The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your host Allie and it will just be me coming to you this week. I know we took last week off and frankly we've taken a lot of weeks off this summer, but this summer, summer of 2025, has really been one for the books in our family. So we have definitely needed just the time, the space. We had dog surgeries, we've had weddings, we've just had trying to enjoy the summer. So thank you so much for being
patient with us. We promise we will be back on our regularly scheduled program soon enough, but I wanted to get on here and bring you another episode this week, even though Eli, my wonderful husband, can't join us. I also just wanted to note on the topic of summer that there may be a little background noise that normally isn't there just because it is very hot where we are, so the AC is pumping just a little bit, so you might... Hear it kick on, kick off, but hopefully
you'll be patient with us. Normally we turn it off, but it is just so hot right now that we can't let the house boil up. So if you'll indulge us, I'd appreciate it so much, but I think we should just go ahead and get into it. We are on a missing person case this week, and today we are covering the missing person case of Garrett Bardsley. And this takes place in the Unita Mountains in Utah in August of 2004. But first, a little bit about Garrett. Garrett Bardsley was just
12 years old when he disappeared. He had actually turned 12 just a few weeks before our timeline picks up. He lived with his family near Elk Ridge, Utah, along a quiet rural road nestled between Elk Ridge and Salem. Garrett was the youngest of four siblings, and by all accounts, he was a shy and timid boy, but one who carried himself with a quiet kindness. His mother, Heidi, and his father, Kevin, describe him as someone who
genuinely wanted to help others. Once, he even suggested to his family that they sell the family business so they could all live in tents and help more people. Garrett was a part of the Church of Latter -day Saints, and he looked forward to being a missionary and helping serve others. He was also a member of Boy Scout Troop 694. It was sponsored by the Salem 8th Latter -day Saint Ward. At the time he went missing, Garrett is 5 feet tall, weighed about 115 pounds, and
had light brown hair and brown eyes. And now, a timeline of events. Thursday, August 19, 2004. That day, Garrett and his father, along with 17 other boys from Troop 694 and six adults, were gearing up for a weekend camping trip in the Unita Mountains. They planned on hiking into the mountains for a few days and setting up camp near Cuberant Lake. As I mentioned, six adult leaders came along, and the plan was simple. A quiet, pressure -free weekend before the boys
started school again. Garrett was due to start middle school that following Wednesday. The troop leaders didn't want the boys to worry about earning merit badges. They truly wanted the weekend to just be relaxing and spending time with each other. This wasn't Garrett's first camping trip. He had actually just returned from a week -long outing where he had even earned his wilderness
survival merit badge. The boys and leaders hiked into the mountains and set up camp near the lake, about 10 ,000 feet above sea level, so they were up in the mountains. The next day, Friday, August 20, 2004. That morning, Garrett and his dad headed down to Cuberant Lake to fish. Around 8 a .m., Garrett slipped and stepped into the chilly water, soaking his shoes, socks, and pants. At first,
he laughed when he got wet. But soon, the cold got to him, and his father sent him back to the camp to change into dry socks, shoes, and pants. Garrett took his fishing pole and headed back towards camp. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, red sweatpants, t -shirt, and Converse shoes. Kevin watched his son start back towards the camp, keeping his eyes on him as he made his way. The walk back to camp wasn't too far. about 150 yards or 137 meters for our
overseas listeners. Kevin kept his eyes on Garrett as he walked. He even yelled out to him once when he started to veer off the path that would get him towards camp. Kevin says, quote, as he went around the lake, I watched him because that's what fathers do. And then I watched him go off into the trees. According to reports, something at the lake grabbed Kevin's attention, so he took his eyes off Garrett for a moment, and when he looked back, his son had disappeared into
the trees. But Kevin wasn't panicked at this point. He assumed he had just walked out of eyesight towards the camp. About 15 minutes later, Kevin returned to the camp as well and learned that no one had seen his son. At first, he tried not to panic. But quickly, the adults started searching. Everyone in the camp assumed Garrett must be close by. He would be able to hear them yelling, or they would be able to see each other in the
distance. However, with each passing minute, and with every yell that went unanswered, panic settled over the Boy Scout troop. By 11 a .m., after nearly three hours of the Boy Scouts searching, the Summit County Sheriff's Office was notified. Rain and hail were moving into the area, so it was difficult to start the search, but quickly, police, search and rescue, and helicopters were launched in the area. The helicopters were equipped with infrared cameras to help aid in the search.
Professional search and rescuers showed up, and they noted how easy it was to get turned around in the area where Garrett was last seen. There were no major landmarks, and everything kind of looked the same. One official said it was like the surface of the moon. The Boy Scout troop, police, search and rescue, they searched all day and into the evening. However, due to the ruggedness of the area, when darkness fell, they
had to call the search off for the night. There had been no sign of Garrett since he was last seen walking away back to the camp. On Saturday, August 21st, the next day, search efforts resumed at first light. More crews arrived and volunteers started arriving to help in the search. They searched all day looking for a sign of Garrett. But again, nothing was found. The search started to get more intense and it was stressed how important
it was to find Garrett. Even though it was August and the end of summer, the temperatures dropped near freezing in the mountains. Garrett was not dressed to handle that kind of weather, and he didn't have any provisions with him. He didn't have any food, he didn't have any water, and he didn't have any extra clothing to help keep him warm. Again, as night fell, the search was
called off. The next day, Sunday, August 22nd, the search expanded to over 200 people and four square miles from where Garrett was last seen. Garrett's mother, Heidi, arrived at the mountain to help the search. She had been on a cruise with her parents, so it took some time to get word to her, but she got there as soon as she could. Years later, she'll say that when she arrived at the mountain, she had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to get Garrett out of there.
Again, helicopters were launched and they scanned the area and search dogs scoured the woods. Sheriff Dave Edmonds told reporters, quote, not even a trace. The main concern now is we have to assume we're searching for someone who is non -responsive. Up until this point, searchers had been calling and looking for Garrett, and there had been no responses. The search area had been expanded greatly from where Garrett was last seen, and
still no trace of him. Searchers are now focusing on searching for an unresponsive person, taking more care to check under brush and low to the ground. Again that night, as the search was called off, the temperatures dropped near freezing. On Monday, August 23rd, as news continued to spread about Garrett being missing, hundreds of volunteers came out to help, including hunters and even the Spanish Fork High School football
team, where Garrett's older brother played. By the end of this day, 36 square miles had been searched, and officials began preparing the family for the worst. Still, the Bardsleys held on to hope that they would find Garrett. and they would be able to bring him off the mountain. The search started to shift gears the next day, so this is Tuesday, August 24th. Garrett has been missing for four days now. The search turns more technical. Crews checked dangerous ravines and cliffs while
rain and snow started to move in. However, that day, a searcher spotted a Nike sock on a steep boulder field about half a mile from where Garrett was last seen. Sheriff Edmunds said it appeared to have been wadded up after being removed from a wet foot, which was consistent with what they knew about Garrett, him having stepped into the lake and gotten his socks and shoes wet. The sock looked like Garrett's other socks. However, it's never been confirmed if this truly was his
sock. On Wednesday, August 25th, Garrett has been missing for five days. and Wednesday would have been his first day of middle school. Garrett's classmates were very aware of Garrett's absence that day. Back on the mountain, the search continued for days, starting at first light and wrapping up when it got dark. Professional search and rescue crews were working the rough terrain. The search also changed gears with each passing day. It became more of a recovery of a body than
finding a lost Boy Scout. By Sunday, August 29th, Garrett had been missing for 10 days at this point. The search is officially called off. Sheriff Edmonds says, The Bardsleys were devastated that there had been no sign of Garrett and that there were so many unanswered questions. Kevin, Garrett's dad, wanted to keep the search going until the snow fell. Throughout all of fall of 2004, the family organized private searches almost every
weekend until snow made it impossible. In November, nearly three months after Garrett went missing, they held a memorial service inviting community and volunteers to remember Garrett. In December of 2004, Garrett's school, family, and church raised nearly $17 ,000 to build a school in his name in Ecuador. a place he had dreamed of visiting to help others. The Bardsleys also founded the Garrett Bardsley Foundation, which was dedicated to helping families find their missing loved
ones. In July of 2005, nearly a year after Garrett disappeared, the family started to organize one large -scale search, and they said this would be the final one unless they found something compelling on the mountain. Hundreds of volunteers joined, combing the mountain for days, searching for anything, clothing, a piece of his fishing pole, any sign at all. But nothing conclusive was ever found, and the Bardsleys officially
called off their search for Garrett. Over the years, Garrett's case would come back into the media, mostly when other people got lost in the Unita Mountains. It's an area where others have gotten lost, but Garrett... is rare in that he's one of the only ones who has never been found. Others have gotten lost and died on the mountain, but their bodies were able to be recovered after a season or two. However, no sign of Garrett
has ever been found. So with that, if you have any information about Garrett Bardsley, or if you find yourself hiking in the Unita Mountains and find something unusual, Garrett's family asked that you report it to the Summit County Sheriff's Office at 435 -615 -3600. So that is the missing person case of Garrett Bardsley. When I first came across Garrett's case, you know, I really couldn't help but think of another case that we've actually covered here before
on the podcast. In episode 107, we cover the missing person case of Jared Negrete. And he was a 12 -year -old boy who went missing in mountains in California, not Utah. But he was also a Boy Scout and was also part of the Latter -day Saints Church. So they are similar in some ways, but obviously different in a lot of others. In Jared's case, in case you need a refresher or maybe you haven't listened to it, there was evidence found of him. They found his camera and were able to
develop the photographs on the camera. And one of the last photographs seemed to be a picture of Jared himself. However, in this case, Garrett's case, like I mentioned several times throughout the timeline, no trace of him has ever been found. No clothing, not the fishing pole he had, nothing. For me, some of the questions that I had in this case, you know, as I was reading through the research, some of it was just like, how rugged
is it actually in the Unita Mountains? And, you know, I have never seen a boulder field, you know, in my life. So, you know, I started Googling these pictures and the mountains and specifically the Cuberant Basin, where Cuberant Lake is, where
Garrett was last seen. and it is very rugged up there a lot of hikers a lot of the searchers even commented on how easy it was to get turned around there's not major landmarks and it does seem like they were doing a little bit of like off -trail camping and hiking so that also makes it more difficult and it's very rugged terrain out there it's very difficult to get around and a boulder field I mean, it sounds exactly like
it, just a field full of rocks. It really does kind of look like the surface of the moon, as one of the searchers said that I mentioned in the timeline. So it is very rugged, and it makes sense then how someone could go missing in about 150 yards, even while his dad had his eyes on him for a lot of the way. It does seem like there was a very slim window. We know that Garrett's dad, you know, walked back about 15 minutes after
him. So it's a small window where he got lost, just very lost to the point where he couldn't hear people when they called for him or see people or find his camp. Some of the questions that I have in this case, you know, if I could sit down and just know anything and everything about the case and ask all the questions of everyone that was there. One thing I would want to know is just was anybody else at the lake? Where were
everybody when Garrett went missing? So we know Garrett and his dad, Kevin, they are at the lake. But the Boy Scouts, there's, you know, about 16, 15 other kids. Where are they during this time? Are they also fishing? Are they at the camp? Are they doing other activities? Are they hiking? You know, what's going on during this time? Or maybe are they still sleeping? It was around 8 a .m. Maybe Garrett and his dad, Kevin, got up early to kind of go do this special on
their own. We also know that there were six adults on the trip. So again, where were all the adults? What were they doing? And what was happening? Exactly. I would just love to know everyone's whereabouts. It definitely seems like there were people at the camp. We know this because when Kevin arrives back at the campsite, he talks to people and learns that they have not seen Garrett. He hadn't come back through. So I know there were some people there, but again, I just
wonder how many people were there. Did they see anything? Did anybody see Garrett? I assume... If anybody had seen anything, they have told police this by now, but it's just, it's always bewildering to me when somebody goes missing in a very short distance and in a very short amount of time, and there's no trace of them. Like, this is truly like he vanished. I would also be curious to know, just at that time, were other people hiking or camping in the mountains,
rather? You know, outside of the Boy Scouts, were... Was anybody else there in the woods that they know of? They might not know. Really rugged terrain. Somebody could have been there and got out before they even knew anybody was missing. But I would be curious to just know if there were any other people there. And just what did they hear? Did they hear the Boy Scouts? Could you hear people up there? You know, that's something
I would be curious about. Like, does sound bounce around and make it confusing where it's coming
from? Or can you... here long distances or does the mountain break it up I don't know I didn't grow up in mountains I've honestly never been in the mountains at all so it's very like foreign terrain to me it's very hard sometimes for me to imagine what it's really like to be in a mountain or a basin very interesting to me another thing just to kind of mention about these mountains and something that was kind of hard to wrap my brain around I mentioned it at the top but it
is so hot right now where we are in the United States. So hearing about this case happening in late August, that's typically a pretty hot time here in the States. So it's hard to imagine an area where it gets near freezing when it's
where I'm sitting, it's 90 degrees. But when I look at the unita mountains and just their weather today like it drops down into the 40s so it does get cold the weather there is another factor in all of this we know that the day he went missing rain came in hail came in and shortly after snow started to fall so all of that really made it difficult to find any sign of garrett i really hope in this case that somebody comes across some evidence of Garrett and the family
is able to get answers. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have a loved one lost in the wilderness, to kind of feel like you know exactly where they should be, like he should be right here, and just not being able to find him, have hundreds of people and not be able to find him in a very vast area, maddening that it's like well he should be close by you know when they first noticed he went missing it's like he should be close by how far can you get
in 15 -20 minutes how far can someone get but in these mountains again and again I saw reports of other people going missing other boy scouts went missing in this area so it is very common for folks to go missing but like I said before they are either found alive which was the case with other boy scouts or their bodies do turn up later but I hope in this case that the family is able to get answers and closure or maybe closure isn't quite the right word I don't know if something
like this ever closes in your life but just to have those answers and To know where Garrett is, you know, if they could bring him off the mountain and lay him to rest somewhere where they just know he is, you know, maybe that would be like really special or meaningful. But his family has done amazing things in his name. The Garrett Bardsley Foundation was active up until 2019, but they were actively helping search for
missing people. They would show up, they would help organize volunteers and help organize the searches since they had so much experience. So this family really gave a lot to others who have been in this position. And, you know, I talked about other Boy Scouts who went missing, but they were part of the effort that found a Boy Scout after four days in the mountains alone. And just amazing, incredible work, incredible advocacy work for missing people and really using
Garrett's name. You know, just the like unfortunate life experience and knowledge to like help others who are going through the same thing. And I think that's a really beautiful thing to, you know, turn pain into purpose almost. Like that's really commendable. And it was so cool to see the efforts that they did. So I hope the family is able to continue to celebrate Garrett and honor his memory
in whatever way feels good for them. I do hope that when somebody's up there camping, they come across some evidence of Garrett that we can hand his family and just give them a little piece of him back. But again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Garrett Bardsley in August of 2004 or his whereabouts today, or if you find yourself hiking in the Unitas Mountains and see something unusual, please call the Summit
County Sheriff's Office at 435 -615 -3600. I just wanted to take a quick second here at the end of the episode, just if you're new here or, you know, maybe if you've been a longtime listener and you're just wondering why I picked Garrett's case, since it doesn't kind of fall into, you know, something nefarious necessarily happening. Again, This is Cold and Missing. We cover cold cases and missing people, and Garrett is a missing
person. So I wanted to keep his memory alive, keep his name out there, and there's still closure that's needed for this family. So by my definition, it is absolutely a case that we should cover here and that should get attention. He's a 12 -year -old boy that went missing who's never come home. I'm always going to talk about those
cases. I just wanted to mention that in case you're new and kind of wondering what the vibe is I know there's not necessarily a crime element that happened here but I think all missing people deserve coverage even if there isn't you know a crime attached to their disappearance I think they deserve. to be talked about and to be looked after and to be looked for. So that is why we covered Garrett's case. We will have his picture up on our Instagram at coldandmissing. So if
you're not, please follow us there. We post about active missing person cases going on. And also if we need to take a week off, we always post on there that we're taking the week off and when you can expect to hear from us again. So follow us there to make sure you're staying updated and just kind of in the loop on Missing cases, cold cases, we post a lot on our story. So please follow us there. If you have a moment today, if you could, leave us a review in your podcast
app. It means so much to us and it helps other people find the podcast, find these cases, listen to these cases. So many reviews that have been left talk about how these are cases that aren't covered other places or that are new to people, even people who are deep in the true crime community. We're covering a lot of cases here that aren't necessarily covered anywhere else. Of course, some are, but sometimes we are the first podcast
covering a case. So if you've heard a new case here, please share it with others and leave us a review. It would mean so much. Five stars goes a long way, even if you don't think we're a five -star podcast. It goes a long way in just helping this get out there. So please, five stars. Please, please, please. And we have a website, www .coldandmissing .com. All our episodes are also on there, along
with official transcripts. So I go in, I edit them, I make sure that everything is spelled correctly, spelling of names, places, things like that. I know sometimes the automatic transcripts that are popping up in podcast players aren't always accurate. So if you are looking for accurate transcripts, if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can find them at coldandmissing .com. But that is all I have for you this week.
Thank you so much for sticking with Cold and Missing, for coming back even though we've taken several weeks off. I appreciate you coming back, of being a part of your week. It really means so much. So thank you for listening. Have a great week and stay safe, y 'all.