WEBVTT - From Valley of Shadows: The Devil's Punchbowl 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:22.436 Bushkin, Malcolm. Here, I want to tell you about a 0:00:22.476 --> 0:00:26.436 man named John Ajay. He was a Los Angeles County 0:00:26.436 --> 0:00:31.396 Sheriff's deputy, an ultra marathon runner, a survivalist, and someone 0:00:31.436 --> 0:00:33.396 who had made a study of how to stay alive 0:00:33.676 --> 0:00:37.356 in punishing terrain. And one day he went for a 0:00:37.436 --> 0:00:40.276 run in a place called the Devil's Punch Bowl in 0:00:40.316 --> 0:00:43.676 the high Desert of Los Angeles, and he never came back. 0:00:44.636 --> 0:00:48.076 Some say Aja is just another missing hiker claimed by 0:00:48.116 --> 0:00:53.356 the inhospitable landscape of the southern California Desert. Some say 0:00:53.556 --> 0:00:56.276 he took his own life out there. But there's another 0:00:56.396 --> 0:00:59.516 theory that many of Ajay's friends and colleagues are convinced 0:00:59.636 --> 0:01:03.156 is true. That he was the victim of foul play 0:01:03.716 --> 0:01:07.716 and his own department is covering it up. Hosted by 0:01:07.796 --> 0:01:12.956 journalist Haley Fox and Betsy Shepherd, Valley of Shadows explores 0:01:13.076 --> 0:01:17.916 Age's unsolved disappearance and the stench of corruption that's followed 0:01:17.916 --> 0:01:23.636 the case for nearly thirty years. Through exclusive interviews, revealing 0:01:23.636 --> 0:01:28.316 wiretaps and buried police files, Haley and Betsy enter into 0:01:28.356 --> 0:01:33.316 the criminal underworld of Outlaw Biker gang's meth production and 0:01:33.396 --> 0:01:38.476 crooked cops in southern California's Mojave Desert, exploring one of 0:01:38.516 --> 0:01:43.516 the state's most mysterious missing persons cases. You're about to 0:01:43.516 --> 0:01:45.876 hear a preview from the show. If you enjoy it, 0:01:46.156 --> 0:01:50.076 you can find Value of Shadows wherever you get your podcasts. 0:01:52.196 --> 0:01:54.916 This series includes content that may not be suitable for 0:01:54.956 --> 0:01:57.716 all listeners. Listener discretion is advised. 0:02:00.036 --> 0:02:02.476 So it's okay, yeah, I'll turn it down this a 0:02:02.516 --> 0:02:04.236 little bit, because sometimes you get animated. 0:02:04.996 --> 0:02:07.156 I get pissed off, pissed off old cop. 0:02:08.236 --> 0:02:10.516 This pissed off oul cop is Mike Bauer. 0:02:11.676 --> 0:02:14.556 Okay, my name is Mike Bauer, retired Captain LA Sheriff. 0:02:14.716 --> 0:02:17.916 I retired in two thousand and two. My last assignment 0:02:17.996 --> 0:02:20.956 was Major Crimes Bureau, Detective Division, LA Sheriff. 0:02:22.156 --> 0:02:24.916 Bower spent thirty three years climbing the ranks of the 0:02:24.956 --> 0:02:28.276 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. And he looks the part 0:02:28.316 --> 0:02:31.596 of a retired captain. His white hair and mustache are 0:02:31.636 --> 0:02:35.076 neatly groomed, and his eyes were permanently fixed, and a 0:02:35.116 --> 0:02:37.756 look that says, do not fuck up on my watch. 0:02:38.636 --> 0:02:40.636 And he's pissed off because of something that happened to 0:02:40.636 --> 0:02:43.716 one of his guys on his squad back in the 0:02:43.716 --> 0:02:48.916 summer of nineteen ninety eight. June eleventh started off like 0:02:48.916 --> 0:02:52.916 a normal day in Los Angeles, June gloom and bad traffic. 0:02:54.196 --> 0:02:56.276 I got up early out of Long Beach and hitded 0:02:56.356 --> 0:02:59.636 up the six zero five and into East La. Our 0:02:59.676 --> 0:03:00.596 office in East LA. 0:03:01.556 --> 0:03:03.916 Bauer was doing paperwork when a call came into the 0:03:03.916 --> 0:03:06.956 front desk. The receptionist answered. 0:03:07.636 --> 0:03:09.556 Then she hung up and she comes down to get 0:03:09.556 --> 0:03:12.756 a cup of coffee across the hall, and I said, hey, 0:03:12.796 --> 0:03:15.396 who was that? It was? John Auj. 0:03:16.996 --> 0:03:19.956 John AJ was a thirty eight year old canine cop 0:03:20.516 --> 0:03:23.196 and he was calling to inquire about an upcoming job assignment. 0:03:24.356 --> 0:03:26.356 I said, well, I've been trying to get hold him, 0:03:26.836 --> 0:03:29.996 and she says, oh, well, maybe he'll call back. 0:03:31.516 --> 0:03:32.516 He never called back. 0:03:35.316 --> 0:03:37.876 John Aj was working for the unit Bower headed up 0:03:37.876 --> 0:03:43.116 at the time, the Special Enforcement Bureau or SEB for short. 0:03:43.276 --> 0:03:47.676 Which consists of seven or eight SWAT teams, and the 0:03:47.716 --> 0:03:52.556 SWAT teams were involved in tactical responses to high risk 0:03:52.596 --> 0:03:53.836 situations in the field. 0:03:55.116 --> 0:04:00.716 SEB handled things like active shooter situations, hostage negotiations, search 0:04:00.756 --> 0:04:04.476 and rescue, it was a job that attracted adrenaline junkies 0:04:04.636 --> 0:04:08.396 like Aj. He was an Army paratrooper and a survivalist. 0:04:09.196 --> 0:04:12.636 Those military skills, along with his buzz cut and square build, 0:04:13.156 --> 0:04:15.236 made him a shoe in for the Sheriff's Department. 0:04:16.196 --> 0:04:19.076 He was in the Army in Special Forces. He was 0:04:19.116 --> 0:04:22.716 working at the elite unit of the department. I have 0:04:22.796 --> 0:04:25.316 to call him a loaner, but he was an elite 0:04:25.396 --> 0:04:30.356 loaner because the guy was doing fifty mile runs. He 0:04:30.476 --> 0:04:31.236 was an animal. 0:04:34.796 --> 0:04:37.396 Auj got his kicks by going on long runs through 0:04:37.396 --> 0:04:41.396 California's back country. He go out deep into the wilderness 0:04:41.436 --> 0:04:45.596 to conquer the only obstacle course that still challenged him. 0:04:45.916 --> 0:04:48.436 And that's how Auj was spending his day off. On 0:04:48.516 --> 0:04:52.076 June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight, he woke up, put on 0:04:52.156 --> 0:04:54.996 his running gear and drove to one of his favorite parks, 0:04:55.716 --> 0:04:59.276 the Devil's Punch Bowl. It's a rugged canyon where the 0:04:59.316 --> 0:05:02.916 Angelus National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Mojave 0:05:03.036 --> 0:05:11.756 Desert all converge. Auj entered the park just before noon, 0:05:12.116 --> 0:05:14.876 used a payphone to call into the Sheriff's Department, and 0:05:14.916 --> 0:05:19.556 then he took off running. He never listened to any music, 0:05:20.116 --> 0:05:22.516 just the sounds of nature as he jogged along a 0:05:22.556 --> 0:05:26.076 maze of switchbacks and up a nearly ten thousand foot mountain. 0:05:27.556 --> 0:05:30.876 By early evening, he looped back towards the parking lot, 0:05:32.036 --> 0:05:34.876 but as the sun began to set, the shadows of 0:05:34.956 --> 0:05:38.996 trees and rocks grew until night engulfed the park. 0:05:46.196 --> 0:05:50.476 That evening, I got a phone call saying that Wog 0:05:50.636 --> 0:05:54.756 is missing, that he didn't come back to his vehicle, 0:05:55.596 --> 0:05:58.116 and that they were going to start some more extensive 0:05:58.156 --> 0:06:01.236 searching for him. 0:06:01.516 --> 0:06:04.316 It's an all out manhunt for John Aujay. Every search 0:06:04.356 --> 0:06:06.476 and rescue team in La County has been called in 0:06:06.476 --> 0:06:09.196 to help the thirty eight year old when hiking Thursday 0:06:09.196 --> 0:06:12.036 in a rugged section of the Angelos National Forest known 0:06:12.076 --> 0:06:15.676 as Double Punch Bowls Park. It's a beautiful but dangerous area, 0:06:15.836 --> 0:06:18.836 an area where it may be extremely difficult to find 0:06:18.876 --> 0:06:19.276 all Jay. 0:06:20.316 --> 0:06:24.236 It's a pretty unique situation. The Sheriff's department is called 0:06:24.236 --> 0:06:26.916 in to look for a missing hiker who's one of 0:06:26.956 --> 0:06:30.116 their own. So the search and rescue team sent out 0:06:30.156 --> 0:06:33.316 to look for Aj consists of his friends and colleagues. 0:06:34.196 --> 0:06:36.756 We took our teams out and deployed in two man 0:06:36.996 --> 0:06:39.516 teams over the edges of the trails into the little 0:06:39.716 --> 0:06:42.516 nooks and crannies and the gullies that he could have 0:06:42.516 --> 0:06:43.516 slipped and fallen into. 0:06:44.876 --> 0:06:48.636 But searchers find no trace of aj. It was as 0:06:48.676 --> 0:06:52.316 if he just vanished into thin air. And now, nearly 0:06:52.356 --> 0:06:55.876 thirty years later, the deputy is still missing. 0:07:01.676 --> 0:07:03.116 I guess I'll open a box. 0:07:05.036 --> 0:07:08.076 All that remains from Auj's life is packed into five 0:07:08.196 --> 0:07:12.796 cardboard boxes. The items are wrapped in plastic and Bower 0:07:12.836 --> 0:07:16.316 wears gloves as he combs through them. 0:07:16.436 --> 0:07:20.996 This is John's work jacket, and it's an SEB jacket 0:07:21.036 --> 0:07:24.276 with his name embroidered on it, and Bossco his dog. 0:07:24.996 --> 0:07:29.476 Now Bower's preserving Auja's belongings for future developments in the case. 0:07:30.036 --> 0:07:32.836 Okay, so here's his running shoes with his name on 0:07:32.876 --> 0:07:36.996 the back. Those should have some DNA in them. 0:07:37.636 --> 0:07:40.956 The artifacts also tell us who Auja was. There's a 0:07:40.956 --> 0:07:45.436 photocollage full of happy memories him and his high school 0:07:45.436 --> 0:07:48.756 sweetheart Dub on their wedding day, a birthday party for 0:07:48.796 --> 0:07:52.036 their daughter Chloe, who was just five when he disappeared, 0:07:52.716 --> 0:07:56.276 and puppy picks of Bosco Auj's department issued K nine 0:07:57.556 --> 0:08:00.756 and next to these snapshots of domestic life, there's a 0:08:00.796 --> 0:08:06.076 steel ballistics helmet intended to stop rifle rounds, trophies for marksmanship, 0:08:06.636 --> 0:08:12.196 army fatigues, you know, tough stuff. Auja moved at a 0:08:12.236 --> 0:08:15.636 fast clip, trying to balance the competing demands of home 0:08:15.796 --> 0:08:19.196 and work, but his life came to an abrupt and 0:08:19.316 --> 0:08:20.236 puzzling end. 0:08:21.676 --> 0:08:26.276 A death certificate says cause a death unknown manner, a 0:08:26.316 --> 0:08:30.076 death unknown no body. 0:08:30.516 --> 0:08:34.036 The deputy's body has never been found, which raises a 0:08:34.036 --> 0:08:38.516 lot of questions for Mike Bauer and a survivalist getting 0:08:38.556 --> 0:08:43.596 lost in the woods another big question mark. Over time, 0:08:43.716 --> 0:08:46.236 the mystery of it all has turned into something else, 0:08:46.996 --> 0:08:52.076 deep and unsettling, suspicion about the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. 0:08:53.116 --> 0:08:55.636 The only law enforcement agency in this country that I 0:08:55.676 --> 0:08:58.516 know of, and I've looked around, who has a missing 0:08:58.556 --> 0:09:03.436 deputy sheriff and doesn't seem to care. What the hell happened? 0:09:03.996 --> 0:09:07.276 What's the answer? Who's motivated to find the answer? 0:09:09.276 --> 0:09:12.676 And that's my cue. When Mike Bauer first told me 0:09:12.716 --> 0:09:16.556 about Auja, I thought an unsolved disappearance involving a cop 0:09:17.276 --> 0:09:21.116 that's unusual. But when he started talking about the Sheriff's Department, 0:09:21.436 --> 0:09:25.676 his department, that's when I locked in. Because you'd expect 0:09:25.676 --> 0:09:28.716 the La County Sheriff's Department to turn over every stone 0:09:28.756 --> 0:09:32.236 to find their guy. So the claiming that the LASD 0:09:32.356 --> 0:09:35.916 may have an interest in not solving the case, now 0:09:36.076 --> 0:09:40.756 that's a story. So I called up my friend Hailey Fox. 0:09:41.756 --> 0:09:44.756 Like me, she's an investigative journalist and she knows a 0:09:44.796 --> 0:09:48.276 lot about the Sheriff's department because she's reported on it 0:09:48.316 --> 0:09:49.036 for many years. 0:09:49.676 --> 0:09:53.676 Hey, Betsy, Hey dear, I'm good. I'm ready. 0:09:53.996 --> 0:09:54.956 Yeah, I got to do this. 0:09:55.316 --> 0:09:58.116 It's about time. I'm a little road trip adventure. 0:09:59.036 --> 0:10:00.036 All right, let's do it. 0:10:01.836 --> 0:10:04.756 We've teamed up on stories before and decided to get 0:10:04.756 --> 0:10:08.236 the band back together to fin answers about this missing 0:10:08.276 --> 0:10:12.156 deputy and to take on the largest sheriff's department in 0:10:12.196 --> 0:10:12.836 the country. 0:10:13.396 --> 0:10:15.876 There's a code of silence in law enforcement. You break 0:10:15.876 --> 0:10:18.236 that code of silence, you're done. 0:10:18.516 --> 0:10:20.756 Hey, if don't fucking kill a Copponberry, it's what they're 0:10:20.756 --> 0:10:21.236 gonna do to me. 0:10:21.796 --> 0:10:27.396 It's an obstruction of justice of a very large scale. 0:10:28.156 --> 0:10:32.396 I'm Betsy Shepherd, I'm Haley Fox, and this is Valley 0:10:32.436 --> 0:10:36.916 of Shadows, a show about crime and corruption in California's 0:10:36.996 --> 0:10:53.516 High Desert. Episode one, the Devil's Punch Bowl. Betsy and 0:10:53.556 --> 0:10:56.276 I are making the trek from downtown Los Angeles to 0:10:56.316 --> 0:11:00.396 the Antelope Valley that's the desert area north of La 0:11:00.476 --> 0:11:04.916 where Deputy Auj disappeared. The drives about sixty miles, but 0:11:05.236 --> 0:11:07.156 it takes an hour and a half to two hours 0:11:07.196 --> 0:11:11.116 because of the mountainous terrain, so you actually have to 0:11:11.156 --> 0:11:14.476 take We gotta go north. Yeah, we're gonna go north, 0:11:14.596 --> 0:11:17.556 but this is La Dude. We gotta go south one, 0:11:17.596 --> 0:11:20.716 the south, five, north, fourteen and then I think there's 0:11:20.716 --> 0:11:23.316 a one thirty eighth throat in there, but nothing's a. 0:11:23.236 --> 0:11:26.596 Street shot spoken like a true Angelino. 0:11:28.476 --> 0:11:31.516 I was born and raised in La County, Go Dodgers, 0:11:32.196 --> 0:11:36.836 but this part of it feels worlds away. The Antelope Valley, 0:11:36.916 --> 0:11:39.796 or the AV as it's sometimes called, is a three 0:11:39.796 --> 0:11:43.556 thousand square mile stretch of the Mojave, but this part 0:11:43.596 --> 0:11:46.116 of the High Desert doesn't have the same allure and 0:11:46.276 --> 0:11:50.516 vibingess as places like Joshua Tree. Instead, the Avy is 0:11:50.596 --> 0:11:55.076 mostly empty space dotted with defence plants, bedroom communities, and 0:11:55.116 --> 0:11:56.196 tumbleweed towns. 0:11:57.596 --> 0:11:58.796 So a lot of just like. 0:12:00.396 --> 0:12:03.396 Trailers kind of just park down in the desert. 0:12:05.556 --> 0:12:11.196 Yeah, I mean power lines and scrubbrush. Our story takes 0:12:11.236 --> 0:12:14.996 place in and around Pair Blossom, California. It has a 0:12:15.036 --> 0:12:18.236 population of fifteen hundred and it's where the Devil's Punch 0:12:18.236 --> 0:12:22.476 bowls located. Driving through it, Betsy gets a case of 0:12:22.516 --> 0:12:23.076 deja vu. 0:12:23.956 --> 0:12:26.076 I had anxiety coming to places like this because it 0:12:26.076 --> 0:12:27.836 reminds me of like a town and I grow up 0:12:27.836 --> 0:12:31.356 and there's just. 0:12:29.796 --> 0:12:31.996 Just like I feel the oppressive weight of boredom. 0:12:32.156 --> 0:12:32.676 Oh really. 0:12:35.156 --> 0:12:38.156 I moved to La several years ago from South Louisiana. 0:12:39.156 --> 0:12:41.476 I had never been to Anelo Valley before, but it 0:12:41.516 --> 0:12:44.556 was immediately familiar to me because if you were to 0:12:44.556 --> 0:12:47.956 replace desert with swamp, this region would look a lot 0:12:47.996 --> 0:12:50.836 like the small town I'm from. It's rural and kind 0:12:50.836 --> 0:12:54.396 of run down. There's more landscape than real estate, lots 0:12:54.436 --> 0:12:57.796 of pickup trucks in town. Life seems like a thing 0:12:57.836 --> 0:12:58.796 of the past. 0:12:59.756 --> 0:13:00.396 We got. 0:13:01.916 --> 0:13:07.796 An abandoned motel, what's this, Oh like an abandoned old 0:13:08.196 --> 0:13:14.916 restaurant call and people getting gas to presumably be all 0:13:14.956 --> 0:13:16.316 their way. 0:13:17.156 --> 0:13:18.996 Yeah, I mean, I think the three gas stations in 0:13:18.996 --> 0:13:20.036 a row tell the story. 0:13:22.556 --> 0:13:24.876 But the closer we get to the Devil's Punch Bowl 0:13:24.876 --> 0:13:29.636 where auj was last spotted, and other worldly landscape appears, 0:13:30.116 --> 0:13:33.796 full of spiky Joshua trees and sandstone columns. 0:13:35.516 --> 0:13:37.276 It's actually really beautiful out here. 0:13:37.276 --> 0:13:38.596 It's not expected to light. 0:13:39.476 --> 0:13:42.516 Are you looking at these huge rocks jutting out of 0:13:42.556 --> 0:13:45.756 the ground and like they're making all those crazy shadows? 0:13:45.876 --> 0:13:48.076 For seeing anything like them? I haven't either. 0:13:49.396 --> 0:13:51.356 I feel like I've been an old Western movie, you know, 0:13:51.476 --> 0:13:56.036 like we're He's got this like wide epic landscape shots. 0:13:55.916 --> 0:13:58.796 Total endless horizons, totally endless horizons. 0:13:58.836 --> 0:14:01.716 I can see why John aj likes to come out here. 0:14:02.036 --> 0:14:10.876 Yeah, it's pretty pretty impig Okay, we are pulling into 0:14:10.916 --> 0:14:14.076 the Devil's Punch Bowl County Park parking lot. 0:14:15.076 --> 0:14:15.756 Here we are. 0:14:20.076 --> 0:14:23.116 We've come here to retrace John Aujay's last known steps 0:14:24.076 --> 0:14:27.476 and to meet with ranger Jack Farley. He was working 0:14:27.516 --> 0:14:29.796 on the punch Bowl the day the deputy disappeared. 0:14:33.116 --> 0:14:36.276 Hi are you? But are you Jack Farley? 0:14:36.276 --> 0:14:36.676 By chance? 0:14:36.756 --> 0:14:37.236 I am. 0:14:39.036 --> 0:14:39.396 Betsy. 0:14:40.116 --> 0:14:43.676 This is my reporting partner, Haley. 0:14:42.636 --> 0:14:45.836 To thank you for meeting us out here. Yes, Jack 0:14:45.916 --> 0:14:48.996 Farley's retired now, but for thirty five years he was 0:14:49.036 --> 0:14:50.596 assigned to work the punch Bowl. 0:14:51.916 --> 0:14:53.036 What a cool job. 0:14:54.156 --> 0:14:54.716 Great for me? 0:14:55.356 --> 0:14:57.276 Yeah, it was awesome, good job. 0:14:58.476 --> 0:15:00.556 It was Farley's job to keep an eye on things, 0:15:00.756 --> 0:15:04.276 to tend the grounds and patrol the area. So he 0:15:04.396 --> 0:15:06.956 noticed when auj became a regular at the punch Bowl, 0:15:07.436 --> 0:15:11.036 and he clocked Aujay's regular parking space the one closest 0:15:11.076 --> 0:15:11.876 to the trailhead. 0:15:12.796 --> 0:15:14.956 So I can remember seeing him sitting in the back 0:15:14.956 --> 0:15:18.316 of his truck when you get done with a run 0:15:19.076 --> 0:15:21.636 in the mountains. So when I'd walk out into the 0:15:21.676 --> 0:15:23.756 parking lot, I'd see him sitting out there and ask 0:15:23.836 --> 0:15:24.796 him about his run. 0:15:26.156 --> 0:15:29.476 Farley remembers that the day all Jay disappeared, his white 0:15:29.556 --> 0:15:32.396 Ford F one fifty truck was parked in that very 0:15:32.436 --> 0:15:36.236 same spot, surrounded on all sides by wilderness. 0:15:37.276 --> 0:15:39.836 One thing that impresses us so much about this area 0:15:40.076 --> 0:15:43.236 is that you have a desert landscape on one side, 0:15:43.316 --> 0:15:45.796 you have mountains and forests on the other, and then 0:15:45.876 --> 0:15:50.036 in between it's these really cool rock formations. 0:15:50.716 --> 0:15:54.956 Right, it's all uplifted from earthquake activity. Oh wow, that's 0:15:54.996 --> 0:15:58.676 a punch Bowl fault, and that runs parallel with the mountains. 0:15:59.196 --> 0:16:00.996 And then when you came up to here, you cross 0:16:01.036 --> 0:16:03.716 the San Andreas Fault, which of course the big one 0:16:03.716 --> 0:16:07.476 that runs through California, several faults in the area. It 0:16:07.516 --> 0:16:09.836 took all this sand that was laid down on flat 0:16:10.236 --> 0:16:13.596 by streams and tilted up in the vertical relief. 0:16:13.956 --> 0:16:16.036 And it creates a bull shape. 0:16:16.196 --> 0:16:19.396 You can see a definite bull shape coming around like this. 0:16:19.516 --> 0:16:21.116 So that's where it got the punch Bowl name. 0:16:22.516 --> 0:16:25.156 We're not totally sure about the devil part of it, though. 0:16:27.236 --> 0:16:30.956 According to local lore, early homesteaders saw grinning devil in 0:16:30.996 --> 0:16:34.756 the rock formations. We didn't see satan in the rock face, 0:16:35.316 --> 0:16:38.556 but we did see something else thanks to a county 0:16:38.596 --> 0:16:40.436 park employee named Dave Numar. 0:16:41.876 --> 0:16:45.156 See this right where the shadow ends, there's that big 0:16:45.236 --> 0:16:48.156 rock kind of all by itself. If you look, it's 0:16:48.196 --> 0:16:50.596 like a forehead is facing us and there's a nose 0:16:50.636 --> 0:16:51.156 pointing stream. 0:16:51.236 --> 0:16:52.476 It looks like George Washington. 0:16:52.556 --> 0:16:54.556 Yeah, it's a natural not rest. 0:16:54.636 --> 0:16:55.756 More cool. 0:16:56.476 --> 0:16:59.116 So there's all kinds of faces out here because it's like, oh, 0:16:59.156 --> 0:17:02.316 if our brains are programmed to see patterns. 0:17:02.996 --> 0:17:06.036 Pattern recognition is why we see gods and goddesses in 0:17:06.076 --> 0:17:09.676 the stars and the man in the moon. Also a 0:17:09.756 --> 0:17:13.316 key part of criminal investigations, a way to turn information 0:17:13.596 --> 0:17:16.916 into a story. And that's why we've come to the 0:17:16.956 --> 0:17:19.596 Devil's punch Bowl to see if we can make sense 0:17:19.676 --> 0:17:24.716 of what happened on June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight. So 0:17:24.756 --> 0:17:26.916 we pull out a map we printed from the internet 0:17:27.156 --> 0:17:31.156 because we're prepared journalists and elder millennials, and we present 0:17:31.196 --> 0:17:32.436 it to Ranger Farltly. 0:17:33.756 --> 0:17:34.916 Let me show you what it looks like. 0:17:36.556 --> 0:17:38.236 Yeah, line will definitely better. 0:17:38.316 --> 0:17:39.996 It's definitely get us lost in. 0:17:41.796 --> 0:17:41.996 God. 0:17:43.676 --> 0:17:46.836 Farley proves his outdoor prowess by whipping out some real 0:17:46.876 --> 0:17:51.636 maps of the area to help orient us to our surroundings. 0:17:51.636 --> 0:17:52.996 Okay, here's the Devil's Punt. 0:17:53.156 --> 0:17:58.676 Okay, and there's Burkharp Tree all right. 0:17:58.716 --> 0:18:02.556 There goes over toward Devil's Chairs, so that'd be just 0:18:02.636 --> 0:18:05.196 to the east, goes to south Fork. 0:18:06.916 --> 0:18:10.356 One witness reported seeing Auj and the picnic tables at 0:18:10.356 --> 0:18:14.476 the main trailhead sometime before noon. This witness was a 0:18:14.516 --> 0:18:16.996 local teacher there on a field trip with a bunch 0:18:17.036 --> 0:18:20.556 of elementary school kids. Auj stopped to talk to him. 0:18:20.756 --> 0:18:23.236 He pointed to a jagged mountain in the distance, Mount 0:18:23.276 --> 0:18:26.036 Baden Powell, and said that's where he was headed. 0:18:27.036 --> 0:18:30.836 So the high mountain behind the telephone pole over there, Yeah, 0:18:30.836 --> 0:18:34.916 that's Baden powellin that's where he would go sometimes. How 0:18:34.996 --> 0:18:37.276 tall of the mountain, jeez, that is one of the 0:18:37.356 --> 0:18:40.076 higher ones. Let me think ten thousand ten, I mean 0:18:40.116 --> 0:18:41.076 in this range. 0:18:41.356 --> 0:18:45.116 And he would run from here to that mountain all 0:18:45.116 --> 0:18:46.556 the way over there and then run up it. 0:18:47.236 --> 0:18:50.156 Yeah, he'd run over there, and then there're sitchbacks all 0:18:50.196 --> 0:18:51.596 the way to the top of that mountain. 0:18:53.036 --> 0:18:56.356 Auj was spotted again later in the day, when multiple 0:18:56.396 --> 0:18:59.196 witnesses say they saw him jogging through a campground just 0:18:59.356 --> 0:19:02.356 north of the mountain in the direction of the punch 0:19:02.396 --> 0:19:06.116 Bowl parking lot. But when Farley left his post at 0:19:06.116 --> 0:19:09.596 five PM, Auj's truck was still parked in the lot, 0:19:10.396 --> 0:19:13.396 and it stayed parked there as the evening bloomed over 0:19:13.436 --> 0:19:18.596 the desert, and then close to midnight, Aujy's wife called 0:19:18.636 --> 0:19:20.956 the sheriff station to report him missing. 0:19:48.996 --> 0:19:52.916 As June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight, years its end, Debbie 0:19:52.916 --> 0:19:57.876 Aujay becomes increasingly panicked because her husband, Deputy John Ajay 0:19:58.116 --> 0:20:00.556 told her he'd be home around dark, and by now 0:20:00.596 --> 0:20:03.396 he's several hours late. So she dials up one of 0:20:03.436 --> 0:20:05.316 the sheriff stations where Aujay worked. 0:20:06.396 --> 0:20:10.156 The call comes into the desk and it's from Debbie 0:20:10.236 --> 0:20:13.516 and it says, hey, my husband, who's a deputy, he 0:20:13.596 --> 0:20:16.076 went for a run and he didn't come home. 0:20:17.116 --> 0:20:20.476 Vince Burton was a sergeant in the Antelope Valley. He 0:20:20.596 --> 0:20:23.636 was also Auja's colleague and friend. So he gets on 0:20:23.676 --> 0:20:24.596 the phone with Debbie. 0:20:25.916 --> 0:20:27.436 She was just upset. 0:20:27.756 --> 0:20:28.836 She was crying. 0:20:29.636 --> 0:20:31.916 She was obviously very concerned. 0:20:32.316 --> 0:20:35.196 I just I said, okay, Debbie, we're sending people up there, 0:20:35.436 --> 0:20:37.116 you know, keep you posted. 0:20:38.316 --> 0:20:41.156 Patrol deputies high tail it to the punch bowl, where 0:20:41.156 --> 0:20:45.156 they find Auj's truck, but no Auj. They think maybe 0:20:45.196 --> 0:20:47.956 he got injured, slipped and fell for how to run 0:20:47.956 --> 0:20:52.476 in with some wildlife. So Burton dispatches Search and Rescue 0:20:52.476 --> 0:20:55.596 to the site and he calls in their coordinator, Dave Soer, 0:20:55.836 --> 0:20:57.796 to discuss Auj's likely route. 0:20:58.876 --> 0:21:01.956 And Dave comes in and we pull up a map 0:21:02.036 --> 0:21:05.276 of the area and I told him at that time, 0:21:05.316 --> 0:21:09.596 I said, you know, John's a runner, and he goes, yeah, 0:21:09.636 --> 0:21:12.556 and I said, no, he's a long distance running He's 0:21:12.556 --> 0:21:13.596 an ultra marathoner. 0:21:14.156 --> 0:21:14.916 He's like what. 0:21:16.836 --> 0:21:21.636 Ultra marathoners are running extremists who power through long distances. 0:21:22.676 --> 0:21:25.236 In fact, Auj was scheduled to compete in a one 0:21:25.316 --> 0:21:28.836 hundred mile run the week after he went missing, so 0:21:28.916 --> 0:21:31.596 responders have a hard time wrapping their heads around the 0:21:31.676 --> 0:21:32.636 scale of the search. 0:21:33.756 --> 0:21:36.116 I gave him the best information I could give him. 0:21:36.156 --> 0:21:38.796 You know, don't start your grid pattern so small. 0:21:39.836 --> 0:21:42.876 This is Randy Meggerdley. He was a patrolled deputy for 0:21:42.916 --> 0:21:46.756 the Sheriff's Department and one of Auj's running buddies. He 0:21:46.836 --> 0:21:50.516 reiterates to the command post that Auj was a beast. 0:21:51.076 --> 0:21:54.836 You're running goat trails is basically what I categorize them as. 0:21:55.036 --> 0:21:56.596 What do you mean by that goat trails? 0:21:56.916 --> 0:22:01.436 Well, they're just megshift trails. Sometimes they'll be covered with snow, 0:22:01.796 --> 0:22:05.996 sometimes they'll be covered with mud, crossing rivers. I mean, 0:22:06.636 --> 0:22:09.076 it's crazy what kind of stuff that we were doing. 0:22:10.276 --> 0:22:12.836 There was one that we did. It was hand over 0:22:13.036 --> 0:22:15.556 foot trying to get up this mountain. 0:22:15.996 --> 0:22:16.516 Wow. 0:22:17.076 --> 0:22:21.396 And so part of the activity was figuring out how 0:22:21.436 --> 0:22:21.916 to get to. 0:22:21.876 --> 0:22:22.436 The end of it. 0:22:23.076 --> 0:22:24.516 Yeah, and one piece. 0:22:26.156 --> 0:22:30.156 Hearing Meggerdy talk about ultra marathoners, it sounds like they 0:22:30.196 --> 0:22:34.916 have no off switch. So maybe Auj just overdid it. 0:22:36.236 --> 0:22:41.756 Your brain does some wonky stuff when you're dehydrated, and 0:22:41.796 --> 0:22:43.796 they thought maybe he got on a trail and he 0:22:43.956 --> 0:22:47.076 was doing the forest gump just kept running. 0:22:48.316 --> 0:22:51.236 That's a theory that Auj was doing the forest gump 0:22:51.276 --> 0:22:54.796 and just kept running and got himself into a tailspin 0:22:54.836 --> 0:22:59.196 of dehydration. Responders take note and fan out across the 0:22:59.236 --> 0:22:59.796 search grid. 0:23:00.596 --> 0:23:02.036 I was nice to him, I said, do you know, 0:23:02.116 --> 0:23:04.236 I know the area pretty well if you guys want help? 0:23:04.716 --> 0:23:06.756 Ranger Jack Farley again, and the. 0:23:06.796 --> 0:23:09.716 Guy goes, now, we're search and rescue pretty much know 0:23:09.716 --> 0:23:10.636 what we're doing, you know. 0:23:10.796 --> 0:23:13.516 So I go okay, okay. 0:23:14.636 --> 0:23:17.596 But it doesn't take long for the pros realize they're 0:23:17.596 --> 0:23:18.716 in over their heads. 0:23:19.356 --> 0:23:21.356 So then they're going, hey, are you the guy that 0:23:21.476 --> 0:23:23.396 knows the area? You know, maybe you could give us 0:23:23.396 --> 0:23:24.036 a little help. 0:23:25.036 --> 0:23:28.076 So Farley leads a few groups of deputies and bloodhounds 0:23:28.196 --> 0:23:29.716 down the local trails. 0:23:30.196 --> 0:23:33.156 At one time thought they caught a scent and it 0:23:33.196 --> 0:23:35.996 went up on the trail going toward the Burkehart Trail 0:23:36.036 --> 0:23:38.716 and we had talked about someone saying they heard a gunshot. 0:23:39.396 --> 0:23:42.516 You can't see the house from here, but it's like 0:23:43.236 --> 0:23:45.556 a half mile below the trail up there where the 0:23:45.556 --> 0:23:46.676 people lived that said. 0:23:46.516 --> 0:23:51.236 They heard that the dogs pick up a scent, possibly Aujay's, 0:23:51.716 --> 0:23:55.276 on a trail that's near a local resident. That guy 0:23:55.356 --> 0:23:58.076