Aubrey Sacco Case | Chapter 1: Somewhere In the Clouds

Summary

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Up and Vanished / Status Untraced – Aubrey Sacco Case

Chapter 1: Somewhere In the Clouds
Released: September 12, 2025 • Host: Payne Lindsey & Liam Luxon (Status Untraced)

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Overview

This episode marks the beginning of a new arc in the “Up and Vanished” universe, focusing on the 2010 disappearance of 23-year-old Aubrey Sacco in Nepal. Guided by guest host Liam Luxon, the team sets out not only to piece together the timeline of Aubrey’s vanishing but to explore the emotional toll, international complexities, and family heartbreak involved in long-cold missing person cases. Through interviews with Aubrey’s parents and a review of the original investigation, the episode weaves themes of wanderlust, vulnerability for solo travelers (especially women), and the relentless search for answers amid uncertainty.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Stage: Risk, Adventure, and Gendered Safety

• Lana’s Story (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (03:08-06:43): Episode opens with Lana recounting a near-abduction while traveling solo in Brazil, illustrating the risks faced by women travelers.
  • "[Someone] told me if something happens like that in Rio, what I should do is throw myself on the ground and kick with my strongest muscle, which is my legs." (D, 04:06)
• Theme Introduced: The dangers and vulnerabilities of women traveling alone, and the psychological aftermath.
• Transition to Aubrey Sacco: Not every story ends with survival; many, like Aubrey’s, end in mystery and silence.

Who Was Aubrey Sacco?

• Background (15:47-16:57):
  • Aubrey described by her father Paul as deeply independent, spirited, and transformative for those around her.
  • "It's almost like she wasn't ours. She was from another place." (Paul Sacco, 15:59)
  • Family recalls her early solo international travels and drive to make an impact, especially among the disadvantaged.
  • "We used to say that we could drop her out of an airplane in New York City and come back five years later and she would be the mayor." (E, 16:47)

Aubrey’s Journey Leading Up to Disappearance

• Sri Lanka Internship & Spiritual Quest (18:04-21:17):
  • Aubrey travels for a yoga-teaching internship, helps a rural Indian school, then sets her sights on Nepal’s Langtang National Park, inspired by both wanderlust and a sense of purpose.
  • Repeated use of the Lonely Planet guide, which gave the impression that the trek was “doable alone.”
• Decision to Trek Alone:
  • Cautioned by parents but reassured by travel guides and the park's perceived safety.
  • "It's a national park. It's patrolled by the military. You know, it's safe. And we didn't know a thing about Nepal... The Lonely Planet was just stupid." (E, 26:59)

The Disappearance – Timeline Reconstructed

• Last Contact and Communication (24:30-27:43):
  • Aubrey calls home before entering Langtang. Her last words with her father are “I love you.”
  • Sets out alone on April 20, 2010, for a 10-day trek.
• Early Signs of Trouble
  • Family grows concerned after missed check-ins; contacts teahouses, struggles with lack of guest records (28:07-28:56).
  • Ongoing Maoist demonstrations and national unrest delay response.

The Search Effort & Investigation

• Family’s Immediate Action
  • Contacts the U.S. Embassy, makes connections with Nepali contacts and NGOs, begins a ground search roughly 10 days after Aubrey’s expected return (31:54-33:07).
  • Letter from Aubrey arrives post-disappearance, intensifies hope and despair.
  • "I miss you and I think of you every time I look at the clouds." (Letter from Aubrey, recounted by A/E, 31:20)
• Tracing Aubrey’s Steps
  • Piecemeal confirmations from villagers, guides; last reliably seen at Lama Hotel, April 22.
  • Observations by locals:
    • "She was eating pizza and drinking a Coke." (E, 35:09)
    • Disagreement with young men at Lama Hotel over whether it was safe to proceed that evening, Aubrey reportedly insisting: "Don't lie to me. I know." (A/E, 36:08-36:12)
  • No signature found at later military checkpoint.

Uncertainty, Misinformation, and Cultural Gaps

• Varied, unreliable witness reports from villagers.
• Challenges navigating Nepali bureaucracy, language, and remote mountain culture.
• The Maoist demonstrations further complicate movements and communication in-country.

The Three Men & Shifting Stories

• Initial openness from suspects shifts to reticence as pressure increases.
  • "The mood had shifted...something was different." (C, 40:19)
  • Paul begins to believe: "Holy shit, they did something wrong and they're covering." (E, 40:19)
• Investigation includes interviews, polygraphs for key figures, and focus tightens on the trio last seen with Aubrey.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Solo Female Travel:
  • “For women, traveling solo can mean being seen not as bold, but as vulnerable—a target.” (C, 05:13)
• On Grief and Parental Reflection:
  • "It's almost like she wasn't ours. She was from another place." (Paul Sacco, 15:59)
  • "My very last words to her were I love you. And I'm sure she said the same thing to me. Not a lot of parents ever get to say that." (E, 24:30)
• On Searching for Aubrey:
  • "There was lead after lead after lead of really confusing information...much of the information was not reliable." (E, 33:14)
  • "She used those words. She was like, 'Don't lie to me. I know.' And not many people say that." (A/E, 36:12)
• On the Investigation:
  • "These three men have no real ties to Aubrey...But now with Paul here, a father, not just a stranger asking questions, something was different." (C, 40:19)

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Segment Timeline

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:08–06:43| Lana’s near-kidnapping in Brazil & themes of risk, solo female travelers | | 08:31–11:19| Liam's backstory, connection to prior cases (Justin Alexander) | | 15:47–17:14| Interview with Aubrey’s parents, family memories | | 18:04–22:01| Aubrey’s travels and decision to trek in Nepal | | 24:30–27:43| Final contact from Aubrey, missing persons begins | | 28:07–31:34| Search process: teahouses, political unrest, arrival of hopeful letter | | 31:54–35:03| On-ground search: first witnesses, timeline reconstructed | | 36:08–37:32| Last reliable sighting, disagreement with three men at Lama Hotel | | 37:32–40:19| Paul’s solo investigation, suspect interviews, shifting stories | | 40:19–End | Family’s growing suspicion and unresolved hope |

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Final Thoughts

This first chapter meticulously lays the emotional and factual groundwork for the Aubrey Sacco investigation. It explores the tension between wanderlust and risk, and the human cost of unanswered mysteries. Through poignant family interviews, a journalistic re-examination of the known facts, and cultural insights into Nepal, “Somewhere In the Clouds” vividly illustrates why Aubrey’s story matters and why, for the Sacco family, the search for answers can never end.

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Key Contact:
If you have tips or information, email statusuntracedmail.com or call 507-407-2833.

For further episodes, search for “Status Untraced” from Tenderfoot TV.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

[B]

Look, a lot of us love true crime, but you know what? No one loves thinking about it all night. When you're supposed to be sleeping, it's easy to get caught up in the details of a case. Then you find yourself wide awake, tossing and turning. And let's be honest, waking up groggy, dragging throughout the whole day and leaning on coffee just to function is exhausting. But there's finally something to break that cycle. Enter Beam's Dream Powder. Because when it comes when it comes to solving the case of your sleepless nights, dream is a lifesaver. With dream, you can actually fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed, not groggy. It's a real game changer. Dream is made with a powerful blend of all natural ingredients, Reishi, Magnesium, L Theanine, Apigenin and Melatonin. It's designed to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling amazing. And unlike other sleep aids, there's no next day grogginess. Just great restful sleep. Beam has already improved over 17.5 million million nights of sleep, helping people across the country wake up and feel their best. And right now, for a limited time, you can try it at a huge discount. Here's the twist. Beam's giving our listeners an exclusive offer of up to 40% off their best selling dream powder. That's right, up to 40% off. To finally crack the case of your bad sleep, go to shopbeam.comvanished and use the code vanished at checkout. That's shop beam b e a m.comvanished shopbeam.comvanished and Use the code vanished for up to 40% off because better sleep is the kind of mystery you can solve. Hey guys, it's Payne and I'm here with a quick announcement about our series Status Untraced, presented by up and Vanished. Our true crime podcast Status Untraced is back with a brand new mini season and this time our host Liam looks into the disappearance of Aubrey Sacco, a young traveler who vanished in Nepal under very strange circumstances. This case is still unsolved. Check out episode one right now and when you're done, go search Status Untraced in your podcast app to hear the rest.

[A]

You're listening to Status Untraced, a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

[C]

2022 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[A]

Thousands have gathered in the city of Rio de Janeiro in one of the biggest carnivals in the world.

[D]

There was the first carnival after Covid. So I made a lot of friends. They told us, lana, come to our apartment, we're going to have dinner there. And then afterwards we're going to their party. So I went there, but then I was so very tired because I had to work the next day. So I told them around 11:30pm like, no, I'm just going to Uber myself to my hotel. But I broke my rule. There's a rule that I never ever walk towards, towards my Uber. I always have to have my Uber drive towards me. But it was already so late. And my Uber said, oh, yeah, you pinned it here and I cannot park there. So I was like walking around the street fighting for my Uber. And then all of a sudden, I see two big headlights coming up towards me. And then there was this huge van pulled up and open, like sideways, and this guy came out. And they started talking to me like, hola, buena. Noych means good evening in Portuguese. And I said, I don't speak Portuguese. And then all of a sudden, I felt an arm behind me literally grab me like that and try to pull me in a freaking van. So I screamed, I yelled my lungs out, and I started kicking like a maniac. I remember someone told me if something happens like that in Rio, what I should is to throw myself on the ground and kick with my strongest muscle, which is my legs. So I was kicking like a maniac and screaming for my life. And before I knew, they were gone.

[C]

There's danger in life, in any and everything we do. Step outside, chase a dream, get on a bus to nowhere in particular, and you risk something. It's part of what makes life worth living and travel especially, is negotiation with the unknown. But the truth is, not everyone gets to move through the world with the same ease. For women, traveling solo can mean being seen not as bold, but as vulnerable a target.

[D]

The next day, my friend called me and explained to me it's common there in Brazil that they kidnap girls in the van and they raped them. And most of them get in the human traffic. I was so scared. I was like, what the fuck did just happen to me? And mind you, I love Brazil. Brazil is like my favorite country. And I didn't want to spoil that because of that one evening. So that morning I'm like, okay, what should I do? So I should probably conquer this fear with another fear of mine. So, few hours later, I booked paragliding Because I fear fights. And literally I was crying mid air, releasing all the trauma that happened to me.

[C]

My friend Lana still travels, still goes alone. 23 countries and counting. Her rules are tighter now, her instincts sharper. But for her, the danger is never enough. To outweigh the wonder. Not everyone is lucky. Not every traveler has the chance to scream, to fight, to be found. Some disappear without a sound. No headline, no manhunt, no cliff to jump off the next day. Their stories don't end in survival. They end in silence. Fifteen years ago, a young woman vanished in the Himalayas. The search faded, but her family never stopped pushing for answers. What I didn't see at first, what I see clearly now, and what you'll soon come to understand, is why they never gave up. Because even after all these years, there are still things no one said.

[E]

Sometimes I get the feeling I'm lost.

[A]

Just hide.

[E]

And it's never enough. Now I find in every mirror a ghost. Only once I saw the killer. Once I saw the killer up close.

[C]

I'm Liam Luxon, and this is Status Untraced. Our case, Aubrey Sacco. Chapter 1. Somewhere in the Clouds July 2025 Los Angeles, California.

[A]

So I was not sure if you've heard of Aubrey Sacco. It's a case that was submitted to us a long time ago. It kind of just reminded me of Justin's case because she's on this spiritual journey and she's super close to her family, and then they are expecting a call from her and they don't hear from her. I thought, you know, you might be interested in digging into it a little bit more.

[C]

It's been a little over a year since we released Status Untraced and nearly four years since I was deep in the Himalayas, chasing any threat I could find about the disappearance of adventurer Justin Alexander.

[E]

Yeah, that's the spot. That ledge right there. That one right out there?

[D]

You can assume so, yeah.

[C]

Since then, I've had time to reflect, to integrate, to ask myself what came next. Not just in my work, but in life. Getting to put together Justin's story was one of the most profound and intense chapters I've ever lived. And the response from listeners from his friends and family was more than I ever expected. It was transformative, gratifying. But through that experience, I also came to understand the quiet burden that comes with diving into stories like Justin's. The kind rooted in loss, uncertainty and ache, of unanswered questions. It's a weight most people don't see, but it doesn't let up. It lingers. Long after the story's been told. So in a way, I started to pull back in conversations with new people. I stopped bringing up my time in India. I avoided talking about the podcast over drinks and dinner parties. And I threw myself into other things. Attempted working in sports media, Hit the bars and late nights. Maybe a few too many of both. I felt like I was trying, trying to let it go, let Justin go, to quiet the questions that didn't have answers. Yet somewhere in the back of my mind, there was still an itch for adventure, for purpose, to do it again. I wasn't sure I was ready to take on another case. But I kept my ear to the ground and I made myself a promise. If I ever did this again, it couldn't be just a retelling. It had to feel necessary. And that's when one of our producers, Jamie, called.

[A]

Aubrey went missing from Nepal in 2010, and she was actually in the Lingtang National Park. And so it was just really interesting, the circumstances surrounding it because her parents have done so much to try to find her.

[C]

2010, man, it's old. And I was like 15 years old, huh?

[A]

Yeah. And it's crazy because if you look at the Facebook page and the nonprofit that they've created, her family has spent so much of their own time and money just to ensure that she hasn't been forgotten.

[C]

I pulled up the Facebook page and started scrolling. Jamie wasn't exaggerating. The effort to find Aubrey Sacco was massive. From cbs.

[A]

The desperate search for a missing woman from Colorado is underway in Southeast asia this morning. 23 year old Aubrey Sacco has been hiking alone through the Himalayan mountains and was last heard from about six weeks ago. Her family is desperate to find her.

[C]

To ABC News on Facebook, close friends have dedicated a page to the missing hiker. Meanwhile, the search party continues to scan more than 600 miles of mountainous terrain looking for signs of life.

[A]

People doing foot searches, they've deployed the district police. We're trying to get hundreds and hundreds of people out to a new area.

[C]

And numerous local news stations in Denver starting Wednesday.

[E]

Mobile billboards with a 23 year old's picture are also traveling around Washington.

[A]

The FBI is now involved.

[C]

Where do her parents live?

[A]

They're in Colorado area, close to home for me.

[C]

I grew up there for a little bit.

[A]

You know, we'll be in Colorado in September. Our team will be. I think you're going too, so might be a fit to chat with them.

[C]

Something about Aubrey's case struck me. The way it had lived online for years. Flickering in and out of forums, old blog posts the Facebook page kept on life support. And then there were her parents. Still searching, still showing up, still carrying the weight like it was day one. It didn't feel like a cold case. It felt like a story stranded in the middle of a paragraph, unfinished and worse, forgotten. I didn't know if this would be a full second season of the podcast. I wasn't chasing headlines or trying to build something big. But if her family was open to it, if they still wanted her story told, I'd do it. What I didn't expect was how much they'd never shared how much they'd been holding in.

[A]

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[C]

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[A]

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[E]

I mean, she really, really is a special person. And I know that probably every father believes their daughter is special. It's almost like she wasn't ours. She was from another place.

[C]

I called Paul Sacco, Aubrey's father, Now in his 60s, for an interview, and I was honored to have her mother, Connie, join as well. They sat on the other side of a computer screen in their home in Windsor, Colorado, not far from the house where Aubrey was raised.

[A]

She was in college when she was supposed to go with a girlfriend to Japan and the girlfriend got in trouble with her parents and so they made her cancel her trip. And Aubrey didn't tell us that her friend wasn't going. So I would say that was her first travel alone.

[C]

She was their only daughter, bright, stubborn, full of wanderlust. And the way they talked about her, it was easy to imagine she had that rare gift of turning something as simple as a grocery run into an adventure.

[E]

She was a big thinker. We used to say that we could drop her out of an airplane in New York City and come back five years later and she would be the mayor.

[C]

They smile as they reminisce, but like Justin's parents, I can sense the quiet, the stillness that settles in when someone never comes home, as if her room is still just down the hall, untouched, just in case.

[E]

I was amazed that she could be so independent from such a young age. And in many ways that may have precipitated problems we had with her later and ultimately, you know, her going missing.

[A]

For the last six months, Aubrey Sacco has been backpacking through Southeast Asia, documenting her incredible journey on but now no.

[C]

One'S heard from her since April 20 when she set off hiking alone. After setting out alone for a 10 day trek through Langtang National park in Nepal, the 23 year old went missing. Her parents haven't heard from her for more than two months. They say she would normally write them every four days to update her condition and whereabouts.

[A]

We just feel the energy and you know, we just feel like she needs our help to help her get home.

[C]

Aubrey was just 23 when she set out on her Southeast Asia globetrotting adventure. But what brought her there wasn't vacation. It was an internship, a position at an Aman hotel on a remote island off the southern tip of India. December 18, 2009, Sri Lanka.

[A]

She gotten a job for Sri Lanka teaching yoga classes at a high end resort that a lot of Europeans would go to. It was this really hoity toity hotel. And so she was there, I want to say three weeks. So the plan was to take some classes in India that she had heard some of her other friends had done. And she was going to continue learning yoga to become a master of teaching.

[C]

Coming off the internship at the Amman, one of the most pristine high luxury hotel groups in the world, Aubrey was choosing a different path. One that leaned toward the rugged, towards authenticity, towards people and kids who actually needed her help. Paul and Connie checked in with her often and through grainy video calls and short messages, they caught glimpses of how she was getting. By January 13, 2010, Bengaluru, India.

[E]

Phone coverage was very spotty. In 2010, it was not real good and she managed to connect with us on something similar to FaceTime.

[A]

Oh, Skype.

[E]

Skype, okay. And she's on a rickshaw, and we come onto the call, and instead of, hello, mom and Dad, I love you, she's yelling at the guy, that's the rickshaw thing. Arguing over the money. She felt that he might have been taking advantage of her and she wasn't going to stand it. And I mean it. That was half the phone call is us waiting for the argument to end. And then we talked about, God, I love that girl. Intense.

[C]

Late March 2010, Mysuru, India.

[A]

She had just come upon this poor village school and said, hey, do you need any help? And they said, yes. So she came in and would sing songs and do artwork and stu. So she was just, you know, a loving person. And Aubrey had also said that some people that she had met said, why don't you go to, like, a nicer school? And she's like, why? They don't need me. The poorer schools need volunteers.

[C]

April 4, 2010. Darjeeling, India. The plan, at least on paper, was simple. Head back to Sri Lanka, meet up with friends. Catch the return flight she had already booked. But Aubrey wasn't much for sticking to the script. Something else was calling and people, you.

[A]

Know, saying, go to Nepal. Go to Nepal and do this hike. And she talked to us about it. We had watched the movie together. Seven years in Tibet with Brad Pitt. I never even knew where Tibet was. I didn't even know where Nepal was. But I remember saying to her, when you're there, don't you dare go up to Tibet because it was so dangerous. And she just was talking to us back and forth about how she wanted to do this trek. And she had a book by the Lonely Planet Nepal, it was called, and it had directions on how you could hike an easy trail in the Langtang National Park.

[C]

Many of you probably know what the Lonely Planet is, recognizable by its bright blue spine. It's a travel guide that first hit shelves in 1973. Since then, it's grown into a global empire.

[E]

In the Best in Travel Awards, Nepal.

[B]

Came out as number one for best value destination.

[C]

With over 450 titles, it offers curated routes, must see stops, and insider tips for just about every corner of the world.

[E]

It's all sorts of things, from Tibetan carpets to Buddhist statues, wonderful paintings. So you need to go to Nepal with at least some credit left on your credit.

[C]

I picked up the 2023 edition of their Nepal guide and found the same Langtang Trek itinerary. Aubrey took it briefly warns about weather, advises you to register with the embassy, and notes a military checkpoint along the route.

[E]

It's a destination with so much history, so much culture, it is a great value destination.

[C]

Here's the problem. In my opinion, the Lonely Planet, for all its reach, all its influence, has a way of glossing over the realities. It oversimplifies, it romanticizes. There's no mention of crime, no discussion of how overexposure from tourism can shift local dynamics. I've reached out to their press team on this and no word back.

[E]

She was not real happy with how hot and how populated India was. So I think she just couldn't wait to get to the mountains.

[C]

Yes, the mountains would look as promised. Painted prayer flags strung from rooftops and views so vast they almost felt unreal. But what the guidebook didn't mention, what no one warned her, was how quickly you become visible in a place like that, even as men. It happened to my producer and I when we were in the small Indian mountain towns out there. Memory works differently. People remember who you are, where you stayed when you left. So I can only imagine for a young white American woman traveling alone, she wouldn't be just noticed. Aubrey Sacco would be logged, watched, marked. As a foreigner, that's all it takes. After she arrived in Kathmandu and boarded a bus headed towards a small mountain town, she made a call home. Her last.

[E]

My very last words to her were I love you. And I'm sure she said the same thing to me. And not a lot of parents ever get to say that, you know, lose a child in an auto accident or after an argument. And it was nothing like that. I got to say I love you.

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[C]

April 2010 Saperbesi, Nepal.

[A]

She was up in Sarabasi, which is the beginning of Langtang park. And Paula's going to have a surgery. And she had said she wanted to do this trek. I was pleading with her, well, can you wait till dad has his surgery just so we can tell you if he made it out of surgery? And she goes, oh, he's going to be fine. She didn't want to wait. And she was saying that she was preparing to do this trek. Paul wanted her to take a guide and she said, oh, they're too expensive. Or the Lonely Planet said, you can do this by yourself.

[E]

It's a national park. It's patrolled by the military. You know, it's safe. And we didn't know a thing about Nepal. I mean, nothing other than that the Himalayas were there. You know, the Lonely Planet was just stupid. They were clearly naive about what really happens in Nepal. And what we later learned.

[C]

Paul and Connie studied the route Aubrey would take. And they didn't fight her. They trusted her judgment.

[A]

She did send us an email saying, I'm leaving in the morning and I'll be back in seven to 10 days. She was born and raised in Colorado. We know she knows how to hike in the mountains.

[C]

Her last email was sent to her brother on April 19, making plans for an upcoming bike trip. The next day she arrived at the trailhead. April 20, 2010, Langtang National Park. She set off alone. Days passed, then a week. April drifted into May.

[A]

I just thought, you know, we should have heard from her by now. And maybe I was overstepping, maybe I was too early. And so I had found in the Lonely Planet they had phone numbers of these teahouses. And so I started calling the different places that were on that trail to see if maybe she was staying there. And I didn't realize how they operated. I thought they were just like a hotel. You come in, you register, you're given a key to a room. And I learned from somebody that did speak English that said, no, it's not like that at all. They don't have a record of who's staying there? For the most part, I was unable to figure out where she had stayed. But I had learned that there were demonstrations going on by the Maoists. The Maoists had literally closed down the entire country.

[C]

The Maoists were more than just a political faction. They were a movement born in the mountains. Isolated, grassroots and fiercely anti establishment. Officially known as the Communist Party of Nepal, they launched a violent insurgency in 1990 aimed at overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a people's republic.

[A]

The revolution was started by the Maoists. They fought many a battle against the security forces in these years. And in their fierce battle, many innocent civilians were killed.

[C]

This decade long conflict, known as the Nepalese Civil war, cost over 17,000 lives.

[A]

People were tortured, extorted and threatened to join their groups and work for them.

[C]

Despite lacking formal communication infrastructure, their leadership relied on word of mouth and mountain networks. A message passed from one village to another could summon thousands. Entire communities would descend from the Himalayas into Kathmandu for organized demonstrations. And sometimes those demonstrations would unfold into chaos.

[A]

It would be dangerous to argue with them. They would abduct the Argiers and even kill them.

[C]

So when they mention a demonstration happening in Kathmandu, it was a lot more than just a protest.

[A]

I had gotten through to the embassy and it sounded like the janitor answered the phone and he said, well, we're closed because there's a demonstration. I'm like, what? What does that mean? And they said, you know what, don't worry. She's probably just holding up there because all the buses, people can't get down, they can't get out of the city.

[E]

They told us it was just moving slower because of the demonstration.

[A]

So we just held back and just waited a few more days.

[C]

Some hikers checked in with the local embassy before starting their trek, a precaution that helped track who returned.

[A]

And when I remember calling the embassy and they said, ah, you know, everybody pretty much has gotten back. And then I filed a missing persons report. And then Paul had said, okay, if we don't hear from Aubrey by Friday, then I'm stepping in.

[E]

Yeah. And then probably that day, I get a letter in the mail. It was a wonderful letter, right, Daddy? I'm having a great time, or something like that.

[A]

I miss you and I miss you.

[E]

And I think of you every time I look at the clouds. And then she drew these little puffy clouds at the bottom. And then she signed the letter.

[C]

It had been written days earlier, a message full of life and wonder floating in just as she was vanishing. It brought hope, the devastating kind because there was still no actual word from Aubrey. So Paul took matters into his own hands.

[E]

We have some friends of ours, some very, very good family friends. They happen to have a relative that had a relationship with a Nepali person named Dinesh Shakya. So we're making connections with Dinesh and his brothers. We're also making connections with an NGO there called the Mountain Fund.

[C]

An NGO is a non governmental organization, someone not tied to the state, but often connected to resources, aid, and local influence.

[E]

Scott McLennan, the head of the NGO, reached out to us and said, look, I'll try to help you if I can. And then on the other side of things, we used Dinesh, who called his brothers out of Kathmandu, who went up the trail, the exact trail where everyone.

[C]

The search began roughly 10 days after Aubrey was due back. Their first stop was Separ Bessie, where they questioned an officer at the entrance of the park.

[E]

A woman remembered her, distinctly remembered her. She was a police officer woman, and remembered Audrey waving at her after she had passed the checkpoint.

[C]

But what they found, much like I've experienced myself, is that not every discovery means progress.

[E]

There was lead after lead after lead of really confusing information. Okay, there's language disparities. The people that went up there for us Dinesh brothers, they were showing pictures to everybody. And some people would say, oh, we just saw her here. And others would say, oh, I haven't seen anyone like that, even though we later found out that she had gone to these villages. So I would say much of the information was not reliable.

[C]

It was at this stage that Connie started digging through Aubrey's accounts, searching for anything overlooked.

[A]

I had gotten on her email account to just see, like, hey, is she communicating with people? And I found an email from a guy named Renjen Dorje, and he was a guide, and he had met her there, and they spent a lot of time together. And Renjen had said in an email, are you back yet? You know, because they were supposedly going to meet up in Kathmandu. Well, just so coincidentally that Scott McLennan with the NGO, knew him.

[C]

They reached out to Renjen, who cooperated and confirmed. On April 21, a day into her trek, Aubrey spent the night at the Namaste Treehouse in the village of Pahiro. She met up with him and they separated ways the next day. The next reported sighting was at a place called Llama Hotel, an area with lodges and cafes about three miles deeper into the trail.

[E]

Llama Hotel is to this day where the most reliable and consistent information has come from.

[C]

When the search Team arrived. They spoke with villagers who remembered seeing her around April 22. A local chef filled in more details. Piece by piece, a story began to take shape.

[A]

But when other people talked to them, they said, oh, yeah, we saw her. You know, she was reading this book, this and that.

[E]

She was eating pizza and drinking a Coke.

[A]

Well, this Renjen guy from Namaste gave her the book that other people said they saw her reading. Well, and then people at Llama Hotel said they saw Aubrey and talk to her.

[C]

Later versions of the story identify the group as three young local men, likely teenagers, are in their early 20s. According to the villagers and the retelling, the encounter turned tense. What began as a conversation soon escalated into a disagreement.

[A]

She had said, she's going to Riverside. She's going to stay there that night. And these three guys that she was speaking with were saying, oh, no, no, stay here, stay here. Riverside is too far. And she said, supposedly, no, it isn't.

[E]

It's only 10 minutes or whatever.

[A]

Yeah, it's not that far.

[E]

She's arguing with the locals.

[A]

Don't lie to me. We're like, oh, my God, that sounds like Aubrey.

[E]

No, that really did sound exactly like Aubrey. And that's another reason why we absolutely believe she was at Lama Hotel. She used those words. She was like, don't lie to me. I know. And not many people say that.

[A]

So through Dinesh, the Nepali friend, and this other family, they were getting the word out.

[E]

And.

[A]

The Tilly Lama, he had hiked up to Goratabla, which was the army base. There was another check in there to see if Aubrey had gotten that far, had she signed in. And he did not find her signature.

[C]

Technically, it wasn't required to sign in at the military checkpoint before entering Langtang. Like many things in Nepal, enforcement could be inconsistent. But Paul and Connie are confident Aubrey would have. She'd done it before, at the start of her trek. And this checkpoint was official.

[E]

There was a forest area after Lama Hotel and before Gore Teblo. And it was believed by the locals that were known through the NGO that something happened to Aubrey in the woods.

[C]

May 16, 2010. Kathmandu, Nepal. Paul, a father recovering from hip surgery, flew in to take over the search himself. No more back and forth emails. No more waiting for answers from half a world away. He was on the ground now, calling shots, asking questions, pushing hard. And just days in, he found something.

[A]

They brought Renjen in. Cause he was in Kathmandu.

[E]

Yeah, Renjen was at the NGO compound when I first talked to him.

[A]

So then Paul interviewed him Right. And then he told you. Yes, they had seen each other. Right?

[E]

Yeah. You know, I'm not a police interrogator, but I do know how not to ask leading questions. Yeah. So I did a pretty good job of talking to him for a long time, maybe 45 minutes. And nothing. No good information from him, you know? Yeah.

[C]

You guys didn't happen to record those, did you?

[E]

Oh, yeah. Yep, we have them.

[D]

Or maybe, I don't know, some case maybe happen because of a checkpoint, something like that.

[E]

Maybe.

[C]

I don't know.

[E]

Because of what during this checkpoint. Maybe it could be happen.

[D]

It could be happen with the armies. Or maybe moist, I don't know, because we are.

[E]

We can't see. Also entry records.

[D]

And I don't know, I can't say anything.

[E]

Would the mouse do something like that? Would they kill a girl? And I have interviewed him maybe two or three times, and I know that looking back now, the embassy has interviewed him, the investigators, the police, everybody in the world he's been polygraphed to.

[C]

Brenjen was cooperative, which left the focus on the only other lead, the three men from Lama Hotel.

[E]

The next step were either the embassy or the police coming through there as well. Somehow, between the time that our guys questioned him and the police, they changed their stories.

[C]

These three men have no real ties to Aubrey. And when the original search team came through, they were totally open, giving no signs of suspicion. They said she left on her own. But now with Paul here, a father, not just a stranger asking questions, something was different. The mood had shifted.

[E]

It became very frustrating because then we now we're starting to believe, holy shit, they did something wrong and they're covering.

[C]

If you have tips or information on the individuals in this podcast that you'd like to share, please email [e-mail] or leave us a message at 507-407-2833. Status Untraced is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. I'm your host, Liam Luxon. Executive producers are Alex Vespested, Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay. These episodes written by Alex Vespested and myself. Our editor is Tristan Bankston. Research provided by Jamie Albright Publishing by Jordan Foxworthy. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Our theme song is Colder Heavens by Blanco White. Artwork by Trevor Iler. Mix by Cooper Skinner. Special thanks to the Sacco family and Crimecon. For more podcasts like Status Untraced, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us at Tenderfoot tv. Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it. Cue the the emu music Limu Save yourself money today.

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