← True Crime Garage
True Crime Garage
Dark Side of the Mountain /// Part 2 /// 883
00:51:31
Two men - each possibly grappling with his own version of a mid-life crisis - vanish 10 months apart from the same, tiny town in the Colorado Rockies under eerily similar circumstances. In September of 1987, a 47-year-old man and his faithful dog vanished from the near-ghost town of Silver Plume, Colorado. Months later in August 1988 another man, staring down the barrel of 50 years of age, retraced the missing man’s steps to investigate the mystery - and he too - disappeared. This is the true story of Tom Young who went missing on the dark side of the mountain, and too the story of Keith Reinhard who may have vanished forever.
Loading summary
Transcript100 lines
- [00:00]
A
Taking care of your money is taking care of your mental health. That's why I use Experian, my big financial friend. With the Experian app, I can check my FICO score, explore savings tools, and get matched with credit card offers. Some cards are labeled no Ding Decline, which means if I'm not approved, they won't hurt my credit scores. That's confidence I can count on. Download the Experian app today. It's free. Applying for no Ding Decline cards won't hurt your credit scores. If you aren't initially approved. Initial approval will result in a hard inquiry which may impact your credit scores. Experian Score Holiday Gifts Everyone wants for way less at your Nordstrom Rack store. Save on Ugg, Nike, Rag and Bone, Vince Frame, Kurt Geiger, London, and more.
- [00:41]
B
Because there's always something new. I'm giving all the gifts this year with that extra 5% off when I use my Nordstrom credit card.
- [00:47]
A
Santa who join the Nordy Club at Nordstrom Rack to unlock our best deals. It's easy. Big gifts, big perks, big. That's why you rack.
- [01:27]
C
Foreign.
- [01:37]
B
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me, as always, is a man with a reminder that there are no answers here. When you look out, you don't see. In here is the captain.
- [01:52]
C
It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
- [01:59]
B
Today. Oh, we love it. We are back at it again with some more delicious Wanderlust IPA from Breakside Brewery, employee owned. Just like True Crime Garage, this is the gold standard of traditional IPAs. Having won many awards over the years and inducted into the SIP Northwest Beer hall of Fame back in 2017. We give it four and a half bottle caps out of five. And here's a cheers and praise and thank you to some of our good garage friends that are destined for the hall of Fame themselves. First up, we have Pick Pack Pimp in Louisville, Kentucky.
- [02:44]
C
And a big we like your chip goes out to Aaron and Cody in Springfield, Missouri.
- [02:48]
B
Next up, here's a cheers to the Cummings family Firearms live from free or die, N.H. and last but certainly not least, we have Carrie and Brad Sigler from Columbia, Missouri. Everybody we just mentioned, they helped us fill up the old garage fridge for this week's shows and for that we thank you.
- [03:08]
C
Yeah, BWWAN Beer Run. If you need more True Crime Garage for your earballs and you know you do, check out our bonus show off the record on Patreon and Apple podcast subscription. And Colonel, that's enough of the be as ne.
- [03:23]
B
All right everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. In the afternoon of August 7, 1988, 49 year old Keith Reinhard walked off into the distance, presumably to take a hike in the mountains. When Keith failed to return by the following morning, his absence did not go unnoticed. His buddy Ted Parker reported Keith missing to the local authorities. It dawns on his friend and his friends that if Keith did go off to climb Mount Pendleton as he had said he was going to, perhaps he wasn't joking. And maybe he had suffered a fall or was injured in some kind of hiking incident or experienced an unfortunate account encounter with a wild animal. So the reports here Captain, is while it was partly cloudy in 75 degrees when Keith presumably left for the mountain, even in August, even in the month of August, the weather can turn rapidly. This is the mountains night. Temperatures can dip as low as 40 degrees this time of year. Moreover, the risk of exposure is real, as is that threat from wildlife such as a mountain lion or bears. The Clear Creek County Sheriff's Department, they jump into action right away, organizing a massive search and rescue operation comprised of an excess of 125 men and a dozen trained dogs. This from the Colorado Alpine Rescue Team. So we have ground searchers, ground rescuers who spend the next seven days searching the rugged and difficult terrain on the side of the mountain. So they're combing the 3,000 vertical feet on a 60 degree slope. The following day they are joined by an aerial search team with army helicopters and small planes dispatched to fly over Pendleton Mountain in an attempt to locate the missing man. This is all. All this effort is met with no success. Although one canine searcher appeared to pick up Keith's scent, two other search dogs failed to alert and it did not lead to any significant discovery. Sources report that searchers felt like it was looking for the famous needle in a haystack. Their task was made exponentially more difficult by the fact that Keith had taken off with no backpack, food or other supplies. So the more that Keith would have brought with him up into the mountain would be more ways of potentially tracking his movements.
- [06:39]
C
Yeah, Hansel and Gretel leaving breadcrumbs.
- [06:42]
B
Searchers at one point were encouraged when they discovered shoe prints consistent with that of tennis shoes that could possibly have been left by Keith within the search area. However, this turns out to be a false lead rather quickly as they quickly find out that shoe prints were found all over the Mountain. And there is nothing specific tying them to their missing man. And then on August 12, the search for the missing sports rider suffers a tragic blow when a single engine Cessna 182 plane operated by Civil Air Patrol crashes on a low ridge into the rocky Colorado Rockies, killing pilot Terry Leadens. Another passenger, the spotter, who was identified as Donald Drobney, is seriously injured in this crash as well. Donald survives, thankfully. Unfortunately, Terry does not.
- [07:46]
C
Well, very sad, because they're probably volunteering their time to try to find this missing individual. And the terrain is going to be your nemesis. If it was a flat plane you can see for miles with him going missing in this location, you really have to exert a crazy amount of effort just to get into different locations to search for this individual.
- [08:12]
B
Yeah. And a search that started off with 125 good folks, almost as many people that lived there. Well, that. And so that was sort of an overview of the search that would last seven days. The crash that took place is about five days into this massive search effort. But following that terrible accident and then several days of heavy rainstorms, the search for Keith Reinhardt was called off on Sunday, August 14th. And unfortunately, it ended with no clues as to his whereabouts. And this was using all those ground searchers, along with all of those dogs and helicopters and planes that had canvassed this rugged terrain, in an attempt to locate the missing sports rider. For the first time in its 30 year history, the Alpine rescue squad failed to locate and bring home the object of their search, breaking its previously perfect record. Keith's son Sven tells the press that his father's friends never gave up hope. Even after the search was called off, they declared that their intention was to band together and continue to search themselves, which did in fact take place, but again to the same result, where they end up with no clues as to what happened to Heath Reinhardt. When his friends searched the apartment tucked behind that church that Keith was renting, they discover what they think to be potentially a clue. But it would be a strange one. A strange clue. So next to his open computer is a recent newspaper article about the discovery of Tom Young's remains found in the Rockies, featuring the headline Tom Young's Body Foundation. On the hard drive is a draft of his unfinished novel, which friends know is based on the disappearance, naming his character Guy Gypsum, which seems to be. Again, this is other people's interpretation, but it's regularly reported that it's an amalgamation of both Keith, who is missing, and the deceased Tom Young. And they state that Keith has outlined a story which reads like a recounting of his own disappearance. So before Keith had set off on this uncharacteristic late afternoon hike, the final words he had written were as follows. Guy gypsum changed into some hiking boots and donned a heavy flannel shirt. He understood it all now. And his motivation. Guy closed the door, then walked off towards the lush, shadowless Colorado forest above, end quote. Investigators speculate whether this line implied Keith had been considering suicide, Although again, being in com conversation in communication with his wife Carolyn, as well as his grown children, the family says that this would be extremely out of character for Keith's positive outlook, upbeat outlook, optimistic personality. And remember, we talked about, too, it sounded like Keith was excited, quite excited at the prospect of covering Michael Jordan in the Chicago Bulls when he did, in fact, return to work after this trip.
- [11:49]
C
Yeah, he almost seemed like this trip was to reinvigorate himself into life. So that is completely the opposite of somebody that's suicidal. But we have to remember that sometimes suicide is spontaneous. And so maybe there was some stuff going on that he wasn't letting his friends and family know about.
- [12:13]
B
Can be impulsive, too, right? Now, Keith Reinhardt, sadly, has never been seen since that day. And this is more than three decades ago, since the day he told several folks around town, including his good friend Ted Parker, that he intended to hike to the top of the mountain. Tom Young's death and the death of his best friend and companion, his dog, Gus, also remain a mystery. So what we are ultimately left with here, Captain, is a bevy of confounding questions. Right.
- [12:43]
C
Right.
- [12:43]
B
What happened to Keith Reinhardt? Were Tom Young and his dog killed? If so, by who? Or was that a suicide? If something nefarious happened to both of these gentlemen, are their cases related in any way? So let's explore something for a minute here. Let's pretend that both Tom Young and Keith Reinhardt were, in fact, killed. Somebody wanted Keith to disappear. Somebody wanted Tom Young gone as well.
- [13:18]
C
What's the motive?
- [13:19]
B
What's the motive? The first thing I would look at is beyond motive, because the first thing I would look at is with Tom Young and Keith Reinhardt situation. If they were both taken out by somebody, they share a very strong commonality. And that commonality is Ted Parker, who they're both renting space from in Silver Plume right now. It's not a.
- [13:47]
C
The murderous Tom Parker.
- [13:49]
B
It's not a very long skip and a jump to get to a conclusion that they probably shared a lot of commonalities within the Town of Silver Plume, just based off of what a small, tight knit community it was.
- [14:04]
C
Correct.
- [14:05]
B
But for us looking at this thing a thousand miles away, he is the thing that stands out the most. A couple things that are very different from their situations, however, is Tom Young is not reported missing for a considerable amount of time. Keith Reinhart is reported missing the next day after he was to go on this hike. And as Parker puts it, he says, I was asked to go with him because I was the guy that usually would get him to go on hikes with me.
- [14:35]
C
Right. But if I'm the investigator, I want to know, did he go on that hike or does he have an alibi for that time period?
- [14:42]
B
Exactly, exactly. And those are good questions. And I don't know how quick they were looking into answering that question. I think they were more concerned that Keith did in fact go on this hike and we got to go find him. He's up there somewhere. Maybe a broken ankle or something has happened to him. And we have this very skilled rescue team at our beck and call. Let's send him up there and, and get this guy and bring him off of the mountain.
- [15:17]
C
Right.
- [15:18]
B
While I sit here three decades later, I don't have great answers to any of these questions.
- [15:25]
C
Well, that's because you're an. You're an idiot.
- [15:28]
B
And this is. This is a mystery layered with another mystery. Layered with another mystery.
- [15:36]
C
Right.
- [15:37]
B
And has continued to be that way for many folks for a lot of years. Now, some additional information here that I do want to get into. This case has been featured twice on Unsolved Mysteries, amongst other places. First in season two with the late, great Robert Stack, and then again in season six with Dennis Frank Farina.
- [16:03]
C
I also enjoyed listening to our buddies from Going West. They covered this a long time ago, but their coverage was really good.
- [16:12]
B
I'm gonna have to check that one out. Now. The Tom Young portion of this story, to me is the most frustrating part of the research. And then trying to tell this story, this true crime story in the best way that we can. If, in fact, Tom Young took his own life, and let's also say, if in fact Keith Reinhardt, an inexperienced hiker, went up there into the mountains, you could have a situation where it was a suicide. And that disappearance, suicide. Inspired this wannabe novelist to live in the story and take this hike. And while an inexperienced hiker, he encounters some trouble up there, and he was just simply never recovered. And we have no real crime other than a still very mysterious story to report to you. But I think the Door is open, wide open on so many other possibilities here.
- [17:15]
C
Right.
- [17:15]
B
And we're not the first to look at this and be very curious about all of our findings. But it goes back to me, to this Tom Young reporting. The most, the most frustrating part of this to me is the reporting on Tom Young's case because we are 10 years, almost 10 years into our garage. Life sentence.
- [17:39]
C
Yeah. I think our anniversary is next month maybe.
- [17:42]
B
Yeah. And we've been, we've had many requests for this case over the years. And I gotta say, I've looked into it. Each time it's requested, I look into it briefly. And I was always kind of turned off because my thought has always been the reports I always found, Captain, when it's been suggested, say that Tom Young committed suicide. And for me, it seemed definitive on those times, on those occasions when I looked into it. And so for me, I thought there's so many other cases out there that are unsolved cases that deserve to be presented to the public where here it seems likely to me that there's no real crime. There's, there's a man who took his own life and then there's a man that got lost in the woods. But when you circle back and do further digging on the Tom Young situation.
- [18:39]
C
Right.
- [18:40]
B
You realize very quickly that it's not so cut and dried. Right. So the Tom Young portion of this is very frustrating. I do have a call into the local authorities requesting an interview view to clear this matter up. And I'm hoping to have that opportunity to do so. Because this could simply be a simple mix up or good versus bad reporting about the outcome of the Tom Young death investigation because it's reported vastly different depending on the source. And to show you the extremes of what the result of Tom Young's death investigation reporting is, I offer up these three examples. There's many examples out there. But to try to present it in a clear and concise manner, I picked these three. First from Unsolved Mysteries and it states, On July 31, 1988, ten months after Tom Young disappeared, two hunters found the remains of Tom and his dog in the mountains near Silver, near Silver Plume. Each had died from a bullet wound to the head. Dave Danour of the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Department was one of the first investigators to arrive on the scene. And he says, quote, they were up there exploring some territory for bow hunting season, which was coming up, and they found his remains. He's referring to the hunters. Also found at the scene was a revolver. In a subsequent investigation, we Found out that Tom had purchased a gun approximately four days before he was last known to be in Silver Plume. The Tom Young case is closed and it has been ruled a suicide both by the coroner's office and by the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Department. So that seems pretty simple. The sheriff's department, the coroner, agree this man took his own life. There's no more need for investigation. However, let's explore something 10 years after. So this is 10 years after Keith Reinhart goes missing. So almost 11 years after Tom Young went missing. This is from a Chicago Times article on the 10 year anniversary of Keith's disappearance. So August 7, 1998. I do want to make sure that I include the lead in for this before I get to the Tom Young portion, because this was actually written not by an investigative journalist. This was written by another sports writer from the Chicago area. So years later, Jim o' Donnell wrote about Keith Reinhardt. Jim, like Keith, was a sports writer for Chicago and the surrounding area. Jim wrote in the Chicago sun times the following August 7, 1988, Keith Reinhardt walked off the face of the earth. And he has never been seen, tracked or traced since. No bones, no body, no credit card trail, no postcards from the edge, nothing. Just an untouchably odd legacy. An unsolved mountain mystery that left many lives reordered in its wake. He ends the article by saying, a couple of years ago, a California based writer allegedly uncovered evidence that a major multinational defense contractor had been illegally dumping plutonium in the abandoned Colorado silver mines. The writer also alleged that Tom Young had been aware of the environmental illegalities.
- [22:39]
C
Somebody needs to contact Doc Brown and Marty McFly.
- [22:42]
B
And was in the process of whistleblowing when he was murdered. The writer also states that Reinhard was likely murdered because he had shown far too much interest in Young's disappearance. The writer claims to have been present. I'm sorry. The writer claims to have presented enough evidence to the sheriff's department in Silver Plume that the status of the file on Young has changed from suicide to unsolved. No one at the sheriff's department this week would confirm or deny that. So I was able to track down what book this came from.
- [23:24]
C
Right.
- [23:24]
B
And you can see the extremes here. First, it's unsolved mysteries, open and closed case. We ruled it a suicide. The second one is, well, it was ruled this way, but according to this writer, it was changed to unsolved. And that's how a lot of the story goes. In fact, it gets even more intricate than that. And we'll see Based off of this, this is from that California based writer in a book titled Brother Tony's Boys by Mike Echols. Now, I want to be clear here. This is not a book about Tom Young's case or about Keith Reinhard's case. They are in this book. They are a portion of this much, much larger story. But the pages that I present to you are this and reads as follows. In October of 1987, Tom and his Labrador retriever Gus disappeared without a trace. In June of 1988, a friend of Tom's, Keith Reinhardt, a sports writer for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Illinois, took a sabbatical move to Silver Plume and began researching and writing a book about Tom's disappearance. And soon phoned his wife Carolyn and told her, quote, I'm working on a big story, end quote. On August 7, 1988, Keith went for an afternoon hike in the mountains but failed to return. Two weeks later, during a massive search for him, the remains of Tom and Gus, both shot to death, were found two miles outside of Silver Plume 10 months after they had disappeared. Keith remains missing to this day. So we should jump in there real quick, Captain, and point out that this timeline doesn't match up with the timeline that we've presented in the timeline that is most commonly discussed in this case that the bodies of Tom and Gus were found prior to Keith going out to hike in the mountains.
- [25:25]
C
Right.
- [25:26]
B
Continuing with the book, the Clear Creek coroner ruled Tom's death a suicide. Six months later, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation examined the evidence and found that whereas Tom's.25 caliber pistol was discovered near his body, Tom and Gus had both been shot to death with multiple rounds of a.45 caliber weapon. Tom's death was reclassified as an unsolved homicide and remains so as of 1996. It goes on to say during the 1989 Dash 90 television season, NBC's television's Unsolved Mysteries presented a segment detailing the story. In 1991, I, not me, but the author of this book, Mike Echols, says, I spoke with the segment's field producer Todd Miller, and he told me that his experiences in Clear Creek county dealing with local law enforcement in researching and filming the story while were the strangest he had ever experienced with Unsolved Mysteries goes on to say In June of 1989, over 7,070 FBI agents swooped down on Rocky Flats with its nearly 20 tons of plutonium, more than at any other nuclear plant in the US and seized two trailer truckloads. Documents from the plant's operator defense contractor Rockwell International. Now that's a pretty big swing in the reporting of the outcome into the investigation of the death of Tom Young. Pandora makes it easy for you to find your favorite music. Discover new artists and genres by selecting any song or album and we'll make you a personalized station for free. Download on the Apple App Store or Google Play and enjoy the soundtrack to your life. If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no At Mint Mobile their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. Plans start at $15 a month at Mint. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. It's just that easy. Start saving money and get the same great quality wireless service that you are used to with with Mint Mobile. People are saving 40, 50, $60 a month with Mint Mobile and getting the same great service. Ready to say yes to saying no? Make the switch@mintmobile.com TCG that's mintmobile.com TCG Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
- [28:55]
A
Netcredit is here to say yes because you're more than a credit score. Apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day. Loans offered by Netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by Netcredit Applications subject to review and approval. Learn more@netcredit.com partners score holiday gifts everyone wants for way less at your Nordstrom Rack store. Save on Ugg, Nike, Rag and Bone, Vince Frame, Kurt Geiger, London and more.
- [29:21]
B
Because there's always something new. I'm giving all the gifts this year with that extra 5% off when I use my Nordstrom credit card.
- [29:28]
A
Santa who join the Nordy Club at Nordstrom Rack to unlock our best deals. It's easy. Big gifts, big perks. That's why you Rack.
- [29:39]
C
Foreign we are back. Cheers mates. Talk. Hands in the air. Cheers to you Colonel.
- [29:55]
B
Cheers to you Captain.
- [29:57]
C
Now my thought on the reporting is this new information came out or came to light and that's why the report reporting is different.
- [30:05]
B
I hope that's correct, right? I mean all of those, all of the reporting could be good reporting if that is in fact the case. Because it wouldn't be the first time that you start digging and looking into a case and other folks start doing it as well. And it's reported one way on day one or day 365. But then on day 1000 or day 5000, it's reported quite differently because a lot more had been uncovered.
- [30:33]
C
Well, let me tell you what sticks out in my mind when Keith calls his wife and says, hey, I'm working on something big. Now, some people just everything in their life is big. They're the center of the story. They're the center of the universe. They're the man on fire. But Keith doesn't seem like that kind of guy. When Keith says to his wife, I'm working on something big, Well, a guy in a small town taking his life and taking his dog's life, not that big. Even if there was some weird cover up, not that big. But if he was murdered by somebody that was dumping illegal waste in these mine and these mine shafts, well, that could be something big. So then you have to wonder when Keith was going around and basically paying his condolences to Tom and talking to the local people, which he probably didn't have tons of communication with prior, did he say something to somebody that was connected to this illegal dumping and possibly responsible for Tom and Gus's murder? But then you just go, how did this story get out anyways? Because however it gets out, they want to get rid of that source as well. If they were willing to get rid of two individuals and a dog, don't you think they'd go after other writers and other sources?
- [32:15]
B
Oh, absolutely. And so this is why I would like to get a very clear answer from the local authorities. Because the way that this, the big swing in the reporting on this is that the ballistics were never tested. And that left the door open to the locals thinking, well, maybe Tom didn't take his own life and somebody, somebody had a hand in that. Now, whether that's connected to Keith's disappearance or not, very difficult to say. Because even if Tom Young were to have been murdered, it's not inconceivable that Keith and inexperienced hiker did in fact go on a hike. And he just, he lost to the mountain that night and he's been lost forever. But this is going beyond that and saying, well, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation examined the evidence found with Tom and Gus and found the caliber of bullet to be different from the one that Tom had purchased one.
- [33:15]
C
Also in that reporting, they're saying that there's multiple gunshots.
- [33:20]
B
Correct?
- [33:21]
C
Which is not impossible in a suicide, but most likely not possible, but also.
- [33:28]
B
Inconsistent with all of the other reporting.
- [33:31]
C
Exactly.
- [33:32]
B
That I. And here's what I wonder about.
- [33:34]
C
Tell me.
- [33:35]
B
You know, when you're doing some of these stories, these bigger stories, and that's what this book is about. It's about. It's about a completely different lengthy crime story. This is part of the. Is having. I hesitate to say that it's buried inside this book, the story of Keith and Tom, because I've not been able to read the book, but I'd like to talk with this Mike Echols, because I. In my mind, I think he leaves a lot to be desired here. I would. I would have preferred to have heard. To have read him saying, I interviewed Keith's wife Carolyn, and this is what she told me. Instead, he's kind of reciting or retelling of this. Oh, Keith called his wife Carolyn and told her, I'm working on a really big story, right.
- [34:22]
C
Is it. Is it direct information or is it telephone?
- [34:27]
B
Yeah. Where'd you get that from? You know, was that just somebody speculate, some crazed man's speculation sitting in the saloon at Silver Plume? Because this story, to me, I think it's absolutely fascinating and I. I wish that it were like Keith's unfinished novel, a work of fiction, because this. You can see this, right? This feels like one of those movies we've seen before, one of those books we've read before where. Where a man that just for whatever reason, something deep inside of him needed a break from his life. He shows up into this town, and while he's there, this small little town, he. He's working in what was previously a bookstore of this mystery man who mysteriously disappeared. And then when he was ultimately found dead in the woods, the mystery surrounding the man's death were equally as mysterious. And he's. One day he's working away and he's just. He's boxing up some things or going through some items that he found in the store. And he uncovers. He uncovers this. This really big piece of information that he goes, aha. I think I figured out why that man went missing. I figure out why he was found in the woods, but he. He's not sorted it all out yet. So he's gotta. He's gotta do a little investigation on his own, right? And he's got to keep his investigation under wraps a little bit. He can't blow the lid off of this thing too early until he fully understands it, because maybe he doesn't know who's responsible yet. And somebody catches wind of this, and now they've figured out, you know what? I'm going to follow that man up into the mountain, or I'm going to entice him with another adventure from which he will not return. So there's a lot of meat on the bone here. There's a lot hanging on these trees that I want to sort out. And I think. I think as mysterious as this story is, it's possible that it could very well well be cleaned up nice and neat and a bow put on top of it, depending on what the local authorities say is their final stance, their solid stance all these years later on Tom Young's death and a conversation with Mike Echols to figure out where he got some of this information.
- [36:57]
C
Yeah. Or is it simpler? Because what I was thinking was, let's say he hears some rumors of what could have happened to Tom Young. And during these rumors, they go, well, maybe it's a murder. And if it's a murder, what we think is that Tom Young discovered that people are dumping plutonium. Plutonium illegally in these mine shafts. And so our buddy Keith just hears this rumor, out of shape, inexperienced, unprepared, decides, well, I'm going to go up and look into these mine shafts. Well, most of them are blocked off or in locations that probably should be blocked off. But what if he went up there and started going down a mine shaft? Again, out of shape, inexperienced, unprepared. And then something happens. And maybe the rumor mill wasn't ever true about what Tom Young discovered, but the mystery of his death is still what is responsible for Keith going missing.
- [38:09]
B
Yeah, Keith maybe investigating a mystery without any real clues.
- [38:14]
C
Yeah. And I was talking to my buddy about this case as well, and what he was pondering was, is it possible that Keith in some way wanted to go missing, maybe even just for a time period? Well, I'm going to go up there. They'll eventually find me. And that will just add to this story or add to my experience to help me finish the book. Because we do have this draft of the book. But my pushback on that was, well, wouldn't you want to finish the book? So then if you did go missing, that man, that those book sales would go bonkers.
- [38:55]
B
Yeah, he would not knowing Keith, it's very difficult for me to say that he would even consider something of that nature, but stranger things have certainly occurred. Now, in fairness to the local authorities, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's department, who was the lead on this, we went very briefly through the search of Keith Reinhardt. If in fact everything reported by the sheriff's department is true, then they went to a great deal of effort and expense to try to find this man. In fact, it was reported by others that at the time that it was one of the largest, most expensive searches in state history. Yeah, in state history. So to me, if that is in fact true, then that means that if they were wanting to cover something up.
- [39:58]
C
Why spend all the money?
- [40:00]
B
They either knew 1000% though they being the people responsible for the COVID up. Maybe it's just a few people they knew 1000% that either the local authorities don't have a clue or if the local authorities are involved, which that's what Mike Eckles book is kind of hinting at, right. When he's like, I talked to the guy from Unsolved Mysteries and he said this was dealing with the local authorities was one of the strangest experiences he ever had while working for Unsolved Mysteries that that's kind of like hinting at the local authorities had some involvement in what? In the demise of both of these men. So that would mean that those local authorities, the best cover up, right, Is to make it look like there's no cover up, bring everybody in, search for the clues, search for the answers. But I know before you start searching 1000%, you're going to find nothing. So I have. I'm at zero risk here.
- [40:54]
C
Right.
- [40:55]
B
We do get very detailed reports from the sheriff's department regarding the search and even open speculation by the investigators from the sheriff's department. And one thing that I thought was really interesting, the way that they reported it was let's go back to that party, right, because the party took place the night before. We've experienced this with many other gatherings, especially larger gatherings that happen to fall into our timeline on a missing persons case or a homicide case. And what do we find at every one of those large gatherings? You get a very wide array and very varying opinions of what the person was doing at the party, what they were experiencing at the party. And so let's go back to that unknown woman that, that Greta or Gretchen woman, according to the local sheriff's department, has never been identified.
- [41:55]
C
Greta Van Fleet.
- [41:56]
B
The other thing though, too is the sheriff's report on it is the same as our experience has been where they talk to some people and they would say, oh yeah, Keith was drinking a bit, a lot. He was talking to everybody. He was telling stories. He kept talking about Tom Young's death and Tom Young being found up there on the Mountain. And then they would talk to other people that were at the exact same party. And like, I don't remember him drinking anything. I. I don't think. I didn't see him talking with anybody. They talked to somebody else. Yeah. He never mentioned Tom when I spoke with him. He just talked about, you know, regular stuff. And then there's other people. Some people report this unknown, mysterious woman. Other people never mentioned this woman. Didn't see her. Didn't see her with Keith.
- [42:44]
C
But wasn't this event loosely for Tom?
- [42:48]
B
Yes, it was reported as a memorial service. And then other venues, it's reported as a beer party to celebrate the memory of Tom Young. So. So every account that I could find that gives a title to what this event was.
- [43:08]
C
Right.
- [43:09]
B
Has Tom Young's name on it.
- [43:10]
C
Right. So it wouldn't be weird for Keith to be talking about Tom, and it wouldn't be weird for anybody to talk about local rumor or speculation. And it also wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that some lady came into town to celebrate Tom's life that wasn't known to the locals.
- [43:32]
B
Right.
- [43:33]
C
And then when people go, well, but this story was so big, wouldn't she come forward? Well, not necessarily. And also, what if she was just in again for the day or so to celebrate Tom's life and whatever encounter she had with Keith was a nothing burger in her mind, something that she didn't feel like she had to contact local law enforcement. And we have no proof either for or against that she ever made contact with local law enforcement, because that's information that maybe they don't want to.
- [44:12]
B
Well, the report. Now, keep in mind, this report is from a long time ago. So these reports are from early 1989 from the Sheriff's department. Some of the reports are from March and others are from April, but they. They openly say whether this woman existed or not, we don't know. We could never. We could never find her. We attempted to figure out who this woman was, but we don't know who she is. And further out of the room full of people we talk to, some report a women and some do not. So they're also saying, like, we're not even 1000% sure she existed.
- [44:56]
C
Right. But what I'm saying is, since that time period, if she has presented herself to law enforcement, they have no responsibility to the public to tell us that.
- [45:06]
B
Correct? Correct. And with the Unsolved Mysteries presentation, at least the season two presentation, they Unsolved Mysteries was openly asking for the woman to come forward so that they may have spoke to this person, they may not have, but they, I mean, they did track down a lot of stuff, a lot of potential leads regarding Keith that they provided answers to in these reports.
- [45:35]
C
Right.
- [45:36]
B
And so that, that leads me to believe that they, again, going back to the search, that they put in a lot of effort to attempting to find this man or at least determine what happened to him.
- [45:49]
C
And like I said, if he went into a mineshaft, that would be difficult no matter how much time and effort you're putting into, because again, we have a crash where somebody died looking for this individual. So you, you have to protect yourself even when you're looking for this missing individual. So I think the mine shafts, I think it would be safe to say that they weren't thoroughly investigated because no, it would just be too dangerous to do so.
- [46:18]
B
This, as you stated earlier, is a very different location, difficult location to search. I mean, regardless of who's responsible for the death of Tom Young, right. There's no reason to believe that he wasn't there dead in the woods on the side of the mountain for 10 months before he was found. When you blow that up, it's very reasonable to believe that Keith is still up there somewhere and he's just never been found. Again, regardless of who is responsible or not responsible for what happened to Keith, right.
- [46:54]
C
In simplest terms, did somebody murder Keith or did he. Or did he die from the elements? But just because we didn't find a body doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
- [47:05]
B
So this is from one of those earlier sheriff department reports on the Keith Reinhardt investigation and search efforts to find him or recover him. It says a total of 8,364 person hours were spent looking for Keith. The initial estimates and reported value of services totaled over 3, $326,000. Assistance that was provided by everyone from the garage across the street, meaning the garage across the street from the sheriff's department to Reinhard's paper, all the way back in, in Illinois, all of this. And there has never been a single piece of physical evidence as to where Keith Reinhardt went.
- [47:53]
C
So.
- [47:54]
B
And it goes, it goes on to say that this is another thing too.
- [47:59]
C
This whole case is another thing.
- [48:02]
B
Well, but again, I would like to talk to Mike Echols on this because it's. We talked earlier, we started off talking about this case with the mountains casting a shadow over the town of Silver Plume, but Mike Eccles book is casting a shadow over the local authorities here.
- [48:23]
C
Right?
- [48:23]
B
The local authorities, they're not of this type like well, we searched high and low for him. You know, he. He's. He's gone. We did everything we could. They're not, they don't have that stance at all. Not in these reports. And in these reports, they're leaving the door open and they're openly saying, look, we did try our best, but this is a very big mystery. So let me read this part to you here. This is the last page of the seven page report, and it says this is one of the largest searches in Colorado history. And after hundreds of questions being asked by dozens of people, the big question still remains. As Sheriff Cahill put it, we would restart the search immediately if any new leads came in. We have yet to receive that new lead. Reinhardt told Perry Davis that he was going to climb the mountain, and nothing I've seen or heard has made me doubt it. Alpine rescue team will be back in Silver Plume when the weather clears for training and additional searching. Until Keith Reinhardt is found, however, nothing can be ruled out. Reinhardt would have gone under I 70, Interstate 70 to go to Pendleton Mountain. At that time of the afternoon on a Sunday, the eastbound tourist traffic would be heavy. Someone could have gotten off the interstate and offered Keith an alternative adventure, forced or voluntary. He could have contacted a visitor to the Georgetown Loop Railroad, which is right there. As well liked as Keith was, there may have been someone in Silver Plume who was the exception, who followed him up the hill. He could have simply hiked a different mountain or intentionally disappeared or. Blank question mark. The investigation will continue.
- [50:38]
C
Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast and make sure you check out off the record, we're diving into some fascinating cases over there on Patreon and Apple podcast subscriptions. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?
- [50:59]
B
We do have some recommended reading, and it's a. It's a case that's eerily similar to the story we just told you this week in the garage. Before I get to that, though, I do want to mention something that I think is something we need to reintroduce to our listeners and point out to the new listeners that we have is we do have a blog on our website and we set up a new blog for each and every case. It's not uncommon that after we cover a case that we get an email question or a question on X that's directed to us to continue the discussion about that case. The reason why I like to direct folks to the blog is it opens up the conversation to other people, to other thinkers, to other minds, where people can read your question or comment about the case and they can chime in. One thing that I love about our show, especially the early years, that blog was very active and there was a lot of conversations on there about these cases. So a case like this one that inspires a lot of conversation, a lot of questions, a lot of comments. The blog is really the best place to do it because it opens up. It's an open forum to everybody that want to get involved. The book that I want to recommend this week is called Missing when the Sun Sets and when the sun Sets. Sun is purposely spelled S o N not S U N. So Missing when the Sun Sets the Jared Atadero Story by Alan Atadero and arlen Atadero On October 2, 1999, three year old Jared Adadero vanished on a group hike in the Comanche Peak wilderness. As the hours turned into days and the days into months, Jared's father Allen goes through hell and high water to combat nightmarish circumstances hindering the search, threatening the very core of his existence. Circumstances which would bring most ordinary people to the breaking point and beyond. This story, this true story takes place in Colorado. This is another missing person's case, hiking up the mountain from the great state of Colorado. Sadly, in this story there is a airplane crash. I believe it was either an airplane crash or a helicopter crash. Very similar to the Keith Reinhardt story. It has so many similarities, it's just strange. And sadly, on top of that, Allen Adadero, who never stopped searching for answers regarding his son's case, passed away earlier this year at the age of 67, 26 years after his son Jared went missing. Again, that title is Missing when the Sun Sets the Jared Adadero Story. You can find that recommendation and many more, not just books, but also podcasts and documentaries on our website's recommended page, truecrimegarage.com and until next week, be good, be kind, don't win. Finding the music you love shouldn't be hard. That's why Pandora makes it easy to explore all your favorites and discover new artists and genres you'll love. Enjoy a personalized listening experience simply by selecting any song or album, and we'll make a station crafted just for you. Best of all, you can listen for free, download Pandora on the Apple App Store or Google Play and start hearing the soundtrack to your life.