Michelle Vanek -- Missing Since 2005 From Colorado
Missing Person: Michelle Vanek
Last-contact date: September 24th, 2005 at about 1pm or 130pm
The area where the MP was last seen: Minturn, Colorado near the summit of Mount Holy Cross in an area referred to as "the Bowl of Tears."
Link to government source: NamUs MP
VITAL DETAILS
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 35 years old
Birthdate: Michelle Vanek was born between September 25th, 1969, and September 24th, 1970 based on her reported age at the last date of reported contact.
Hair: Blond/strawberry
Eyes: Blue
Scar: None indicated
Height/weight: 5'7" and 150 pounds
BMI*: Michelle Vanek was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Michelle Vanek did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles.
Michelle Vanek was last heard from on September 24th, 2005 when she was 35 years of age. This individual has now been missing for about 16 years as of the original publication date of this blog post. The following Youtube video would be close to the area where she was last seen. The panoramic view in the video may, in fact, be of the whereabouts of her remains. It's a good video to watch for a moment before reading this blog post.
Reportedly, she was hiking with a friend named Eric Sawyer, she stopped to rest, Eric continued on, and then the friend was not able to find her later. This lost-hiker pattern can also be seen in the Olga Mauer case from several decades ago and the Celeste Hensley Greub case from the 1970s. In all three cases, a person who was with someone stopped to rest during a hike and was never seen again.
Eric and Michelle made mistakes while trying to hike to the summit of the 14k-foot mountain. They started off wrong and ended up taking a lengthier path than what was required. This may have been a reason why each of them ran out of water. Eric also left his lunch in his vehicle and his water purifier.
Michelle Vanek's disappearance made the newspapers. The first instance of journalism I found was on September 28th, 2005, four days after Vanek disappeared. This article downplayed the likelihood of foul play and played up the possibility that Vanek got lost. Note, the watch that is mentioned in the article below did not belong to the missing woman as per subsequent journalism.
28 Sep 2005, Wed The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) Newspapers.com
There was a lot of area to cover in this lost-hiker search and there were many so-called nooks and crannies where someone might have taken shelter from the wind if lost and forced to overnight. That she was without water certainly doesn't speak well to her survival chances. Furthermore, there is a condition known as altitude sickness that she might have suffered from. This sickness can include weakness and sleepiness.
At the time, this case led to the largest search in Colorado state history. However, Michelle remains missing. There was a squatter in the area, one who refused to answer questions from Sherrif investigators. Also, there was a question as to whether some blood spatter that was found belonged to Michelle.
Michelle Vanek may have had the following articles when she disappeared: a red shirt, black tights, a black shirt, a baseball cap, and hiking boots. I think she also had ski poles and a small Camelback water pack.
Author: Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths)
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.
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Website hashtag: #MPCSL
*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing persons case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.
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