March 14, 1988. Union Township, Ohio. 18-year old Scott Hilbert leaves a note on his parents’ refrigerator to say that he is borrowing the family car to go visit a friend at Ohio State University, but he never returns and vanishes without a trace. Three-and-a-half weeks later, the abandoned car is discovered 1,700 miles away on the slope of a remote canyon in Mohave County, Arizona and while some of Scott’s belongings are missing, others are scattered outside the vehicle. The odometer shows an additional 2,000 miles which cannot be accounted for and while it seems apparent that someone made a failed attempt to dispose of the car, no one knows why it wound up at this location and Scott is never found.

February 13, 1998. Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. 20-year old Steven Mylan drives away from his family’s residence and never returns, but while there is a record of his car crossing the border into New York state the following day, no one can be certain if Steven was actually driving it. Nearly four months later, the stripped-down car is found over 3,400 kilometres away by the side of a road in Coconino County, Arizona, but there is no trace of Steven anywhere. The evidence seems to indicate that the car was abandoned at an overlook at the Grand Canyon shortly after Steven missing until some local residents stole it and drove it around for a few months, but there is no explanation for why the vehicle wound up there to begin with.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover a pair of baffling unsolved missing persons cases in which the victim’s car was inexplicably found over a great distance away from their home in a remote section of Arizona.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/scott-allen-hilbert

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/accused/2020/05/10/morehead-state-student-scott-hilbert-vanished-1988-murder-suspected/3046938001/?gca-cat=p&gnt-cfr=1

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/where-was-scott-hilbert-when-someone-pushed-his-car-cliff-n390281

https://www.fox19.com/2024/03/13/union-township-police-ask-help-solving-36-year-old-cold-case/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/285799751/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1068971343/

https://charleyproject.org/case/steven-vincent-mylan

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1179136035/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1180198295/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1244679682/

https://azdailysun.com/file-steven-mylan-1998/article_ddd44460-1799-59e3-9522-cb9fe3014dbc.html

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.