Aubrey Sacco Case | Chapter 2: Blank Space

Summary

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Up and Vanished — Status Untraced: "Aubrey Sacco Case | Chapter 2: Blank Space"

Podcast: Up and Vanished (Tenderfoot TV)
Host: Liam Luxon
Air Date: September 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this emotional and investigative episode, host Liam Luxon journeys into the heart of Nepal’s Langtang National Park to explore the haunting disappearance of Aubrey Sacco, a 23-year-old solo American trekker missing since 2010. Through intimate interviews with Aubrey’s parents, Paul and Connie Sacco, Luxon weaves together the frustrating search for answers, entrenched cultural obstacles, and the enduring pain and hope of a family in the void. The episode shines a light not only on the particulars of Aubrey's case, but also on larger themes of fear, corruption, and the complicated realities of international disappearances.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The Day Aubrey Disappeared

• Setting the Scene:
  Aubrey Sacco left for a trek in Nepal's Langtang National Park in April 2010. She was last heard from on April 19, emailing her brother and calling her parents to say "I love you" ([05:09]).

• Initial Discovery:
  Her belongings, including her camera, journal, and backpack, were found at the Elite Motel. Paul Sacco shares the pain of finding Aubrey’s journal, opening it to a page reading, "my dad is my hero" ([02:25]).

  “Dads are supposed to find their daughters when they’re in trouble. ...And when I looked at that map of Nepal…I’m holding it up, hundreds of square miles of nothingness, you know, where the hell is she? It was, like, overwhelming.” — Paul Sacco ([03:37])

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2. The Search and Local Dynamics

• The Trek’s Real Dangers:
  Paul attests that the Langtang trek isn’t as perilous as its reputation; an accident seemed unlikely ([04:49]).

• Barriers to Investigation:
  The Saccos encountered false leads and fear among villagers, partly due to superstition but also deep concern over harming the vital tourism industry ([06:23–07:33]).

  “We were always conflicted about how much to press against these people. ...There was this back and forth and us getting to know the villagers, and always lurking in the background was this terrible conflict ...that maybe one of these guys is lying ...or did something to her.” — Paul Sacco ([07:33–08:56])

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3. The Three Men at Llama Hotel and Shifting Stories

• Last Known Sighting:
  Aubrey was seen at the Llama Hotel, dining and chatting with three men; staff recall her insisting on continuing alone ([09:08]).

• Conflicting Testimonies:
  Chef Tassi Guru, initially a witness, later denied ever seeing Aubrey. The three men (Tenzing Lama, Galseng Tamang, Aasi Tamang) passed polygraphs, but their stories shifted repeatedly ([09:47–12:18]).

  “It was just conclusion. There was no details about what they said.” — Paul Sacco ([12:47])

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4. The Trail’s Darker Side: Army Involvement and Assault

• A New Line of Suspicion:
  Focus shifts to the Nepalese Army, who man trail checkpoints. Stories emerge of soldiers assaulting women—validating the Saccos’ fears about security and accountability ([14:37–18:26]).

• Official Negligence:
  Despite checkpoints, crucial details about hikers’ identities or progress are often not recorded, leaving gaps in accountability ([21:25]).

  “Their job isn’t to help hikers, it’s to show presence…when someone disappears, ...there’s no flag, no follow up, no one to hold accountable. What you’re left with isn’t a timeline, it’s a blank space.” — Liam Luxon ([21:25])

• Comparative Cases:
  Other disappearances and sexual assaults along similar trails are recounted, painting a grim pattern of risk, particularly for solo female travelers ([18:26–20:34]).

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5. Breakthroughs, False Starts, and Corruption

• False Arrests and Sting Operations:
  In 2013, news reported the arrest of three village men, not those originally seen with Aubrey. They were implicated after a supposed barroom confession overheard by a police officer ([26:50–28:32]). But lacking evidence, all were released.

  “This is a good example of how crazy shit is up there. The three men that were arrested are completely different from those three guys at the Llama Hotel.” — Paul Sacco ([26:50])

• Tactical Rewards and Relentless Advocacy:
  The family posted a $20,000 (carefully calculated) reward for tips, made media appearances, and worked tirelessly to build contacts and maintain pressure on authorities, fighting local skepticism and corruption ([23:05–23:55]).

  “If you want a one-sentence answer, it was to push those people to do their fucking jobs.” — Paul Sacco ([30:07])

• Theory of Military Cover-up:
  Multiple sources, both official and local, pointed to the Army as possibly involved and capable of making someone "disappear" without a trace. Paul hints at classified conversations and alludes to protectionism rooted in money and power ([30:39–32:33]).

  “All roads led to some thing or somebody that people have a great desire to protect. And that always comes down to money and power.” — Paul Sacco ([32:33])

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6. Aubrey’s Inner World: Philosophy, Writings, and Legacy

• Exploring Aubrey’s Mindset:
  The episode considers the possibility Aubrey left intentionally, given her readings of spiritual philosophers Osho and Mooji about seeking self-actualization through leaving one's past behind ([35:05]).

  “Your family will surprise you. …It is possible. For a young woman ...to say, I want to leave this world behind. So we kind of go back and forth…could she be somewhere?” — Paul Sacco ([35:05])

• Journals and Blogs:
  Heartfelt excerpts from Aubrey’s journals are read, revealing her spiritual quest and poetic reflections on belonging, home, and the beauty of exploration ([36:14–38:03]).

  • Notable excerpt:

    “Perhaps it is that we are all citizens of this earth but come from different places we call home. But in some sense there are special places far away ...that may feel very much like home. ...in our hearts we know the land, we know the streets, we know the faces and feel comfort ...as we gaze off into truly unknown territory.” — Aubrey’s journal ([38:03])

• Community Impact and Remembrance:
  Aubrey, nicknamed "Glitter" for her habit of spreading joy with glitter, is memorialized by a painted rock, a clothing swap, music by her father’s band, and countless stories of friends touched by her presence ([40:04–41:39]).

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7. Reflection on Solo Travel and Aubrey’s Legacy

• Female Traveler Reflections:
  Solo traveler Lana describes the humility, courage, and grace of exploring alone, noting the beauty—and risks—of trusting strangers and venturing without a net ([41:39–42:48]).

  “Solo traveling kept me humble in life. ...it made me realize that I'm just a small part of this whole universe... because we just all the same thing, we all just trying to survive.” — Lana ([42:18])

• Closing Thoughts:
  Host Liam Luxon underscores the lasting risk and beauty of solo travel, encouraging listeners to focus on Aubrey’s spirit of joy and openness rather than the unknown of her ending ([42:48]).

  “Let it be that version of her. Not the ending, but the leap.” — Liam Luxon ([42:48])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|-------------------|-------| | 02:25 | Paul Sacco | “There's no way I'm gonna die without knowing what happened to our daughter.” | | 07:33 | Paul Sacco | “Always lurking in the background was this terrible conflict …that maybe one of these guys is lying…and either knows what happened to Aubrey or did something to her.” | | 12:47 | Paul Sacco | “It was just conclusion. There was no details about what they said.” | | 21:25 | Liam Luxon | “Their job isn’t to help hikers, it’s to show presence…When someone disappears… What you’re left with isn’t a timeline, it’s a blank space.” | | 26:50 | Paul Sacco | “This is a good example of how crazy shit is up there. The three men that were arrested are completely different from those three guys at the Llama Hotel.” | | 30:07 | Paul Sacco | “…it was to push those people to do their fucking jobs.” | | 32:33 | Paul Sacco | “All roads led to some thing or somebody that people have a great desire to protect. And that always comes down to money and power.” | | 35:05 | Paul Sacco | “Your family will surprise you. ... It is possible. For a young woman ... to say, ‘I want to leave this world behind.’” | | 38:03 | Narrator (Aubrey's writing) | “...in our hearts we know the land we know the streets, we know the faces and feel comfort and perfection as we gaze off into truly unknown territory.” | | 42:48 | Liam Luxon | “If you’re going to carry anything with you, let it be that version of her. Not the ending, but the leap.” |

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Important Timestamps

• [02:25] Paul recounts the devastating discovery of Aubrey's belongings and journal.
• [05:09] Last contacts and timeline of Aubrey's disappearance.
• [07:33] Paul discusses the painful suspicion of villagers.
• [09:08] Last seen at Llama Hotel and the elusive three men.
• [14:37] Testimonies about army misconduct and risks to women travelers.
• [21:25] Reality of ineffective army checkpoints.
• [23:05] Launching the reward and intensifying the search.
• [26:50–28:32] Details and aftermath of the 2013 arrests.
• [30:39–32:33] Paul describes the depth of corruption and cover-up theories.
• [35:05–38:03] Aubrey’s spirituality and travel writings.
• [40:04–41:39] Community tributes and her ongoing legacy.
• [41:39–42:48] Solo traveler Lana’s perspective.
• [42:48] Liam’s closing reflection on Aubrey’s spirit.

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Tone

The episode is deeply empathetic and contemplative—poignant, unresolved, and respectful of both the hope and heartbreak surrounding Aubrey's case. The speakers’ voices often express frustration, vulnerability, and awe at both the beauty and complexity of the world Aubrey loved.

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Conclusion

This moving chapter of Up and Vanished examines not only the facts, leads, and theories in the cold case of Aubrey Sacco, but also delves into the enduring impact of loss, the search for meaning, and the light that a traveler can leave behind. Both a true crime investigation and a meditation on possibility, the episode invites listeners to remember Aubrey’s openness and courage, holding onto her leap, not her disappearance.

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

Transcript

[Tenderfoot TV Host]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

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[Tenderfoot TV Host]

You're listening to Status Untraced, a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast 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.

[Liam Luxon]

2010 Langtang National Park, Nepal.

[Paul Sacco]

But I feel like you guys are did a really great job with this Alexander gentleman that you need to know those. You know, like you need to know that there really is going to be an answer. Okay, I'm. I'm gonna. There's no way I'm gonna die without knowing what happened to our daughter. There is no evidence whatsoever to lead us to believe she was murdered. Nothing was found. There's no clothing, there's no, you know, her property or anything like that. She had a camera with her journal and her backpack were left at the Elite Motel and that's what we had to discover when we began our search. It was a terrible day to have to look at that stuff. And then in her journal, you know, I open up the journal, and the first page I break and open it to you. It says, my dad is my hero. I mean, it's just the crazy that happened, you know, on this journey, you know, because dads are supposed to find their daughters when they're in trouble. They're supposed to help them. They're supposed to be there. And when I looked at that map of Nepal, I'm holding it up, of the Lang Tang, hundreds of square miles of nothingness, you know, where the hell is she? It was, like, overwhelming. It truly was overwhelming.

[Liam Luxon]

I'm Liam Luxon, and this is Status Untraced. Our case, Aubrey Sacco. Chapter 2 Blank Space.

[Tenderfoot TV Host]

Joining us this morning from Breely, Colorado, are Aubrey's parents, Paul and Connie Sacko. When you were just there searching for Aubrey, when you were on that trail in the area, what did you learn?

[Paul Sacco]

Well, the most important thing was that I learned that the trek is not as dangerous as a lot of people believe it is. When people hear the word Himalayas, you know, they think of, you know, Mount Everest. And really it isn't as dangerous as we had previously thought. So it's very unlikely she had an accident.

[Liam Luxon]

When we last left off, Aubrey Sacca was 23 years old, trekking alone through Nepal's Langtang National Park. On April 19, 2010, she emailed her brother and called her parents. Her last words to them, I love you. The next morning, she set off. When Aubrey didn't return, her parents, Paul and Connie, sprang into action, mobilizing a search from halfway across the world. I've been digging through the coverage of her disappearance, the headlines, the details everyone heard. But the more I looked, the clearer it became. So much of Aubrey's story never made it in.

[Paul Sacco]

People are not talking. We know that they know something, that they saw something, but they're not talking for fear of reprisal.

[Liam Luxon]

To fill in the gaps, I've been talking with Paul and Connie Sacco.

[Paul Sacco]

We hired many private agencies and entities to do their own searches.

[Connie Sacco]

And remember we told you about this Tilly llama, who was the first one that went up to check? He put together a lot of searches on the ground that were just normal people, you know, going to villages, looking around to see if Aubrey was there.

[Liam Luxon]

Through family connections and a local ngo, they began piecing together her trail, doing anything in their power to find their daughter.

[Paul Sacco]

Occasionally, there was a villager who would surface and say he knew something, and then we'd follow that lead. One of the fake Leads from a crazy villager. We went all the way to the Annapurna because it was said that Aubrey was buried there, up in the Annapurna. And we spent weeks hiking in the Annapurna region, and that turned out to be a false lead.

[Connie Sacco]

And the villagers were upset because they felt that we had cursed their village and that anything that went bad was because we put a curse on them.

[Liam Luxon]

Paul and Connie were running into every kind of wall. False leads, bad information, fear and superstition. And beneath it all, the quiet truth. They were foreigners, outsiders, which meant they were often kept at a distance or treated like a problem.

[Paul Sacco]

The dichotomy here was that, you know, we. We were very conflicted because we know that the villagers. And by the way, Liam, these people are really wonderful people. I mean, for the most part, the culture, the society, they're just poor people and they're loving, and they have a tourism industry that they want to protect, and they don't want people to be murdered there, you know, go missing. So we were always conflicted about how much to press against these people. But we would question everybody at every tea house, and we would also end up helping a lot of the villagers. Like one villager, the guy had a. A tooth abscess, you know, and one of us had some painkillers with us, you know, so there was this back and forth and us getting to know the villagers, and always lurking in the background was this terrible conflict between the kindness of the people and the warmth of these people and the mystery that these are people that may have murdered our daughter. It was never reconcilable, just never. No matter how good they were, we trusted them. We loved them. And then we'd be going to sleep that night thinking, oh, my God, I wonder if one of these guys is lying and either knows what happened to Aubrey or did something to her.

[Liam Luxon]

All Paul and Connie really had to go on at this point was what they knew for certain. Aubrey had made it to the Llama Hotel, and locals remembered her vividly. Ordering pizza, sipping a Coke, reading a book, and talking to three men who said she insisted that she would continue on alone. But further details about this story gave way to fear. There was a history of people reporting crimes and then becoming framed as the criminal. So people started to pull back, and the first person to do so was a teenager. The chef at Llama Hotel, Tassi Guru.

[Paul Sacco]

Was one of the guys. He knew his village was being threatened by the police, and he had been told, I think, by other villagers not to talk to the police. And all that. So that really stands out as a story for a long time. I believe that he and a couple of other guys that he kind of palled around with at the Lama Hotel may have, you know, done something terrible to Aubrey. But the longer the story went out, the longer the investigation went on, the more it focused away from them.

[Liam Luxon]

Originally, it was this chef who remembered Aubrey sitting down and speaking with the three men. But later, when asked again, he denied ever seeing her at all, which meant the only lead now, the only lead still intact, was the three men themselves, Tenzing Lama, 24, and two older men, Galseng Tamang and Aasi Tamang, individuals Paul and Connie wouldn't come face to face with until a year later. 2011, Langtang National Park, Nepal.

[Connie Sacco]

So we went a year later, Paul, myself and our youngest son, Morgan, and we trekked up to Lama Hotel. And it just so happened that this Tassi guy was there and we. And he could speak some English. We talked to him about Aubrey and he said, if I would have known she was going missing, we would not have let her go. Like, okay, I get that. And when we left Llama Hotel and we were hiking back down and we so happened to come upon one of the other three guys, and somehow our guide knew him and he said, oh, this is so. And so, because he knew we were looking to speak to him and he says the same damn thing.

[Paul Sacco]

So it was very hard.

[Connie Sacco]

I had known if we had known she was going to go missing, we never would have left her leave. And so I said, who told you that? Who told you to say that? And I don't remember the answer, but it was like, oh my God, what is going on here? And so this is during the time that they're saying that they had never seen Aubrey.

[Liam Luxon]

First they said they'd seen Aubrey, then they hadn't. When police brought them in, they cooperated, even agreed to polygraph tests, which they all passed. But by then, their story had shifted back to, yes, they had seen her. But for Paul and Connie, it was beyond murky. They weren't given insight of what was asked, what was answered, or how the men behaved under pressure, just a vague assurance that the men were innocent.

[Paul Sacco]

It was just conclusion. There was no details about what they said.

[Liam Luxon]

What we know is that Aubrey arrived at the Llama Hotel around midday. The next leg of the hike was a steep one, a 980 meter ascent over 3400 meters of ground. The trail follows the Langtang river, winding through forests of hemlock and maple, past mule loading stations and across a suspension bridge. The guide estimates four to five hours, but she was only planning to hike 45 minutes to the next resting lodge. She could have easily made it before sunset, and while it's unclear how far she actually made it, what caught the Sacco's attention was actually another spot called Godotabla, about 3,000 meters in a quiet outpost with a checkpoint run by the army.

[Paul Sacco]

At Llama Hotel. Because we knew that something happened shortly thereafter, right? But the more we knew, the more we investigated, the more we worried about the army.

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[Connie Sacco]

So Aubrey went missing in April. That summer we gotten a call from the embassy and they said they you probably want to hear this story. And one of the embassy employees had gone hiking on his day off or whatever, and he was up in Kangopa and these three French women were on the trail and these three or four army guys had tried to assault them. And so he came upon the girls and they were all frantic. He actually helped them get down to Kathmandu and helped them get a report filed.

[Paul Sacco]

There's all kinds of stories, reports to the embassies, all kinds of things where they're really, really abused by these army people. It's routine. I mean, can you imagine that? I mean, you know, I'm thinking the army is protecting this place in Langtang. Had I known that never, we would never have allowed her to go up there. Because although the army is officially entrusted with the security of the National Langtang park, what they really do is they're a bunch of guys, early 20s, that live up in the mountains and they frequently assault women, frequently, either verbally, physically. Had they pointed their finger at the army, they were worried they were going to get killed. Yeah, they really were.

[Liam Luxon]

I found. In 2017, the Guardian reported that the UN had called on the country to investigate the gang rape and torture of a woman attacked by soldiers during the civil war. While official documentation of rape during the conflict is limited, the UN and Human Rights Watch have reported that these crimes were likely widespread even today during peacetime. Stigma. Fear of retaliation and a lack of legal recourse keep many survivors from ever coming forward.

[Paul Sacco]

And that's when we started discovering the history of the military and what they had done to many, many travelers. We looked into another murder. There was a murder of a young woman in 2012, and that was widely believed to have been involvement from the military.

[Liam Luxon]

2012 Langtang National Park, Nepal Debbie Mabeau was 23, a Belgian traveler hiking solo in the summer of 2012. She'd been missing for 10 days when they found her. Her body was badly decomposed and her head, they said, was lying 13 inches from the rest of her body. There were no leads, no suspects, just a brutal scene with no real explanation. And according to the lead inspector, it probably wasn't robbery. Her camera and 8,000 rupees were still there.

[Paul Sacco]

But there were many reports coming in of females that were being hassled by the military. Along these same trails that Aria traveled, the military was very suspicious.

[Liam Luxon]

Just a few months earlier, along the same stretch of mountains, an American woman was hiking alone when a knife wielding masked man stepped out of the trees. He threatened her, tried to assault her. She got away. A week before that, in the same region, a South Korean woman, also alone, was attacked and tragically didn't survive.

[Paul Sacco]

There's a huge tension in the country between the police and the army. We spent weeks and weeks and months and months developing assets and contacts within the military so that we could determine who was even there at the time Aubrey was there. Ultimately, we got to the bottom of that because there were military hiking up the trail when Aubrey went up and some coming down on or about the same time Aubrey was on the trail. So they had to be identified and investigated. And then there was, of course, the military base needed to be investigated. And so in order to do that, you needed to know some really high ranking folks. You know, guys were not happy about talking to us.

[Liam Luxon]

This checkpoint along the trail is just a small outpost, likely a couple men in uniform clipboards a dusty logbook on the table. And like Paul hoped you'd think their presence meant safety. That if something went wrong, there'd be a record, a system, a response. But here's the truth. A lot of these posts exist for other reasons. One is revenue stream. You can't hike without the right paperwork and park fee. And these stops are there to make sure you've paid. But the fact they're not run by tourism officials and instead manned by the Nepal army tells you something else. Their job isn't to help hikers, it's to show presence. They're not trained in search and rescue or even basic trail safety. And despite claims of a database, many don't even ask who you are or where you're going. So when someone disappears, when a woman passes one post but never reaches the next, there's no flag, no follow up, no one to hold accountable. What you're left with isn't a timeline, it's a blank space, one Paul and Connie hoped they could fill in the.

[Paul Sacco]

Investigation was dying down a little bit because, you know, the embassy changes people every two years.

[Liam Luxon]

That first trip lasted three weeks. A year later, they returned. This time to turn up the pressure.

[Paul Sacco]

And we felt that police, embassy and all that were not doing an adequate job. We would be a catalyst to getting them to work harder.

[Liam Luxon]

Paul and Connie also set up a reward. 20 grand for any real lead on what happened to Aubrey. In a place where most families live on 60 bucks a year, that kind of money doesn't just turn heads, it changes lives.

[Connie Sacco]

So from the beginning, we had posted rewards.

[Paul Sacco]

We were told, we were counseled by the embassy. It can't be too high because no one will believe it. And it can't be too low because no one will be motivated to try to give us information. And then the other thing we said in the posters is that we would ensure the safe, safe travels out of the country for anyone that did report Aubrey's disappearance to us.

[Connie Sacco]

And we felt, too, that we needed to keep it alive in the media and felt like we needed to make ourselves more visible.

[Liam Luxon]

It wasn't until year three, when Paul and Connie were back home, that things finally shifted.

[Commercial Narrator]

A developing story. The Associated Press is reporting police in Nepal have arrested two men in the disappearance of this Colorado woman.

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[Liam Luxon]

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[Liam Luxon]

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[Liam Luxon]

Learn more at WhatsApp.com August 2013 Denver, Colorado, USA 7 News reporter Lindsey Sablon.

[Commercial Narrator]

Just spoke with Aubrey's mother. Lindsey joins us now from the newsroom. And Lindsay, she tells you that they haven't heard anything official.

[Liam Luxon]

Bertha, Aubrey's mom, Connie, says they first.

[Commercial Narrator]

Heard of the arrest early this morning.

[Commercial Voice]

When a media outlet in the US called them.

[Liam Luxon]

Denver 7 was the first to break the news, and a day later, they followed up with another report today, the.

[Commercial Narrator]

State Department confirming three men have been arrested in connection with her disappearance.

[Liam Luxon]

News outlets in Nepal reporting Aubrey was.

[Commercial Narrator]

Murdered, but her parents have received no official word.

[Liam Luxon]

And for now, they're holding on to that hope. That was it. No names, no explanation of who these men were, why they were arrested, or why the case was now being labeled a murder. It was just a brief report and then nothing. I couldn't find an update, so I asked Paul and Connie what actually happened.

[Paul Sacco]

This is a good example of how crazy shit is up there. The three men that were arrested are completely different from those three guys at the Llama Hotel. And here's how that comes into play. There was a sort of a bar situation going on where men are sitting at a bar and there was a police officer in this bar, and the cop happened to be sitting there and overheard three men at the bar talking about what they did to Aubrey, having killed her, buried her, etcetera, all the nastiest stuff you can banter. So this guy immediately informed police.

[Connie Sacco]

I think they kind of just became friends with him. They became like incognito. They didn't share that this person was a cop and just tried to gather more information and get to know them better.

[Paul Sacco]

So it became kind of a sting operation. Done.

[Liam Luxon]

They told me it started with one man. Police arrested him, then marched into the next village where they picked up the two other suspects.

[Paul Sacco]

So while they did this, they ended up getting the attention of all the villagers because there ended up being a parade of these guys and villagers collecting these guys and then bringing them back down to Kathmandu, where they were put in jail for 30 days and questioned.

[Liam Luxon]

Here's what I keep thinking about. Why would a group of random villagers three years after the fact start talking so openly about Aubrey's murder, bragging about committing it? That kind of thing doesn't happen unless there's some truth to it. It's happened in the States before, cases that break wide open because a killer had one too many drinks, got too comfortable, and started running their mouth. So maybe this Wasn't just a rumor passed around over a beer. Maybe. It was exactly what it sounded like. And yet, after 30 days in custody and no hard evidence, they let these men go.

[Paul Sacco]

And the assumption was, if you believe they were not guilty, the assumption by the police is that they might have been just bragging to try to get the reward.

[Connie Sacco]

But, I mean, wouldn't that be stupid? To get the reward? So I'll tell him I killed him.

[Liam Luxon]

This was the leading theory, the suspects and story that made the most sense. But Paul and Connie didn't stop there. They kept coming back to Nepal, searching for answers, trying anything they could. First, they raised the amount of the reward, hoping it might shake some people loose.

[Paul Sacco]

For them not to come forward is just remarkable.

[Liam Luxon]

Along the way, they shook hands with just about everyone who mattered. Politicians, detective units, trucking agencies, and even the top general in the country. And in the end, as Paul puts.

[Paul Sacco]

It, if you want a one sentence answer, it was to push those people to do their fucking jobs. Yeah. And that was it. That was the reason we were going. Because obviously we're not adept, it being spies and foreign assets, developing connections and that sort of stuff. But all we could do at the end of the day was to get their best people to try to do their jobs.

[Liam Luxon]

Through it all, another theory came forward, one that gave them pause. It called into question everything. The previous arrests, the suspects, the story they'd been told. Because if this new version was true, they'd been looking in the wrong direction.

[Paul Sacco]

I'll just be honest with you. I go back to the information that several different groups told us. Both, you know, people that really knew the mountain, really knew the villagers, really knew, really knew the mischief of the military. That only the military could murder someone and adequately dispose of the body. That was the information that kept coming up over and over again.

[Liam Luxon]

So what is.

[Paul Sacco]

What is the.

[Liam Luxon]

The thought correlation with the military?

[Paul Sacco]

That's when I get into things that we really can't discuss. It has to be off record. It has to.

[Liam Luxon]

Okay, yeah. Here, let me just stop recording really quick.

[Paul Sacco]

Doom.

[Liam Luxon]

I turn off the recorder and Paul leans in slightly and lowers his voice. What he tells me next isn't something I can repeat because the story isn't fully settled. But here's what I can share. Over a decade, Paul built relationships not just with villagers and guides, but with the kind of men who don't usually talk. Men in the military. For reasons we can only guess, maybe they'd seen too much. Maybe they felt for Aubrey. Or maybe they believed Paul couldn't do anything about it. But they opened up. And what they told him has left Paul with one clear that some individuals tied to the Nepali military may know far more than they've admitted. Here's what he's willing to say on record.

[Paul Sacco]

The country of Nepal is very corrupt. And so their main source of income is, you know, foreign aid from the US government and the tourism business. So when you negatively impact the tourist business by saying it's dangerous and women disappear and things like that, you get some serious pushback from the top. And these guys imagine, you know, you know, what a military guy salary is, right? I mean, in our country in Nepal, these guys were sending their kids to Ivy league colleges in the U.S. okay? And they had, you know, summer homes, you know, like in the. In France and East, you know, Martha's vineyards. So there it was, clear, clearly something was going on there that was being protected. To what extent, we don't know. We may never know. But it was very sad that all roads led to some thing or somebody that people have a great desire to protect. And that always comes down to money and power.

[Liam Luxon]

2025 today. Colorado, USA there's not much else we know for sure. The only place left to search was inward, into Aubrey herself. Her choices, her mindset, the way she might have felt that morning, that afternoon, that final stretch of trail. I've done that kind of work before, Pieced together the life of someone I never met. It's agonizing. You study their writing, listen to old videos, look for patterns and texts. You try to imagine how the world looked through bare eyes. But doing that as a parent, tearing through memories just to find something you missed, I can't imagine the toll because you turn over every stone hoping for insight. But mostly you just end up with bruises.

[Paul Sacco]

This is important to know about Aubrey. Very important. She was reading Osho and Muji, two Eastern philosophers, okay, that had this theory that in order to become self actualized as a human being, you had to leave your family behind. Now, I don't think for a minute our daughter would ever do that. I don't. But one of the investigators told us, your family will surprise you. So don't ever forget those words. Your family will surprise you. It is possible. For a young woman that absolutely loves her dad and mother and was not abused, it is possible for her to say, I want to leave this world behind. So we kind of go back and forth as a family. Like, could she be somewhere?

[Narrator/Reader of Aubrey's Writings]

You are home, says Mooji. Your home's just an idea of yourself.

[Liam Luxon]

During her travels. Aubrey wrote blogs and journal entries, small windows into how she saw things, and I've been grateful to read a few at home.

[Narrator/Reader of Aubrey's Writings]

There are all of these people that tell you that you are like this and you are like that, and now you are away from them and you do not have anyone to tell you who you are, but you are home. Remove the mental representation of yourself and come home into consciousness of the whole.

[Liam Luxon]

Some of her writing leaned into the spiritual, into disconnection, stillness, the search for something bigger. But others, they felt closer to the ground, honest, full of warmth. You could feel her heart in them, the kind of light people remember long after it's gone.

[Narrator/Reader of Aubrey's Writings]

I pick up the book Silence by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji and opened to a random page. A poor man celebrates the new year once a year. A rich man celebrates it every day, but the richest man celebrates it every moment. I chose to flip through that particular book because it was my 23rd birthday. I shut my eyes and let Guruji's words touch my heart. Why only one day a year to celebrate ourselves? Why only one day a year to celebrate each of those so dear and close to us?

[Liam Luxon]

Her final blog read like a poem. Even the title felt like one last reflection, one last offering before she disappeared. It ends on those words.

[Narrator/Reader of Aubrey's Writings]

As our jeep creeped up the windy pass, I watched out the back window. The road was barely one lane and ran alongside a steam toy train. The trees have gone from tropical or mountainous palm to pine. The air is fresh, the faces are at ease, and the trash is seldom as each small town passes, I can't help but feel that I am getting closer and closer to the perfect place for me. I can't help but not feel that I am on the verge of falling in love. So now here I sit on a balcony overlooking a vast green valley of tea plantations and rooftops lined with Tibetan prayer flags. Below me lie rows of curving alleyways situated along homes and markets. Tibetan monks fill the roads and nearby monasteries, and chanting can be heard off in the distance at almost all hours of the day. Ponies are a common means of transportation, and the clouds are so close you can hold them in your hands. It is on this balcony that I have this thought. Perhaps it is that we are all citizens of this earth but come from different places we call home. But in some sense there are special places far away from the ones we love and the towns we know so well that may feel very much like home. And although we may be alone in these places, in our hearts we know the land we know the streets, we know the faces and feel comfort and perfection as we gaze off into to truly unknown territory. It is in this moment, on this perfect balcony with this perfect pot of tea, that I have truly followed the map of my heart to the land in the clouds.

[Liam Luxon]

While Paul spent the last decade retracing steps through normal Paul, that place high up in the clouds, has come to mean something else to Connie. That's what Paul tells me anyway. You can tell they've had the conversations, the ones you only have when the mics are off. And maybe it's just too hard for her to say out loud that in her heart, Aubrey might still be out there, living quietly, healing, learning, taking her time. Aubrey's story has reached far beyond the mountains. Songs have been written in her name, other podcasts produced.

[Narrator/Reader of Aubrey's Writings]

Her nickname was Glitter and it was bestowed on her due to her habit of carrying around a physical bottle of glitter and sprinkling it on people and throughout different places that she spent in and people that she met just to remind them to live life to the fullest.

[Liam Luxon]

There's been a rock painted in her memory.

[Home Chef Advertiser]

I like that name, the Glitter Rock.

[Paul Sacco]

There's only one thing more colorful than the Aubrey Bomb. It's the Aubrey Rock.

[Liam Luxon]

Friends and family created Aubrey's closet to honor her love of flowing dresses. Her art, her paintings and photography still live online. And her father, alongside four others, formed a band called Five Month Journey, carrying her spirit into every song.

[Lana (Solo Traveler)]

For me, traveling is literally also getting to know and feel the energy of the locals. And not only how blue the ocean is or how beautiful the lake is or how the beautiful the view is. No, it's not like that. It's all also about the people that you meet along the way.

[Liam Luxon]

I keep coming back to my conversation with Lana, my friend, the solo traveler you heard at the beginning of the previous episode. She talked about what it really means to leave home, to move through this world as a woman alone, without a safety net, that it's not about the perfect views or postcard moments.

[Lana (Solo Traveler)]

I always encounter beautiful and inspiring people like you, you know, and it will keep you humble. Solo traveling kept me humble in life. Like it made me realize that I'm just a small part of this whole universe and collective and the world because we just all the same thing, we all just trying to survive.

[Liam Luxon]

Solo travel humbles you. It asks you to be brave, to be quiet, to trust strangers, to let go of control. I wish the world was a safer place because yes, sometimes it is risky, but maybe the greater risk is never doing it at all. Aubrey understood that she chased the experience, the light, the beauty. She opened herself to the world. So if you're going to carry anything with you, let it be that version of her. Not the ending, but the leap. 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 Blanca White. Artwork by Trevor Iler. Mix by Cooper Skinner. A heartfelt thank you to our voice actor Victoria Lynn Carroll, who brought Aubrey's journals to life with such care and authenticity. 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 Emu and Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Paul Sacco]

Fascinating.

[Liam Luxon]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Paul Sacco]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[Liam Luxon]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts.