A Missing Person Phenomenon -- Bloodhounds Tracking Ends at Roadside

By: Shane Lambert

Time of writing: December 8th, 2020

There are times when I don't write articles about specific cases but instead, look at something that many cases have in common. I did this previously with an article that I wrote called "Women With Car Troubles Go Missing."

In that article, I showed how a woman who experiences car troubles while driving and subsequently disappears may have been disappeared by a person who sabotaged her car. I believed such an article could improve public safety. 

I had a similar concern in mind when I wrote "Missing Kids and Their Bicycles." In that article, I looked at a known kidnapping where the perpetrator was caught. This man said that he was attracted to a road-side bicycle as he drove because he knew it meant that a young person was in the area.

I suggested in my article that this could provide insight into other cases where children are missing and only their bicycles are ever found. The child that wanders into the forest might not stumble on a dangerous stranger, he/she may have been followed after leaving his/her bicycle in a more publicly viewable spot. In this article, I was thinking that we needed to learn something -- even just a tiny detail -- about how kidnappers' minds work so as to help with similar cases in the future.

Opinions that I have like these come from reading thousands of missing person's reports -- which I have done. You pick up on patterns when you read, patterns that pertain to society and even history. On that note, I noticed a pattern with some missing children cases lately.

The following cases are thought to be unrelated and I'm sure many of them are because they occur across decades. However, they have things in common that I want to highlight to the reader because a certain formula for child abduction might highlight risk factors for the event. That formula is certainly not all-pervasive to all kidnappings but it is important to be aware of in certain channels.

The following cases all have these points in common:

1. A child (aged 17 or younger) attends a social event.
2. The event is at rural location or at a park.
3. The child disappears.
4. The area is searched extensively and the child is not found.
5. The bloodhounds come in to aid in the search and the child's footsteps* are traced.
6. The footsteps lead to a road and then the trace is lost.
7. The date of the disappearance was a holiday of some sort or a holiday weekend.

*the scent of the child is what is traced. Bloodhounds would track this scent whether it was walking or dragging.

Everyone has biases. I don't believe they make us inadequate but they should be acknowledged.

When I read the information in cases that involve the numbered bullets above, I think the child has been abducted. The reason the bloodhounds couldn't trace the footsteps further than the road is that that's where the child entered a car. This car, I assume, was driven by the abductor or a member of the abductor's team. This car then speeds away.

The following independent cases conform to the points above. Note, that the list is not exhaustive and may be added to in the future.

Case Study #1: Majorie West -- NamUS #MP7033

• Points 1-7 apply

Marjorie West went missing way back on May 8th, 1938. She was at a family picnic on what was Mother's Day, which meets point #1. The picnic also meets points #2 above because the site of the picnic was rural. One newspaper article I read on the disappearance from at-the-time journalism claimed that the girl was lost in the forest (May 9 1938/News-Herald/Page 10).

This same article said that a group of "500 men searched brush-covered Allegheny National Forest" in search of the missing girl but did not find her. Another source from the Burlington Daily News headlined "3,000 Men Search Timber Lands for Four-Year-Old Girl" (May 16 1938). Clearly, point #4 is met.

According to Page 1 of the May 11 1938 Coshocton Tribune, "bloodhounds were brot to the scene" in this case in an effort to find the child. That satisfies point #5.

Meanwhile, point #6 is satisfied as per the case details at NamUs. NamUs's description of the disappearance read, at time of writing, as follows: "Police searched with bloodhounds around the rock and down to the road where the scent trail stopped; there near the road were the violets that Marjorie had picked earlier."

Lastly, point #7 has to do with Mother's Day. That's not the most important holiday of the year but it was a special day and I do think there is significance there that I will return to.

Case Study #2: Vilate Young -- NamUs #MP73780

• Points 1-7 apply

Vilate Young went missing on July 4th, 1956 from Widstoe, Utah. That date will stand-out to anyone familiar with American culture as it was Independence Day, which meets point #7. That similarity with the Marjorie West case is interesting to me. The two cases are decades apart and are from different points in the USA. However, I think kidnappers are attracted to areas that host family events at times when the areas will be popular.

Vilate's case meets point #2. According to my research of the kidnapping. she was at a rural ranch known as the Newell Steed Ranch.

Also, my research revealed a timely search of the area where she disappeared followed up by a large search party, authorities, and more. I covered this case closely at a different part of this site. Visiting the hyperlink near the start of this paragraph will show that points 1 to 7 are all satisfied: Vilate attended a family event on a holiday, the event was rural, she disappeared from the event, the area was searched extensively, bloodhounds were brought in, and these bloodhounds traced the missing child's steps to a road. That exact same sentence could be written of Majorie West.

Case Study #3: Trenny Gibson -- NamUs #MP4524

• Points 1 to 6 all apply

The case of Trenny Gibson is one that I did research on in the fall of 2019. Trenny was last seen on October 8th, 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She was 16 when she disappeared while attending a school trip. A school trip is a social event so that meets point #1 while the mountainous national-park setting of her disappearance meets point #2.

Trenny's disappearance was very strange. She was behind some friends one moment and then seemed to be gone by the next. I previously wondered if she disappeared into the bushes for a moment to relieve herself and then got lost but that in itself is difficult to picture. Conversely, animal attacks are always possible in national parks, especially if you surprise a black bear.

In previous research, I did find a history of bear attacks in the region. Importantly, if you are attacked by an animal and killed in the forest you might not be found. Scavengers or predators can bury body parts, devour them, knock them into strange places, or take them to dens. But I do find it weird that NO part of Trenny was ever found in the park.

One different possibility is that she was abducted at knife-point or gunpoint. That would explain why Trenny disappeared so quietly -- with the abductor able to demand silence from her with a weapon displayed.

According to an article on page 3 of the October 12 1976 Johnson City Press, there was a search for her that lasted 3.5 days at the time of writing. That would meet point #4, which requires an extensive search. Point #5 is almost met from information in the same article: "Rangers sealed off a spur road leading from the highway over the 6,000 foot mountains as searchers used bloodhounds and German shepherd dogs in an unsuccessful attempt to find the girl's trail." Point #5 requires that the footsteps be traced by bloodhounds and the article states that they were not successful to that end.

However, I did find a forum post at websleuths.com that may be relevant. Of course, forum posts have to be taken with a grain of salt but that doesn't mean they should be discounted. This one quoted material that stated the following: 

"A recently-opened can of beer and three cigarette butts were found on the trail near where Trenny was last seen.

Tracking dogs were immediately brought in to aid in the search. They picked up Trenny's scent and followed it 1.6 miles from the Clingmans Dome parking area to a highway roadside. On Sunday, October 10, three additional tracking dogs were brought in; working separately from the first group, the dogs tracked Trenny's scent to the same roadside. It was here that searchers discovered cigarette butts matching the brand of those found on the trail near where Trenny was last seen."

If that post is accurate, then it would satisfy the points up to #6. Bloodhounds traced the disappeared person, they traced her to a roadside, and then the trace was lost. This account of Trenny's disappearance is not uncommon. According to an article at strangeoutdoors.com:

"Searchers used about a half-dozen dog teams with Bloodhounds and German Shepherds to look for Trenny. Three of the tracking dogs picked up her scent at the intersection with the Appalachian Trail. They followed it by Clingmans Dome Tower and some of the dogs last detected her scent along the roadside about a mile and a half from Newfound Gap but then the dogs stopped, the scent had disappeared."

Another article at wbir.com echoed the use of tracking dogs that led to a roadside location.

As for point #7, regarding the day in question being a holiday, it does not apply to Trenny Gibson's case perfectly. The nearest American holiday at that time was Columbus Day. However, I will state that Trenny disappeared on the Friday before the Columbus Day weekend (Columbus Day was the Monday October 11th). I think that the holiday should still be factored in looking at the similarities between these cases.

Analysis of Case Studies 1-3

I think Case Studies 1-3 should be thought about. They are all American but other than that, they cannot really be connected in terms of geographical space. The cases span a wide range in America and they also span decades so I don't see much reason to connect them to one perpetrator. Instead, I think that kidnappers across time and space just think alike when they try to plan their crimes.

All three of the kidnapped minors were in rural locations attending some kind of social event. All three had their footprints tracked to a roadside location where the trail abruptly ended. All three went missing either on a holiday or on a holiday weekend if we broadly construe Friday afternoon to be a part of a weekend.

It could be that kidnappers, quite simply, are attracted to these family-oriented parks and facilities at times when families are going to be going to them. It could be that they then look for the child that gets separated from the flock and that child gets targeted. 

Trenny was separate from a group when she disappeared and her trail was tracked to a road. Vilate was separate from a group when she disappeared and her trail was tracked to a road. Marjorie was separate from a group when she disappeared and her trail was tracked to a road. 

I think that kidnappers often lay in wait at venues where they expect children: parks and family recreation areas during peak times (ie. holidays or holiday weekends) fit the bill. When opportunities arise, they pounce and take the child to a parked car. That's why the trails ended roadside as the bloodhounds can't really follow the car.

Of course, one of the lessons is one that's already known. It's not that you shouldn't go to the park or have a picnic or go to the mountain trails. However, it is that minors should never really be ignored -- not even for a very short time.

In the case of Marjorie and Vilate, they were toddlers that could be tricked. In Trenny's case, I wonder if she was ushered off with a knife or a gun as that might be what's needed to keep her quiet and not alert the other members of the school group.

Another lesson here just has to do with what I believe to be a modus operandi. History does repeat itself as certain as these cases span three different generations.

There is loads of conjecture or just straight fluff when it comes to commenting on missing person's cases. Animals attack people, people get lost on their own, people can voluntarily disappear on their own, and people can suffer mishaps like falling into crevices, rivers, or down cliffs. But if the bloodhounds are telling you the missing person went to a road then assume they went to a car in contrast to the other possible explanations. If you are reading about a missing person's case where the 7 points fit then my recommendation is to treat that as abduction first and the other possible scenarios as secondary.