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, Ali. And I'm your co-host, Eli. Welcome back, everyone. I just wanted to take a minute at the top just to say a quick apology that we weren't able to bring you an episode last week. COVID hit our household pretty hard and we just needed a good rest and some time to heal. So it's that time of year. Make sure you're washing your hands, everybody. Oh, and happy Halloween. I think this episode comes out officially on Halloween. So happy Halloween. Be safe out there.
If you're going out trick or treating, be safe. We are very blessed this year to be attending some great friend's wedding on Halloween and we're super excited for it. So yeah, if you're going out and celebrating in any capacity, please be safe. But I think we can jump right into this week's episode, which is episode number 107. Let's do it. So just as a quick content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person. Today we're talking about the missing person case of Jared Negrete.
And this takes place in July of 1991 in San Bernardino County, California. But first a little bit about Jared. Jared is 12 years old in July of 1991. He lives with his parents, Felipe and Linda Negrete in El Monte, California. Jared is a shy young man, but he is extremely smart. He's an eighth grader and a proud member of Boy Scout Troop number 538. The Boy Scout Troop is sponsored by his church, the El Monte Congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And now a timeline of events. On Friday, July 19th, 1991, Jared is wearing his Boy Scout uniform, green pants and a tan shirt. He's on his first overnight trip with his Boy Scout Troop. There are five other Scouts and their troop leader, Dennis Knight. This troop planned to hike to the summit of San Gregorio, which is over 11,000 foot summit and the highest point in Southern California. The plan was to hike from Camp Toquits, which is a Boy Scout camp, to the summit.
It takes about a full day to hike to the summit and then hike back down to the base level. So when I was researching this case, most wilderness guides say that this is at minimum like a one camping night hike. So on Friday, as the Boy Scout Troop headed to the summit, Jared was having trouble keeping up with the other hikers. By all accounts, it appears that this was his first time climbing at this elevation and the altitude was getting to him.
It appears that the Boy Scout Troop carried on without him. There are some different reports. Some say that the Scout leader told Jared to stay behind on the trail while they went ahead to the summit and they would come back to get him. Other reports are that Jared just couldn't keep up with the troop and they moved ahead without him. Either way, Jared is left alone on the mountainside. Jared was last seen by a firefighter that was walking the Vivian Creek Trail.
He saw Jared leaving the marked trail and he called out to him that it was safer to stay on the trail. The sighting happened around 5 or 6 p.m. Both times have been reported. There are reports that other hikers saw the troop leader at the summit and mentioned that they were worried about the boy. When the Scout leader couldn't locate Jared, he ends up hiking 12 miles in the dark to be able to report him missing.
By the time Dennis Knight is able to report Jared is missing, darkness has already fallen so authorities couldn't spring into action. But they start making plans to begin searching at daybreak. At 7 a.m. the next morning, Saturday, July 20th, a massive search for Jared is launched. They are hopeful that he is still alive.
While he wasn't dressed for the weather, it got down to around 50 degrees that night and he was only in a t-shirt, but searchers believe that he did have some water with him and that they'll be able to locate him. It's believed that he had about two quarts of water in a canteen. Searchers have to take their time due to the steep terrain. Police also launch helicopters to try to search for him via the air.
However Jared's boy scout uniform would make him blend into the wilderness making it harder to spot from a helicopter. They do attempt to use thermal search from the helicopter during the day, but because it's the middle of July, the temperatures are so hot that surfaces are absorbing the heat and it's making it harder to look for Jared. No sign of Jared is found that first day, but searchers plan to begin at daybreak again the next day. On Sunday, July 21st, Jared has been missing since Friday.
The search starts at dawn. Police and searchers are still hopeful that Jared is alive. On Sunday, they catch a break. They find a set of footprints that match the type of tennis shoes that Jared was wearing. They find the footprints at around the 10,000 foot elevation on the southern slope. San Bernardino County Sheriff Deputy Doruff says, quote, they picked up a set of tracks that they feel pretty good about. That's the most positive thing we've had all day, end quote.
Searchers follow the footprints, but again, when night falls, they have to call the search off. On Monday, July 22nd, right at dawn, searchers are back following the footprints, hoping that they lead to Jared. Searchers follow the footprints until they lead to an area of rock and shale where they lose the trail. Searchers focus on six square miles around the footprints to see if they can find any other sign of Jared.
Searchers are worried that he may have fallen and hurt himself, and that's preventing him from either calling out to searchers or being seen. There are gullies and ravines in the area that are easy to fall into. The Boy Scouts of America also announced that they're going to look into what happened. Quote, obviously, we would be concerned if proper safety protocol was not in fact followed, end quote.
But the scouts say that right now, their efforts are focused on finding Jared, their thought being, let's bring him home first, and then we'll look into what happened. However, as night begins to fall on Monday, the search is called off again. On Tuesday, July 23rd, Jared has been missing for four days now. Police have the scout leader come in with the rest of the scout troop to reenact the last moments that they saw Jared. Searchers are desperate to find his trail again.
It's reported that they do find another set of footprints that could be a match. This time, searchers camp out next to the footprints so they can start searching right at dawn the next day. Police are also starting to look into the possibility that Jared was abducted. As there are no signs of him on the mountain, they can't rule out abduction, but they're also not finding any signs of foul play, so they keep searching on the mountain for him.
On Wednesday, July 24th, Jared has been missing for five days. Right at dawn, those who camped out near the footprints start searching at daybreak. Marines are also joining the search as of Wednesday. The searchers are still optimistic, quote, the rescue teams have a good feeling about this. They aren't looking for a body, but for a live youngster, end quote. They believe the good weather and the abundance of fresh water would all support Jared and help him survive five days in the wild.
One of the best trackers in the country arrives to try to help find Jared. They lead a small team of five and try to focus on finding his trail. The Boy Scouts also come out with preliminary results from their investigation. They acknowledge that the scout leader failed to follow several rules, specifically in supervision, pace, and equipping of hikers.
They point out that two adults should have been on the hike, but there was only one, that scouts were only supposed to move as fast as their slowest hiker, but instead Jared was left behind, and that scouts are supposed to carry trail food and weatherproof clothing on all hikes, but Jared was not properly dressed for the weather. Additionally, the scout leader failed to file a notice that he was taking the troop on a hike.
Jared's parents, Felipe and Linda, do not put any blame on the scout leader. They just want their son home. On Friday, July 26th, Jared has been missing for one week. His parents speak to the local news. His mother Linda says, quote, There are times when I ask God, should we still be hoping? I have thought of all the things that might have happened, but I have faith in God and in Jared. I know he is alive. End quote. Again, searchers remain optimistic that Jared is still alive.
Quote, The probability of survival is very high. He's described as having a good heart and he's not a quitter. End quote. More volunteers come out over the weekend to help search. Hundreds of people take to the mountain to look for Jared. And on Saturday, July 27th, Jared's been missing for eight days. There's a break in the case. They find a camera that belongs to Jared just 45 feet off of the Vivian Creek Trail, near where he was last seen.
It's reported that the camera was found while following footprints that were believed to belong to Jared. Under the camera are some food wrappers, a wrapper from beef jerky and one from a fruit snack. It was reported that the items, the wrappers and the camera, were found tucked under a bush. Police say, quote, The wrappers, which were probably discarded the first day he was lost, give us a direction of travel and we hope we'll find him Monday. We aren't going to just quit looking.
We have somebody's baby out here. End quote. Police are able to develop the film from the camera. Police believe that the camera was dropped on the first or second day that he went missing. There are 12 photos altogether and only one photo that police believe that Jared took after he went missing. Of the 12 photos, 11 of them are of landscapes that would have been seen along the hike. The last photo was a close up of Jared's face. It only shows his eyes, eyebrows and nose.
It appears that Jared did take the picture himself at night and the flash was used. The background is not captured in the photo. Searchers focus around the area where the camera was found, but again, there is no additional sign of Jared.
On Monday, July 29th, Jared's mother Linda rides in a helicopter around the search area talking on a loudspeaker to Jared, telling him to come out from his hiding spot, that he doesn't need to be afraid of these people and that they're here to help, that he's not in trouble. And still, nobody can find Jared. The search for Jared continues for days, starting near the first light of the day and then getting called off only when it was too dark to search anymore.
Finally, after Jared had been missing for 17 days, on Sunday, August 4th, police announce that there is 0% chance that Jared would be found alive at this point and the search is scaled way back. Authorities say, quote, as we've said throughout the entire search, when the probability of survival reaches far below zero and the risk of injury to our people becomes substantially high, the search will be scaled back. We believe we reached the zeroing point a few days ago, end quote.
Overall, nearly 16 different police and search and rescue organizations came out to help assist in the search. Expert trackers and around 200 search and rescue professionals assisted in the search. During the search, they found a wallet that someone had lost over a year ago, a microwave oven, and a plot of marijuana plants with an intricate irrigation system in place. But they never found Jared. At this point in 1991, it was the largest search in the region's history.
Jared's family refuses to give up hope. They ask the governor to revive the full scale search for their son. The governor's office responds with, quote, the sheriff's department makes the judgment call as to whether the search would produce any tangible results, but we'll talk to anybody they want us to talk to to see what can be done, end quote. A full scale search is never revived, but searchers keep going back looking for Jared, just on a much smaller scale.
On September 9th, 1991, so it's been about six weeks since Jared vanished, and his family acknowledges that he likely isn't going to be coming home, and they hold a memorial service for him. Over 500 people attend the service to pay respect to Jared's life. At the service, Jared's uncle hovered in the doorway.
He refused to step foot into the church and later told an elder, quote, to the day I die, I'll believe that this church and the Boy Scouts of America are responsible for my nephew's death, end quote. But that is all we know about the disappearance of Jared Negrete. So if you know anything about the disappearance of Jared Negrete in July of 1991, or his whereabouts today, please call the San Bernardino County Sheriff at 909-387-2978. So that is the case of Jared Negrete.
I was very interested in, obviously, the case as a whole, but the landscape you were speaking about in particular, the San Bernardino and St. Gorgonio Mountain is a place that I lived near for a time in my life. I lived in Santa Monica, California at one point in my life. Even though I'm a midwesterner, I am relatively familiar with this landscape, environment, vegetation, the animals that are in these kinds of mountains.
So I was kind of taken by the story in an investigative sense right up until the very end. And hearing that statement from his uncle, I could really just feel the familial and community impact that this lost boy had. And it's heartbreaking because this was the 90s. And granted, that's—I hate saying it out loud—a while ago now, it's not necessarily of a time where this case was unsolvable. No. This case, it felt like it was right in their hands, and then it slipped through.
It's really disappointing. And like you said, the anger that can really be felt at the loss of this young man, the sense of grief that must be felt to not know where he is or what happened to him, that can deeply be felt here. And I feel it so much for the family. While I don't think that there is any tie or relation to Joseph D'Angelo, aka the Golden State Killer, he did have two victims in San Bernardino, and it kind of was an area that he used as his stomping and murdering grounds.
Not necessarily hiking areas, but I do think it's just kind of worth mentioning that Southern California is a prolific spot or historically has been a prolific spot for serial killers. Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't know how much they looked into the abduction angle here.
But there are a lot of, you know, internet forums, comment sections, all of that, where people do talk about the possibility that Jared was abducted by somebody, that there were nefarious characters living in this area, people in the woods. So that's all I think on the table. And we don't really know to the depth that police investigated that to rule it out because ultimately hundreds, if not thousands of people searched this mountain for a young man and he was not found.
Which seems really remarkable to me when you consider small things that they did end up finding. Again, about the landscape of San Bernardino, the San Bernardino Mountains, the San Gorgonio Mountain, which is also known as Old Greyback Mountain. That's how I was introduced to it. It is so vast.
And when you look at Southern California on a map, when you even look at the San Bernardino Mountains on a map, that area, even if you open up the scope just a little bit, it almost looks like half of Southern California. And when you compare that landscape to, you know, smaller states next door, on a map, it can look almost as big as its own state.
So I do think it's interesting that they found anything because the area is so large, but it also makes sense to me that they did because they were looking for something so specific. I'm really glad you have that perspective because it's so hard for me to imagine. I grew up in the Midwest and I've lived in the Midwest my whole life. So mountains are really foreign to me.
So for me, it feels like thousands of people searching this area, they're finding trails, they found his camera, they found a wallet somebody had lost a year ago, but they couldn't find this boy, like how does that happen? But it makes a lot of sense, like you describing the vastness of it. That's where I think it is absurd that there was a split from this boy, because that landscape is massive. And the elevation changes so much from spot to spot.
I did write down like, did this boy have any skills or survival skills? And I think his footprints kind of speak for himself because he did survive. If he walked that far, it meant that he did it in the daytime because you cannot hike those areas at night. And I imagine his flashlight, if he had one, was relatively small and the lighting capabilities of flashlights back in the 90s are nothing close to what they are now.
So the fact that he did it says to me that he fought to survive out there for quite a while. Yeah, his footprints, from my understanding, it seems like they were going down the mountain, like each time they found them, that they were farther down the mountain. So they were trying to focus farther down. To me, it seemed like he was trying to get back to that Boy Scout camp. To your point about how absurd it is that he was left alone, like it is absurd to me.
I am not a Boy Scout leader, but I have worked in recreational camping and the thought of leaving a kid who was not well known for the mountains. From everything I read, this was his first overnight trip. This was his first time doing a hike like this. The thought of leaving behind a child that does not have those skills and is not comfortable in that setting because you are trying to get to the summit, that goes against everything. Everything. And it was wildly reckless that they did that.
Yeah, my whole body rejected the idea of that happening and it sounds like it is the same for you too. I also wrote down what was up with the leadership of this troop. I know you said that the parents did not point blame at the time, but I have a hard time reckoning with that. And granted, we do not have kids, we have not lost children in this way. I imagine you have to compartmentalize and get right with yourself in a lot of ways to continue to survive this kind of loss.
But personally, I am at least frustrated on their behalf because I just, I do not really understand what happened there. Well, yeah, and the more you kind of mull it over as you are trying to fill in the blanks of the story, you turn back around and it is like, well, why were all these rules broken? Is there something nefarious bubbling under the surface that they were trying to cover up? This trip was not reported to the Boy Scout office, which is supposed to be protocol.
So was someone just being lazy and forgetful at best? Or was someone being purposefully negligent at worst? What happened and why were these mistakes made? On the error of mistakes that I just want to comment on and how probably all of the boys were not properly dressed. Because of the elevation changes and this being a mountainous environment, yes, it is very hot during the day. And like you said, the temperature drops to 50 degrees.
And as time goes on, as Southern California moves into the later seasons, past summer, those temperature differences are even more drastic. They can be 50 degrees during the day and then drop to below freezing at night. The weather did catch me off guard again as somebody who did not grow up in or around mountains that difference.
I know that that kind of happens out in the desert, but I was surprised how drastic it was in the mountains as well, especially for July, which is when Jared went missing. And in some of the landscape photos that Jared took on the camera that was found, it does look like there's snow in certain spots. Like it, it was cold at night. Just to pivot a little bit, I just wanted to briefly mention the, the photo, the last photo of just Jared.
We're going to have it up on our Instagram at cold and missing. Please go look at it. But it is a hauntingly captivating photo because we're trying to fill in so many blank spaces for me. I'm not looking at it, I'm like searching for what, what is he feeling? What is he thinking? What's he trying to communicate right now? But the picture is really devastating that this is the last moment that we have of him, you know, captured.
I think the other most haunting element of this story is her son like calling out to the mountains for him. I can't really get that imagery or just echo out of my mind of what that must felt like for her as a mother, as a parent to like the yearning and longing of just calling out to like echoes of emptiness and to be filled with the possibility that he was still down there. It was quite heartbreaking and I imagine that some people in this family are still here with us.
So my heart really goes out to them. I hope that with the fact that science has grown and changed and that there's more capabilities for searching for people in these types of missing cases that there are answers eventually and that this family has some kind of peace about what happened to this boy.
Definitely. I hope that Jared comes home one way or the other and that his family is able to put him to rest and that they get the answers that they deserve because since 1991 that's a long time to go without answers. And you know, it's a really popular hike. People take to the summit a lot. So it's a popular route. There are people on that trail all the time. So I'm hopeful that at some point somebody will find Jared and be able to give the family those answers.
Again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Jared Negrete in July of 1991, please call the San Bernardino County Sheriff at 909-387-2978. And we'll have pictures of Jared on our Instagram at Cold and Missing as well as that last photo from the camera roll that we were discussing in the episode that'll be on there as well. Again, at Cold and Missing will pop right up.
And if we ever do need to take a week off because something unexpected happens, we'll always post about it there so you can stay updated with the podcast there. Also thank you so much to everyone who's rated and reviewed us these past few weeks. It's been such an honor that we're part of so many weeks and routines and just in people's rotation of their podcasts. It's incredible.
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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. And I'm your co-host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y'all. Stay safe, y'all. And I'll see you next time. Bye.