WEBVTT - Introducing Valley of Shadows: The Devil’s Punchbowl 0:00:15.422 --> 0:00:16.262 Push can. 0:00:19.822 --> 0:00:23.182 Hey listeners, Betsy Shepherd here, I'm dropping into your feed 0:00:23.182 --> 0:00:25.982 to bring you a preview of my new podcast, Valley 0:00:26.102 --> 0:00:29.742 of Shadows. It's about an LA County Sheriff's deputy named 0:00:29.782 --> 0:00:32.982 John Aujay, who went missing in the Majave Desert back 0:00:32.982 --> 0:00:37.022 in nineteen ninety eight. Nearly thirty years later. The Sheriff's 0:00:37.022 --> 0:00:41.182 department says that Auja's disappearance is still a mystery. The 0:00:41.302 --> 0:00:45.102 whistleblowers say the sheriff's department is covering up what happened 0:00:45.142 --> 0:00:47.542 to the deputy, that he was murdered in the desert, 0:00:47.862 --> 0:00:51.182 which is a place where meth labs, outlaw biker gangs, 0:00:51.622 --> 0:00:55.582 and dirty cops go unchecked. The show's got it all, 0:00:56.142 --> 0:00:58.862 and I think you're gonna dig it. Find a Valley 0:00:58.902 --> 0:01:03.182 of Shadows wherever you get your podcasts. Pushkin Plus subscribers 0:01:03.262 --> 0:01:07.262 can binge the entire season right now ad free. Sign 0:01:07.382 --> 0:01:09.582 up on the Valley of Shadows show page on Apple 0:01:09.622 --> 0:01:13.822 Podcasts or at pushkin dot Fm, slash Plus. 0:01:17.342 --> 0:01:20.022 This series includes content that may not be suitable for 0:01:20.062 --> 0:01:22.862 all listeners. Listener discretion is advised. 0:01:25.222 --> 0:01:26.942 So it's okay, yeah. 0:01:26.742 --> 0:01:28.502 I'll turn it down just a little bit because sometimes 0:01:28.542 --> 0:01:29.742 you get animated. 0:01:30.142 --> 0:01:32.342 I get pissed off, pissed off old cop. 0:01:33.342 --> 0:01:35.662 This pissed off old cop is Mike Bauer. 0:01:36.782 --> 0:01:39.702 Okay, my name is Mike Bauer, retired Captain LA Sheriff. 0:01:39.822 --> 0:01:43.062 I retired in two thousand and two. My last assignment 0:01:43.142 --> 0:01:46.062 was Major Crimes Bureau, Detective Division, LA Sheriff. 0:01:47.302 --> 0:01:50.062 Bower spent thirty three years climbing the ranks of the 0:01:50.102 --> 0:01:53.422 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. And he looks the part 0:01:53.462 --> 0:01:56.742 of a retired captain. His white hair and mustache are 0:01:56.782 --> 0:02:00.222 neatly groomed, and his eyes are permanently fixed and a 0:02:00.222 --> 0:02:02.902 look that says, do not fuck up on my watch. 0:02:03.782 --> 0:02:05.742 And he's pissed off because of something that happened to 0:02:05.782 --> 0:02:08.822 one of his guys on his squad back. 0:02:08.662 --> 0:02:10.102 In the summer of nineteen ninety eight. 0:02:12.862 --> 0:02:15.582 June eleventh started off like a normal day in Los Angeles, 0:02:16.142 --> 0:02:18.062 June gloom and bad traffic. 0:02:19.342 --> 0:02:21.422 I got up early out of Long Beach and headed 0:02:21.502 --> 0:02:24.102 up the six ZHO five and into East LA. 0:02:24.622 --> 0:02:25.782 Our office in East LA. 0:02:26.662 --> 0:02:29.062 Bauer was doing paperwork when a call came into the 0:02:29.062 --> 0:02:32.102 front desk. The receptionist answered. 0:02:32.782 --> 0:02:34.662 Then she hung up and she comes down to get 0:02:34.662 --> 0:02:37.902 a cup of coffee across the hall and I said, hey, 0:02:37.902 --> 0:02:40.622 who was that. It was John Aujay. 0:02:42.142 --> 0:02:45.102 John Aj was a thirty eight year old canine cop 0:02:45.622 --> 0:02:48.302 and he was calling to inquire about an upcoming job assignment. 0:02:49.502 --> 0:02:51.502 I said, well, I've been trying to get hold of him, 0:02:51.982 --> 0:02:55.102 and she says, oh, well, maybe he'll call back. 0:02:56.622 --> 0:02:57.622 He never called back. 0:03:00.462 --> 0:03:02.982 John Aj was working for the unit Bower headed up 0:03:03.022 --> 0:03:08.262 at the time, the Special Enforcement Bureau or SEB for short. 0:03:08.382 --> 0:03:12.782 Which consists of seven or eight SWAT teams, and the 0:03:12.862 --> 0:03:17.702 SWAT teams were involved in tactical responses to high risk 0:03:17.742 --> 0:03:19.382 situations in the field. 0:03:20.262 --> 0:03:25.862 SEB handled things like active shooter situations, hostage negotiations, search 0:03:25.902 --> 0:03:29.622 and rescue. It was a job that attracted adrenaline junkies 0:03:29.742 --> 0:03:33.502 like Auj. He was an Army paratrooper and a survivalist, 0:03:34.062 --> 0:03:37.102 and those military skills, along with his buzz cut and 0:03:37.102 --> 0:03:40.382 square build, made him a shoe in for the Sheriff's Department. 0:03:41.342 --> 0:03:44.182 He was in the Army in Special Forces. He was 0:03:44.262 --> 0:03:47.862 working at the elite unit of the department. I have 0:03:47.942 --> 0:03:50.942 to call him a loaner, but he was an elite loaner. 0:03:51.262 --> 0:03:55.662 Because the guy was doing fifty mile runs. He was 0:03:55.702 --> 0:03:56.382 an animal. 0:03:59.942 --> 0:04:02.502 Auj got his kicks by going on long runs through 0:04:02.542 --> 0:04:06.662 California's backcountry. He go out deep into the wilderness to 0:04:06.742 --> 0:04:11.142 conquer the only obstacle course that still challenged him. And 0:04:11.182 --> 0:04:14.342 that's how Auja was spending his day off. On June eleventh, 0:04:14.462 --> 0:04:17.702 nineteen ninety eight, he woke up, put on his running 0:04:17.742 --> 0:04:20.942 gear and drove to one of his favorite parks, the 0:04:21.022 --> 0:04:24.862 Devil's Punch Bowl. It's a rugged canyon where the Angelus 0:04:24.982 --> 0:04:28.462 National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Mojave Desert 0:04:28.542 --> 0:04:37.422 all converge. Auj entered the park just before noon, used 0:04:37.422 --> 0:04:40.222 a payphone to call into the sheriff's department, and then 0:04:40.662 --> 0:04:44.702 he took off running. He never listened to any music, 0:04:45.262 --> 0:04:47.662 just the sounds of nature as he jogged along a 0:04:47.702 --> 0:04:51.222 maze of switchbacks and up a nearly ten thousand foot mountain. 0:04:52.702 --> 0:04:56.022 By early evening, he looped back towards the parking lot, 0:04:57.142 --> 0:05:00.022 but as the sun began to set, the shadows of 0:05:00.062 --> 0:05:04.142 trees and rocks grew until night engulfed the park. 0:05:11.342 --> 0:05:15.302 That evening, I got a phone call saying that w 0:05:15.422 --> 0:05:19.382 Oj is missing, that he didn't come back to his 0:05:19.542 --> 0:05:22.702 vehicle and that they were going to start some more 0:05:22.702 --> 0:05:26.342 extensive searching for him. 0:05:26.662 --> 0:05:29.462 It's an all out manhunt for John Auj. Every search 0:05:29.462 --> 0:05:31.582 and rescue team in La County has been called in 0:05:31.622 --> 0:05:34.302 to help the thirty eight year old when hiking Thursday 0:05:34.342 --> 0:05:37.182 in a rugged section of the Angels National Forest known 0:05:37.182 --> 0:05:40.822 as Devil Punch Bowls Park. It's a beautiful but dangerous area, 0:05:40.982 --> 0:05:43.982 an area where it may be extremely difficult to find 0:05:43.982 --> 0:05:44.422 all Jay. 0:05:45.462 --> 0:05:47.022 It's a pretty unique situation. 0:05:47.862 --> 0:05:50.182 The Sheriff's department is called in to look for a 0:05:50.222 --> 0:05:54.182 missing hiker who's one of their own. So the search 0:05:54.222 --> 0:05:56.862 and rescue team sent out to look for Auj consists 0:05:56.942 --> 0:05:58.462 of his friends and colleagues. 0:05:59.342 --> 0:06:01.862 We took our teams out and deployed in two man 0:06:02.142 --> 0:06:04.622 teams over the edges of the trails, into the little 0:06:04.862 --> 0:06:07.662 nooks and crannies and the gullies that he could have 0:06:07.662 --> 0:06:08.662 slipped and fallen into. 0:06:09.982 --> 0:06:13.822 But searchers find no trace of Ajay. It was as 0:06:13.822 --> 0:06:17.462 if he just vanished into thin air. And now, nearly 0:06:17.502 --> 0:06:21.022 thirty years later, the deputy is still missing. 0:06:26.782 --> 0:06:28.542 I guess I'll open a box. 0:06:30.182 --> 0:06:33.222 All that remains from Auj's life is packed into five 0:06:33.342 --> 0:06:37.942 cardboard boxes. The items are wrapped in plastic and Bower 0:06:37.982 --> 0:06:41.422 wears gloves as he combs through them. 0:06:41.582 --> 0:06:46.142 This is John's work jacket, and it's an SEB jacket 0:06:46.182 --> 0:06:49.422 with his name embroidered on it, and Boss Goo his dog. 0:06:50.142 --> 0:06:54.622 Now Bower's preserving Auja's belongings for future developments in the case. 0:06:55.182 --> 0:06:57.942 Okay, so here's his running shoes with his name on 0:06:58.022 --> 0:06:58.462 the back. 0:06:59.302 --> 0:07:00.502 Those should have some. 0:07:00.662 --> 0:07:01.382 DNA in him. 0:07:02.782 --> 0:07:06.102 The artifacts also tell us who Auja was. There's a 0:07:06.102 --> 0:07:10.542 photocollage full of happy memories him and his high school 0:07:10.582 --> 0:07:13.902 sweetheart Dub on their wedding day, a birthday party for 0:07:13.942 --> 0:07:17.182 their daughter Chloe, who was just five when he disappeared, 0:07:17.862 --> 0:07:22.822 and puppy picks of Bosco Auj's department issued canine. And 0:07:22.862 --> 0:07:26.302 next to these snapshots of domestic life, there's a steel 0:07:26.342 --> 0:07:31.182 ballistics helmet intended to stop rifle rounds, trophies for marksmanship, 0:07:31.742 --> 0:07:37.222 army fatigues, you know, tough guy stuff. Auj moved at 0:07:37.222 --> 0:07:40.382 a fast clip, trying to balance the competing demands of 0:07:40.462 --> 0:07:44.142 home and work, but his life came to an abrupt 0:07:44.222 --> 0:07:45.862 and puzzling end. 0:07:46.782 --> 0:07:51.422 A death certificate says cause, a death, unknown manner, a 0:07:51.462 --> 0:07:54.862 death unknown no body. 0:07:55.662 --> 0:07:59.142 The deputy's body has never been found, which raises a 0:07:59.182 --> 0:08:03.662 lot of questions for Mike Bauer and a survivalist getting 0:08:03.662 --> 0:08:08.702 lost in the woods another big question mark. Over time, 0:08:08.782 --> 0:08:11.342 the miss of it all has turned into something else, 0:08:12.142 --> 0:08:16.822 deep and unsettling, suspicion about the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. 0:08:18.222 --> 0:08:20.742 The only law enforcement agency in this country that I 0:08:20.782 --> 0:08:23.662 know of, and I've looked around, who has a missing 0:08:23.662 --> 0:08:28.542 deputy sheriff and doesn't seem to care? What the hell happened? 0:08:29.142 --> 0:08:32.422 What's the answer? Who's motivated to find the answer? 0:08:34.422 --> 0:08:35.742 And that's my cue. 0:08:36.542 --> 0:08:39.022 When Mike Bouer first told me about au Jay, I 0:08:39.062 --> 0:08:44.102 thought an unsolved disappearance involving a cop, that's unusual. But 0:08:44.142 --> 0:08:47.462 when he started talking about the Sheriff's Department, his department, 0:08:47.982 --> 0:08:51.182 that's when I locked in. Because you'd expect the LA 0:08:51.262 --> 0:08:54.302 County Sheriff's Department to turn over every stone to find 0:08:54.422 --> 0:08:57.742 their guy. So the claim that the LASD may have 0:08:57.782 --> 0:09:02.222 an interest in not solving the case, now that's a story. 0:09:03.822 --> 0:09:07.142 So I called up my friend Hailey Fox like me, 0:09:07.542 --> 0:09:10.502 she's an investigative journalist, and she knows a lot about 0:09:10.502 --> 0:09:14.342 the sheriff's department because she's reported on it for many years. 0:09:14.822 --> 0:09:16.142 Hey, Betsy, Hey do. 0:09:17.742 --> 0:09:18.142 I'm good? 0:09:18.342 --> 0:09:18.942 I'm ready. 0:09:19.142 --> 0:09:20.062 Yeah, I go to do this. 0:09:20.462 --> 0:09:24.502 It's about time. I'm a little road t adventure all right, 0:09:24.582 --> 0:09:25.182 let's do it. 0:09:26.982 --> 0:09:29.862 We've teamed up on stories before and decided to get 0:09:29.902 --> 0:09:33.822 the band back together to finanswers about this missing deputy 0:09:34.622 --> 0:09:37.942 and to take on the largest sheriff's department in the country. 0:09:38.502 --> 0:09:41.022 There's a code of silence in law enforcement. You break 0:09:41.022 --> 0:09:43.302 that code of silence, you're done. 0:09:43.662 --> 0:09:46.102 Hey, if don't fucking kill a Copponberry, what they gonna 0:09:46.142 --> 0:09:46.382 do to me? 0:09:46.902 --> 0:09:52.542 It's an obstruction of justice of a very large scale. 0:09:53.302 --> 0:09:54.702 I'm Betsy Shepherd. 0:09:54.982 --> 0:09:58.862 I'm Haley Fowx, And this is Valley of Shadows, a 0:09:58.942 --> 0:10:11.702 show about crime and corruption in California's high Desert. Episode one, 0:10:12.502 --> 0:10:19.342 the Devil's Punch Bowl. Betsy and I are making the 0:10:19.382 --> 0:10:23.862 trek from downtown Los Angeles to the Anaelote Valley that's 0:10:23.902 --> 0:10:27.302 the desert area north of la where Deputy Auja disappeared. 0:10:28.222 --> 0:10:31.182 The drives about sixty miles, but takes an hour and 0:10:31.222 --> 0:10:33.582 a half to two hours because of the mountainous terrain. 0:10:35.342 --> 0:10:37.102 See you actually have to take We gotta go. 0:10:37.182 --> 0:10:40.822 North, Yeah, we're gonna go north, but this is La Dude. 0:10:40.862 --> 0:10:42.222 We gotta go south. 0:10:42.502 --> 0:10:45.622 One in south five north fourteen and then I think 0:10:45.662 --> 0:10:48.302 there's a one thirty eighth throat in there, but nothing's 0:10:48.302 --> 0:10:48.902 a street. 0:10:48.662 --> 0:10:51.742 Shod spoken like a true Agelino. 0:10:53.622 --> 0:10:56.662 I was born and raised in La County, Go Dodgers, 0:10:57.302 --> 0:11:01.942 but this part of it feels worlds away. The Antelope Valley, 0:11:02.062 --> 0:11:04.822 or the AV as it's sometimes called, is a three 0:11:04.942 --> 0:11:08.622 thousand square mile stretch of the Mojave, but this part 0:11:08.702 --> 0:11:11.302 of the high desert doesn't have the same allure and 0:11:11.422 --> 0:11:15.662 vibingess as places like Joshua Tree. Instead, the Avy is 0:11:15.742 --> 0:11:20.222 mostly empty space, dotted with defence plants, bedroom communities, and 0:11:20.262 --> 0:11:21.342 tumbleweed towns. 0:11:22.742 --> 0:11:24.062 So a lot of just like. 0:11:25.542 --> 0:11:28.542 Trailers kind of just parked out in the desert. 0:11:30.702 --> 0:11:35.982 Yeah, I mean power lines and scrub rush. Our story 0:11:36.062 --> 0:11:40.022 takes place in and around Pair Blossom, California. It has 0:11:40.062 --> 0:11:43.102 a population of fifteen hundred and it's where the Devil's 0:11:43.102 --> 0:11:47.502 Punch bowls located. Driving through it, Betsy gets a case 0:11:47.502 --> 0:11:48.222 of deja vu. 0:11:49.102 --> 0:11:51.142 He g had anxiety coming to places like this because 0:11:51.142 --> 0:11:52.182 it reminds me of like. 0:11:52.022 --> 0:11:55.062 A town that it grew up and there's just just 0:11:55.142 --> 0:11:57.102 like I feel the oppressive weight of boredom. 0:11:57.262 --> 0:11:57.782 Oh really. 0:12:00.302 --> 0:12:03.302 I moved to La several years ago from South Louisiana. 0:12:04.342 --> 0:12:06.702 Had never been to Anela Valley before, but it was 0:12:06.742 --> 0:12:10.102 immediately familiar to me. Because if you were to replace 0:12:10.222 --> 0:12:13.222 desert with swamp, this region would look a lot like 0:12:13.262 --> 0:12:16.022 the small town I'm from. It's rural and kind of 0:12:16.062 --> 0:12:19.662 run down. There's more landscape than real estate, lots of 0:12:19.742 --> 0:12:21.302 pickup trucks in town. 0:12:21.382 --> 0:12:23.462 Life seems like a thing of the past. 0:12:24.902 --> 0:12:25.462 We got. 0:12:27.062 --> 0:12:32.902 An abandoned motel, what's this, Oh like an abandoned old 0:12:33.302 --> 0:12:39.062 restaurant and wreck hall and people getting gas to presumably 0:12:39.742 --> 0:12:41.142 be all their way. 0:12:42.262 --> 0:12:44.102 Yeah, I mean, I think the three gas stations in 0:12:44.142 --> 0:12:46.942 a row tell the story. 0:12:47.662 --> 0:12:50.022 But the closer we get to the Devil's punch Bowl, 0:12:50.022 --> 0:12:54.742 where auj was last spotted, and other worldly landscape appears, 0:12:55.262 --> 0:12:58.942 full of spiky Joshua trees and sandstone columns. 0:13:00.662 --> 0:13:02.422 It's actually really beautiful out here. 0:13:02.462 --> 0:13:03.782 It's not expected to land. 0:13:04.582 --> 0:13:07.662 Are you looking at these huge rocks jutting out of 0:13:07.702 --> 0:13:10.862 the ground and like they're making all those crazy shadows. 0:13:11.142 --> 0:13:12.102 Seen anything like them? 0:13:12.422 --> 0:13:13.182 I haven't either. 0:13:14.502 --> 0:13:16.502 I feel like I've been an old Western movie, you know, 0:13:16.622 --> 0:13:21.182 like we're just got this like wide ethic landscape shots. 0:13:21.062 --> 0:13:23.942 Total endless horizons, totally endless horizons. 0:13:23.942 --> 0:13:26.502 I can see why John A j. Liked to come 0:13:26.502 --> 0:13:28.702 out here. It's pretty pretty, not big. 0:13:33.422 --> 0:13:38.102 Okay, we are pulling into the Devil's punch Bowl County 0:13:38.142 --> 0:13:39.222 Park parking lot. 0:13:40.222 --> 0:13:41.102 Here we are. 0:13:45.222 --> 0:13:48.262 We've come here to retrace John Aujay's last known steps 0:13:49.222 --> 0:13:52.622 and to meet with ranger Jack Farley. He was working 0:13:52.622 --> 0:13:54.902 on the punch Bowl the day the deputy disappeared. 0:13:58.222 --> 0:14:00.342 Hi are you? 0:14:00.382 --> 0:14:01.382 But are you Jack Farley? 0:14:01.422 --> 0:14:01.782 By chance? 0:14:05.262 --> 0:14:07.582 This is my reporting partner, Haley. 0:14:08.182 --> 0:14:11.502 Thank you for meeting us out here. Yes, Jock Farley's 0:14:11.542 --> 0:14:14.622 retired now, but for thirty five years he was assigned 0:14:14.622 --> 0:14:15.742 to work the punch Bowl. 0:14:17.062 --> 0:14:18.182 What a cool job. 0:14:19.302 --> 0:14:19.822 Great for me? 0:14:20.462 --> 0:14:22.462 Yeah, it was awesome, good job. 0:14:23.622 --> 0:14:25.662 It was Farley's job to keep an eye on things, 0:14:25.902 --> 0:14:29.382 to tend the grounds and patrol the area. So he 0:14:29.542 --> 0:14:32.262 noticed when AJ became a regular at the punch Bowl 0:14:32.582 --> 0:14:36.222 and he clocked Auj's regular parking space, the one closest 0:14:36.222 --> 0:14:37.022 to the trailhead. 0:14:37.902 --> 0:14:38.502 So I can. 0:14:38.462 --> 0:14:40.662 Remember seeing him sitting in the back of his truck 0:14:40.902 --> 0:14:44.942 when you get done with a run in the mountains. 0:14:45.662 --> 0:14:47.542 So when I'd walk out into the parking lot, I'd 0:14:47.542 --> 0:14:49.902 see him sitting out there and ask him about his run. 0:14:51.302 --> 0:14:55.022 Farley remembers that the day Auj disappeared, his white Ford 0:14:55.142 --> 0:14:57.542 F one to fifty truck was parked in that very 0:14:57.582 --> 0:15:01.382 same spot, surrounded on all sides by wilderness. 0:15:02.422 --> 0:15:04.982 One thing that impresses us so much about this area 0:15:05.182 --> 0:15:08.342 is that you have a desert landscape on one side, 0:15:08.422 --> 0:15:10.462 you have a mountain, it's in forests on the other, 0:15:10.662 --> 0:15:15.182 and then in between it's these really cool rock formations. 0:15:15.822 --> 0:15:20.102 Right, it's all uplifted from earthquake activity. Oh wow, that's 0:15:20.142 --> 0:15:23.822 a punch bowl fault and that runs parallel with the mountains. 0:15:24.342 --> 0:15:26.102 And then when you came up to hear you cross 0:15:26.142 --> 0:15:28.862 the San Andreas Fault, which of course the big one 0:15:28.862 --> 0:15:33.382 that runs through California, several faults in the area. It 0:15:33.462 --> 0:15:36.382 took all this sand that was laid down flat by 0:15:36.462 --> 0:15:39.542 streams and tilted up into vertical relief. 0:15:39.942 --> 0:15:41.982 And it creates a bowl shape. 0:15:42.142 --> 0:15:45.182 You can see a definite bowl shape coming around like 0:15:45.222 --> 0:15:47.102 this so that's where it got the punch bowl name. 0:15:48.462 --> 0:15:51.142 We're not totally sure about the devil part of it, though, 0:15:53.222 --> 0:15:56.902 according to local lore, early homesteaders saw grinning devil in 0:15:56.942 --> 0:16:00.702 the rock formations. We didn't see Satan in the rock face, 0:16:01.262 --> 0:16:04.542 but we did see something else thanks to a county 0:16:04.542 --> 0:16:06.422 park employee named Dave Numar. 0:16:07.862 --> 0:16:09.742 See the shadow ends. 0:16:10.502 --> 0:16:12.582 There's that big rock kind of all by itself. 0:16:13.222 --> 0:16:15.942 If you look, it's like a forehead is facing us 0:16:15.942 --> 0:16:17.102 and there's a nose pointing street. 0:16:17.182 --> 0:16:18.422 It looks like George Washington. 0:16:18.542 --> 0:16:21.742 Yeah, it's a natural not rest more cool. 0:16:22.422 --> 0:16:24.902 So there's all kinds of faces out here because it's like, 0:16:24.942 --> 0:16:27.702 oh if our brains are programmed to see patterns. 0:16:28.982 --> 0:16:32.022 Pattern recognition is why we see gods and goddesses in 0:16:32.022 --> 0:16:35.422 the stars and the man in the moon. It's also 0:16:35.542 --> 0:16:38.782 a key part of criminal investigations, a way to turn 0:16:38.822 --> 0:16:42.782 information into a story. And that's why we've come to 0:16:42.822 --> 0:16:45.262 the Devil's Punch Bowl to see if we can make 0:16:45.302 --> 0:16:48.582 sense of what happened on June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight. 0:16:50.542 --> 0:16:52.862 So we pull out a map we printed from the internet. 0:16:53.102 --> 0:16:57.142 Because we're prepared journalists and elder millennials and we present 0:16:57.182 --> 0:17:00.462 it to Ranger Farland, let me show you what. 0:17:00.422 --> 0:17:00.902 It looks like. 0:17:02.502 --> 0:17:04.222 Yeah, line will definitely. 0:17:03.822 --> 0:17:10.382 Be definitely get us lost in the wilderness. Farley proves 0:17:10.462 --> 0:17:13.182 his outdoor prowess by whipping out some real maps of 0:17:13.222 --> 0:17:17.582 the area to help orient us to our surroundings. 0:17:17.622 --> 0:17:24.942 Okay, here's the Devil's Okay, and there's Burkhart Trail right there, 0:17:26.222 --> 0:17:28.662 goes over toward Devil's Chairs, so that'd be just to 0:17:28.742 --> 0:17:31.182 the east, goes to South Fork. 0:17:32.902 --> 0:17:36.302 One witness reported seeing Auj near the picnic tables at 0:17:36.302 --> 0:17:40.462 the main trailhead sometime before noon. This witness was a 0:17:40.462 --> 0:17:42.982 local teacher there on a field trip with a bunch 0:17:42.982 --> 0:17:46.502 of elementary school kids. Auj stopped to talk to him. 0:17:46.742 --> 0:17:49.182 He pointed to a jagon mountain in the distance, Mount 0:17:49.222 --> 0:17:52.022 Baden Powell, and said that's where he was headed. 0:17:53.022 --> 0:17:56.742 So the high mountain behind the telephone pole over there, Yeah, 0:17:56.782 --> 0:17:59.462 that's Baden Powell and that's where he would go sometimes. 0:18:00.702 --> 0:18:01.782 How tall is the mountain? 0:18:01.982 --> 0:18:04.102 Jeez, that is one of the higher ones. Let me 0:18:04.142 --> 0:18:07.022 think ten ten, I mean in this range. 0:18:07.342 --> 0:18:11.062 And he would run from here to that mountain all 0:18:11.102 --> 0:18:11.982 the way over there and then. 0:18:11.982 --> 0:18:15.022 Run up it. Yeah, he'd run over there and then 0:18:15.062 --> 0:18:17.582 they're switchbacks all the way to the top of that mountain. 0:18:18.982 --> 0:18:22.342 Aujy was spotted again later in the day, when multiple 0:18:22.342 --> 0:18:25.182 witnesses say they saw him jogging through a campground just 0:18:25.302 --> 0:18:28.302 north of the mountain in the direction of the punch 0:18:28.342 --> 0:18:32.102 Bowl parking lot. But when Farley left his post at 0:18:32.102 --> 0:18:35.542 five PM, Auj's truck was still parked in the lot, 0:18:36.342 --> 0:18:39.382 and it stayed parked there as the evening bloomed over 0:18:39.422 --> 0:18:44.582 the desert, and then close to midnight, Aujy's wife called 0:18:44.582 --> 0:18:46.902 the sheriff's station to report him missing. 0:19:14.942 --> 0:19:18.782 As June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight years It's end, Debbie 0:19:18.902 --> 0:19:23.542 auj becomes increasingly panicked because her husband, Deputy John A. 0:19:23.662 --> 0:19:26.302 J told her he'd be home around dark and by 0:19:26.302 --> 0:19:29.302 now he's several hours late. So she dials up one 0:19:29.302 --> 0:19:31.302 of the share of stations where Auja worked. 0:19:32.382 --> 0:19:36.182 The call comes into the desk and it's from Debbie 0:19:36.222 --> 0:19:39.462 and it says, hey, my husband, who's a deputy, he 0:19:39.542 --> 0:19:42.022 went for a run and he didn't come home. 0:19:43.102 --> 0:19:46.462 Vince Burton was a sergeant in the Antelope Valley. He 0:19:46.542 --> 0:19:49.582 was also Aujay's colleague and friend, so he gets on 0:19:49.622 --> 0:19:50.542 the phone with Debbie. 0:19:51.862 --> 0:19:53.382 She was just upset. 0:19:53.702 --> 0:19:57.902 She was crying. She was obviously very concerned. 0:19:58.302 --> 0:20:01.182 I just I said, okay, Debbie, we're sending people up there, 0:20:01.382 --> 0:20:03.102 you know, keep you posted. 0:20:04.302 --> 0:20:07.102 Patrol deputies high tail it to the punch bowl where 0:20:07.102 --> 0:20:08.382 they find Aujay's truck. 0:20:08.702 --> 0:20:11.462 But no, they think maybe. 0:20:11.182 --> 0:20:13.902 He got injured, slipped and fell for how to run 0:20:13.902 --> 0:20:18.422 in with some wildlife. So Burton dispatches Search and Rescue 0:20:18.462 --> 0:20:21.542 to the site and he calls in their coordinator, Dave Soer, 0:20:21.782 --> 0:20:23.982 to discuss Auj's likely route. 0:20:24.822 --> 0:20:27.942 And Dave comes in and we pull up a map 0:20:28.022 --> 0:20:31.262 of the area. And I told him at that time, 0:20:31.302 --> 0:20:35.342 I said, you know, John's a runner, and he goes, yeah, 0:20:35.582 --> 0:20:38.502 and I said, no, he's a long distance runner. He's 0:20:38.542 --> 0:20:40.822 an ultra marathoner. He's like what. 0:20:42.782 --> 0:20:48.022 Ultra marathoners are running extremists who power through long distances. 0:20:48.662 --> 0:20:51.222 In fact, Auj was scheduled to compete in a one 0:20:51.302 --> 0:20:54.782 hundred mile run the week after he went missing, so 0:20:54.902 --> 0:20:57.582 responders have a hard time wrapping their heads around the 0:20:57.662 --> 0:20:58.622 scale of the search. 0:20:59.702 --> 0:21:02.062 I gave him the best information I could give him. 0:21:02.142 --> 0:21:04.742 You know, don't start your grid pattern so small. 0:21:05.822 --> 0:21:08.822 This is Randy Meggerdley. He was a patrol deputy for 0:21:08.822 --> 0:21:12.742 the Share Department and one of Auj's running buddies. He 0:21:12.822 --> 0:21:16.462 reiterates to the command post that Auj was a beast. 0:21:17.022 --> 0:21:20.942 You're running goat trails is basically what I categorized them as. 0:21:20.982 --> 0:21:22.542 What do you mean by that goat trails? 0:21:22.902 --> 0:21:27.422 Well, they're just megshift trails. Sometimes they'll be covered with snow, 0:21:27.742 --> 0:21:31.982 sometimes they'll be covered with mud, crossing rivers. I mean, 0:21:32.262 --> 0:21:35.302 it's crazy what kind of stuff that we were doing. 0:21:36.222 --> 0:21:38.782 There was one that we did. It was hand over 0:21:38.982 --> 0:21:41.542 foot trying to get up this mountain. 0:21:41.942 --> 0:21:42.502 Wow. 0:21:43.062 --> 0:21:47.382 And so part of the activity was figuring out how 0:21:47.382 --> 0:21:47.862 to get to. 0:21:47.822 --> 0:21:48.422 The end of it. 0:21:49.062 --> 0:21:50.462 Yeah, and one piece. 0:21:52.142 --> 0:21:56.102 Hearing Meggerdy talk about ultra marathoners, it sounds like they 0:21:56.182 --> 0:22:00.862 have no off switch. So maybe Auj just overdid it. 0:22:02.182 --> 0:22:07.742 Your brain does some wonky stuff when you're dehydrated, and 0:22:07.782 --> 0:22:09.782 they thought maybe he got on a trail and he 0:22:09.902 --> 0:22:13.062 was doing the forest gump, just kept running. 0:22:14.302 --> 0:22:17.222 That's a theory that Auj was doing the forest gump 0:22:17.262 --> 0:22:20.742 and just kept running and got himself into a tailspin 0:22:20.822 --> 0:22:25.182 of dehydration. Responders take note and fan out across the 0:22:25.222 --> 0:22:25.782 search grid. 0:22:26.582 --> 0:22:28.022 I was nice to him. I said, do you know 0:22:28.102 --> 0:22:29.222 I know the area pretty well? 0:22:29.262 --> 0:22:32.782 If you guys want help, Ranger Jack Farley again, the. 0:22:32.742 --> 0:22:35.542 Guy goes, no, we're search and rescue. We pretty much 0:22:35.542 --> 0:22:41.462 know what we're doing, you know. So I go okay, okay. 0:22:40.582 --> 0:22:43.582 But it doesn't take long for the pros realize they're 0:22:43.582 --> 0:22:44.662 in over their heads. 0:22:45.342 --> 0:22:47.342 So then they're going, hey, are you the guy that 0:22:47.462 --> 0:22:49.342 knows the area? You know, maybe you could give us 0:22:49.382 --> 0:22:50.022 a little help. 0:22:50.982 --> 0:22:54.062 So Farley leads a few groups of deputies and bloodhounds 0:22:54.142 --> 0:22:55.742 down the local trails. 0:22:56.182 --> 0:22:59.102 At one time thought they caught a scent and it 0:22:59.182 --> 0:23:01.982 went up on the trail going toward the Burckhart Trail, 0:23:02.022 --> 0:23:04.662 And we had talked about someone saying they heard a gunshot. 0:23:05.382 --> 0:23:08.462 You can't see the house from here, but it's like 0:23:09.262 --> 0:23:11.462 a half mile below the trail up there where the 0:23:11.542 --> 0:23:12.662 people lived that said. 0:23:12.502 --> 0:23:17.222 They heard that the dogs pick up a scent, possibly Aujay's, 0:23:17.662 --> 0:23:21.262 on a trail that's near a local resident. That guy 0:23:21.302 --> 0:23:24.062 reported to searchers that he heard a single gunshot at 0:23:24.102 --> 0:23:28.262 sunset the day Auja vanished. It's a detail the Sheriff's 0:23:28.302 --> 0:23:30.462