.159 kind of up there with a book or your thoughts 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.320 or whatever. And then you climb down the ladder every 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.640 night and there's a big cabin where you stay with 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:38.760 your bed in your kitchen and your bathroom and all 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.080 of that stuff. And you know, it's funny is that 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.200 I had seen old school fire towers before, so I 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.720 was actually a little taken off guard when I saw this. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:49.480 And I know that some people may think that this 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.120 is what they are, but they're steel constructs. The towers. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.000 The towers are. It's you know, it's a big giant 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.360 pole in the sky with a god would be say, Joe. 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.880 It's like ten by ten, fifteen by fifteen, But it's 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.720 all glassed in, like it's not open to the elements. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.800 It's it's rather sheltered in that way. And it must 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:12.760 be a joy to be inside on a hot day. Oh, 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:14.760 I can only imagine. But the ones I was used 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:16.360 to seeing for when I was a kid in the 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.440 open wood and wood one, Yeah, wore a wooden platform 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.600 and we're lucky if they had a handrail around. So 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.039 those are pretty nice. Actually, there's still around. You can 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:27.479 you know, you can still you can stay in there. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.760 You can rent it for a weekend. Yeah, as mentioned, 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.600 Stephanie did her you know, stint for thirteen years at 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.720 the same on this one, same cabin, and so she 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:43.120 lived every year April two September in that cabin tower combo. 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.760 It sounds like kind of a fun summer job. For 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.039 some people I would die because they hate being alone, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.320 very extroverted. But I know a lot of people who really, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.159 I think would super enjoy this. And that wasn't so 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.960 far It really wasn't so far out of the stick, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.080 except people couldn't come and visit either. I think she 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.200 did have visitors well, and I know that like you 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.520 could have somebody live with you and all that stuff, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.800 but I need stuff. Yeah. Well, she was obviously was 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.200 one of those people that being by herself, and I 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.360 mean you always he listed that she was gardening, and 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.880 was it knitting? Is that the thinker? She was knitting, 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.159 and there was some other hobby that she had. So 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:27.600 she had all these very solitary, singular person hobbies. One 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:28.960 thing she was fun of doing it was going out 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:33.320 in the woods and teasing the bears. Keep trying to 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:38.400 frame a theory a little foresaw is that she she 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:42.919 obviously she had interests that lent themselves to this, whether 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.440 she had them before she started it or learned them 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.640 during her time. Yeah, she probably already knew how to 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:53.720 read in the gardens. Probably. I think on her time 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:58.520 off she spent most of it outdoors. Actually, she had reportedly, 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:03.360 very recently, at seventy years old, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.640 I mean, that's pretty that. That would be hard for 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.400 me to do. And I'm thirty, so she's in much 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:13.000 better health than I am, which you know, it was fine. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.520 And she wintered at a resort community called Rocky Mountain 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.280 in somewhere in Alberta, Canada. I didn't bother to really 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.240 look up because I didn't think it mattered that much. 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.120 There was a senior community send us an email. You know, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:31.840 somebody's going to be community probably think so. Yeah, she 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.640 had at least one daughter, but other than that, details 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.040 on her life are very sparse, and I think that's 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.400 kind of intentional. You know, Like we said, spotters live 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.240 pretty much alone during their time at the cabins, though 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.320 it will it is noted that they're allowed to have 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.520 you know, like a spouse or a dog or something 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.640 like that with them, but most of them do it alone. 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.680 And it does seem like that was a draw for Stephanie. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.080 She did seem to be into that lonely lifestyle. And 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.840 then yeah, I've mentioned she was seventy year old. Seventy 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.800 years old at her time of disappearance, five to and 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:10.160 about a hundred and five pounds. Yeah, that's that's a 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:16.520 small person. Fire spotters do make routine calls via radio 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.360 or phone, um depending on the time of the day, 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.640 to check in yeah, to a kind of like central 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:27.280 tracking hub which is run by a supervisor, to report 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.840 all clear or anything needing further investigation and Stephanie was 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.320 by all reports, very good about making these calls. She 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.680 checked in every time by the time that was required. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.280 Not crazy early, but I mean more so now than then. 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.920 But they were obviously big on safety. You know, you 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.200 wanted to check in on your people multiple times, just 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.240 to make sure because they are out in the middle 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.200 of nowhere by themselves, especially if they take a tumbill 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.679 coming down those stairs in the tower. That's exactly what 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.080 I was gonna go to is if you look at 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.880 photos of her online, you can actually see her wearing 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.560 her harness to tether up to the stairs or the 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.800 ladder I should say, yeah, because it's one of those 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.000 ladders with the circular bands of metal around it so 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.960 that if you fall over you stay contained. But she 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.800 also was harnessed in all the time, not necessarily stay containing, 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.760 you just sort of like you don't you just sort 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.840 of rattle down that little too. Yeah, but if you're 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.000 supposed to be that and you see pictures ever in 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.439 that so I mean a the safety equipment was present 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.199 and be it sounds like from the way she took 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.120 things she took very seriously and it was by the 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.040 book all the time. Yeah, Well, I mean The other 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:36.920 reason you want your fire spotters to check in all 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:41.480 the time is fires can get very quickly out of hand. Um, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.800 And so you know, the more notice you have to 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.280 send somebody to go check on that spot where it's 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.000 coming with smoke coming out of it, the better chance 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.160 you have to really contain it and have it not 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.680 spread into like what we're seeing in California right now 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.080 or what we saw in Oregon over the summer. And 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.160 you want to make sure your spotter is therefore on 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:03.359 the job and not like you know, just stopped taking around. Yeah. Absolutely, 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.960 So let's get into the night of the night before 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.560 Stephanie's disappearance and the circumstances surrounding. Shall we be the 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.400 night before the night of the night before? It's hard 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:20.120 to tell. On the evening of August six, Stephanie called 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.520 a relative and I've literally never maybe you guys with 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.240 like eagle eyes. I know I posted a couple like 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.000 threads and I honestly did not look at every single 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.400 post on every single thread. So sorry guys, but um, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:39.040 but if you egalize saw this, my egis some reason 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.560 I'm thinking it was your daughter. I had the same 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.120 I never saw, but I had the same thought. Well, 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.360 and we'll talk about that in theories because I also 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.360 think that. But um, but Stephanie called a relative and 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.240 that's literally the only way you will ever see it 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.920 reported is that she called a relative. I think it 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.080 was about nine pm, and that was the last time 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.520 that anybody officially spoke to her. I'm I mean probably 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:07.920 other people spoke to her, depending on the theory, but 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.000 that's the last time that somebody actually spoke to her, 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:13.800 like mentioned, Like we mentioned just a couple of minutes ago. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.600 Spotters are required to check in every morning as well, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:19.599 right to say hey, I'm up, I'm headed up to 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.560 the tower. I'm not dead yet, not dead yet. And 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.360 Stephanie missed her required check in that morning. On so 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:33.640 on the August six, Since Stephanie was super reliable, you know, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:37.120 her supervisor figured ocation and just sleep over a right 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.920 but oversleep. Yeah, sorry, but I'll give her a call 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.600 on the phone just to you know, check And nope, 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.680 no answer. So the supervisor called a spotter that was 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.640 close to Stephanie's location and said, hey, I can't get 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.320 in contact with Stephanie. Can you just run over to 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.640 her cabin slashed tower, See what's going on, you know, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.199 see if she needs any help, check on her, check 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:06.240 on her, you know. Normal. Officially, this spotter that was 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.679 close to her went to the cabin tower combo situation 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.800 and found a pot of boiling water, a pot or kettle, 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:19.800 it's unclear which of boiling water, but no Stephanie. Also 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.800 missing were two pillows with blue pillow cases, a burgundy 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.240 bed sheet. This is all a tongue twister from me. Apparently, 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:33.160 burgundy bed sheet and a Navajo printed bed cover, and 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.880 a gold watch Stephanie's. I assumed the initial spot or 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.520 didn't just walk right in there and notice that stuff gone. No, yeah, 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.120 that was later. Yeah, but this is a better storytelling 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:50.199 this way. Her truck was also still there. No, she 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:55.680 didn't leave a note, no, no, nothing just anything like that. 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.040 A massive hunt was launched. Um no sign of her 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.839 whatsoever was found. The police have ruled this a homicide. 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:08.640 Now you may be wondering, but Devin, she just was 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.080 missing with some stuff. Why is this a homicide? Well, 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.400 dear listeners, from all of the reporting, it does seem 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:19.080 like it was pretty muntine. But I have read what 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:24.040 I I cannot substantiate this, but I find it to 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.440 be credible for whatever reason its may cut. I don't 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.400 know that there was a massive amount of blood in 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.720 the cabin, and that there were a lot of unanswered 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:40.640 phone calls placed to the cabin, but not unanswered they 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.400 were picked up and hung up. I was going to say, 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.439 we actually be careful by saying there's a massive amount 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.360 of blood. We know that. I mean, there's a bunch 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.720 of stuff that talks about blood, but we don't actually 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.600 have any idea if it is a splatter of blood 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.760 or a room full of blood. The things that I've 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.960 seen lean more towards way more right. But the problem 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.080 is that none of those are official, and so I 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.880 just want to I just want to put in that 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.040 that little bit of hesitation, because totally don't. We can't 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.200 say that the room was soaked in blood, right, so 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.800 I think I what I want to say is in 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.160 order for the police who have ruled it a homicide, 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.920 they had to have found enough blood evidence to prove 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.480 that somebody was dead. Like you, I don't. I don't 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.280 know if you guys watch forensic files or not, but 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.080 they're that's my jam. But there are a couple stories 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.520 where they'll talk about something has been proven a homicide 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.680 even without a body. And in order to do that, Yeah, 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.240 in order to do that, they have to be able 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.240 to say, wow, there's a ton there's like enough blood 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:47.840 here to definitely assume that person is dead. Uh, And 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.160 it all came from the same person in this case. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.840 I don't know that they made like bothered to test. 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:54.760 There's a lot of stuff that's not released to the 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.000 public on this case, and I think that's intentional, right, 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.200 But yeah, and then there was also those phone calls 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:05.000 where the phone rang and I, uh, it's my understanding 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.720 the phone rang and was picked up and then put 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.240 back down, like nobody actually said hello, right, but like 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:14.240 a number of times before the phone was just unplugged 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.480 from the wall, which would also lead anybody who was 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.760 examining the case to believe that somebody was there, somebody 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.000 like stayed there for a little bit, like maybe stay tonight. Maybe. Yeah. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.440 This cabin, as we talked about, was what's called the 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.440 drive up cabin, and there are two different types of cabins. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.200 I don't know that I really need to say this, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.840 but I'm gonna anyway. A drive up cabin is a 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:42.080 cabin you can drive your car up to Yeah. Uh, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.880 and then they're also there are some and I don't 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.200 know how many are in service. It would assume that 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:52.400 the majority of the fire spotting cabins in use are 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.960 drive up cabins, but they also have hike in cabins, which, again, 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.160 as the name would lead you to believe, you just 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.240 you have to hike in. You park at a trailhead 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:02.920 or whatever, and you hike in and you take all 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.760 your stuff with you, which seems like kind of a bummer, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:12.280 but myself, Yeah, the drive in cabin tower combos have 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.000 seen massive improvements over the past ten years. Really, it 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.800 happened like pretty close after Stephanie to say it was 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.000 definitely driven by this case. And if and if there 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.120 is a you know, they kind of say, if there's 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:26.760 a silver lining here, it is that a lot of 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.160 people are way safer now. But it doesn't strike me 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.040 as a terribly hazardous job. Yeah, but you are out 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.000 in the middle of nowhere. It does make you an 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:38.640 easy target. Yeah, that's why, you know, I just do 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.080 you definitely want to have a revolver or something with you, 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.520 you know, yeah, you know, if you're in America, you 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.720 have a gun, but just to briefly touch on the cabins, 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:53.400 especially drive up cabins were relatively unsafe. Um they were unsecure. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.120 They were safe necessarily, but they weren't you'd be pretty 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.680 easy for somebody to just break in. So there was 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.960 no there are now gates, chain link fences with you know, 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.320 barbed wire around the cabins there that didn't exist. You 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.080 could just drive up from any angle up to the cabins, 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.920 which is already kind of like. I haven't seen if 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:22.159 there were any unaccounted for tire marks or anything, but 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.840 I think it's likely that the spotter who came to 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:28.720 check on Stephanie would have ruined any of that, like, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.720 would have driven up and just like you know, gone 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.320 over any kind of tire marks if there had been. Yeah, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.160 like if somebody had pulled their car up and then 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.680 pulled away, they probably would have pulled up and pulled 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.080 away in the same fashion that the you know them 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.880 and then the police. Also because once the police responded, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.040 they probably didn't really know what they were looking at. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:48.960 And so I think it's likely that if there were 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:53.040 other tire tracks, that they had been destroyed. And by 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.960 the way, did the spot or did he like walked 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.440 through the house or that the cabin and like make tracks. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.240 I don't know like that, I have no idea. I 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.560 don't think so. I don't think they are terribly large cabins, 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.680 you know, it's not like there's like five rooms where 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.880 you'd be like Stephanie or you in here, stephaniely you're 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.879 in here. But I don't know. I have no answer 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.199 to that question. But also they find any any like 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.719 pop prints, you know, like wolves, bears, anything like that. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.320 Blood they ruled They ruled out an animal attack, is 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.720 what I will say to you. I know you keep 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.760 saying this, and well, we can talk about this all 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:34.879 in theories. But additionally, there was brush surrounding the cabin, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.760 which would have made it really hard for you. I mean, 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:39.600 you know, on the one hand, it's a privacy thing 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.119 for you as a person who's inside a cabin, right 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.880 because it's harder to see just directly into the windows. 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.560 But on the other hand, you can't just look out 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.080 and be like, oh, there's a person running at the cabin. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.360 Brush outside, you mean, like bushes growing and covering your windows, 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.200 and so you didn't have any good lines of visibility 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.399 that's since been cut down of fire not at all well, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.240 or even visibility like you can't see, you know, down 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.280 the road to see that there's a truck coming up 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.360 invisibility to you is line of fire to hit fair enough, 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.080 same thing, that's fair pretty much. There was just one 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:18.359 phone in the house or in the cabin, is my understanding, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.479 which you know, again, pretty easy for somebody to just 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.119 deny you access to that. And the doors were super flimsy. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.600 They were like cardboard, right, They're just yeah, they were 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.240 literally just cut out of card No, they're just normal 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.200 wooden doors, kind of like the interior doors. Yet in 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.280 a lot of newer houses where it's just a piece 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.960 of like one eighth inch plywood on each side with 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.360 the hollow middle kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, it's 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.600 my understanding it with a wooden and there were wooden frames, 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.040 so you know, again it's pretty easy to just put 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.639 your fist through it, yeah, or you know, force your 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.600 way in or whatever. That's one of the big improvements 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.200 they have since made. All of the doors in these 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:59.840 drive up cabins are steel reinforced, but they also change 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.480 at the glass and all. Yeah, they're now shatterproof glass 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.240 and there's panic buttons. So the firewatchers. As mentioned, they 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.400 have these harnesses that they're supposed to wear and now 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:13.479 apparently whenever they're on premises. It's my understanding whether this 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.760 is true or not, you know, it means to be seen, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.520 but that they're supposed to wear their like tagged with 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.159 trackers basically, so that it was a radio that had 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.159 a panic button. It's both. I thought it was like 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.399 their regular walkie talkie talk to the world radio is 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.920 the way I took this to be. Oh, I thought 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.920 it was two separate things that on their radio they 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.200 have a panic button and they also were tagged. They 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.000 had like you can like the old people life alert thing. 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.560 Those don't those don't have geo trackers. Okay, well, well 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.960 this is the it doesn't have service version of it. 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:51.399 So well, it's my understanding that those trackers don't have 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:55.120 panic buttons in them or anything. They just are basically geolocators, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.840 so that if you went missing or you pushed a button, 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.600 they could be like and we know exactly where that 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:04.440 person is or they know where that's right, but so 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:09.320 that that would also help track somebody they went by. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.480 even if you didn't have time to push a panic button. 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:17.440 Or whatever, that they'd be too separate, that's my understanding. Yeah, 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.439 which would have been really helpful if Stephanie had again 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.800 one of those kind of like maybe silver linings, you know, 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.280 I'd be easier just to output them with guns. I 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.160 don't know, I mean, I don't think that's a solve all, 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:32.679 you know what I mean, like it's not always going 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:34.119 to have it right at hand, but you need it, 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:40.040 but you know still, yeah, yeah, anyway, that is our story. 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.040 So that's about it. Yeah, so she as she vanished, 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.480 and nobody's heard a word about it. There's been no leads, 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.480 total cold trail, nothing found. They beat the brush. I mean, 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.080 they looked more than just like I had to repeat 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.720 from the cabin, I assume, oh yeah, absolutely, it was 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.440 like thousands of acres actually tens of thousands, I think. Yeah. 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.239 And they did air and they did diver is in 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.879 lakes and like all sorts of stuff, and they just 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.920 never found any hide nor hair of her, which is 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.920 pretty incredible. You probably don't know this that they bring 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:11.800 in trackers or anything like that before they went out 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.080 and store. This totally started thrashing around the brush that 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.479 they're bringing any trackers. You could really good at following 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:21.040 people through the world. Visual trackers like people are dogs 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:26.640 or both. I don't think so. Um, yeah, I think 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.600 the presumption is well, actually, why don't we just like 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:37.240 talk about theories and then we can talk about that. Yeah, ok, buff, First, 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:45.960 let's take a break. Mothra glides over the city with 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.440 nary a care in the world. Oh look, there's gon 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.240 Tilla over there. Oh and on the other side of 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.480 town is Manila, Godzilla's big baby getting into trouble again. 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:01.240 Oh no, Manila smashed the only big catcher store in town. 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:05.800