Authorities Discover The Truth Behind A Young Boy’s Disappearance After Father Makes A Confession

authorities discover the truth behind a young boy's disappearance after the father makes a confession [Music] for some there's nothing better than escaping into the wild for a little while for 18 year old austin and his stepfather hiking was one of the best ways they spent their time together however that all changed when austin became lost in the woods things seemed strange when the stepfather didn't report him missing right away as it turns out there was a reason he wanted to keep things quiet read on to discover what they were really doing in the forest and how authorities managed to find austin almost two weeks later it's not always easy for a stepfather and his stepson to bond over a common hobby lucky for 18 year old austin he and his stepfather both love spending times outdoors the two would frequent the great smoky mountains natural park in tennessee since it wasn't far from their home they hiked together often so the nearby trails had become familiar to both despite being experienced outdoorsmen things can sometimes go unexpectedly wrong that's exactly what happened next one particular day austin and his stepfather were walking through one of their typical hiking paths the day seemed insignificant until his stepfather tripped near a creek causing his glasses to fly from his face and into the water austin's stepfather struggled to see where his glasses went not only because they were lost in the stream but because he couldn't see well without them since austin knew that his stepfather would need help finding them he began searching for the missing pair of glasses austin and his stepfather did what most people do when looking for something they picked opposite directions and started searching unfortunately this meant that the two became separated from one another and they went on looking for the glasses since his stepdad was having a hard time seeing he couldn't tell when austin had strayed far away from him he continued looking for his glasses until at last he found them in the stream it was then that he realized his stepson had vanished all the while austin's stepfather had assumed the young man was still in short distance now that his glasses were back on he could see that austin was nowhere in sight he began shouting austin's name but no one answered back by now panic set in he decided to do the most logical thing he could think of and go back to the car he figured that austin would do the same so long as he knew the way back well enough austin and his stepfather could have wasted hours circling around the forest in search of one another for all they knew they could be moving away from one another as they look the most logical thing to do was to return to the car the one place that they both knew where exactly to go surely a grown man would have come to this conclusion and gone there too unfortunately austin never returned to the car the stepfather returned home and told austin's mother the two figured that austin is grown and knows the trails he would eventually make it back or get to a phone and call them they eventually headed back to the trail to look for austin but were unsuccessful two days later they reported him missing park chief ranger steve kloster received the phone call and was shocked that it had already been 48 hours and no one said anything something seemed off austin was officially declared missing at 6 30 pm on sunday august 13th park ranger steve kloster set up a search and rescue that consisted of 100 people they covered 6 700 acres with helicopters ground crews and search canines since it had already been two days it seemed unlikely that he would still be in the woods if austin were little he may have gotten scared and hid somewhere but he was old enough to make it out on his own the search ended unsuccessfully not so much as a clue was uncovered nevertheless kloster knew that there was enough water for austin to survive off of that he was in good enough shape to survive a few days alone on top of all that the weather was decent it was neither sweltering hot or freezing cold as far as they were concerned the young man was making it through okay as it turns out he was having a harder time than they could have known kloster was familiar with similar cases of missing people he knew by the tenth day that things were not looking good for austin he presumably had not eaten all of his time desperate times had finally called for desperate measures one thing that the park ranger was suspicious of was the stepfather first he didn't report the case right away and then later he seemed vague about the location the men had been separated at he decided to sit the stepfather down for a talk hubert austin's stepfather had been leery to confess the real reason that he and austin went out for a hike that day kloster sat him down and demanded that he release all of the information he had before it was too late the problem was that they had been doing something illegal however the petty crime was not worth getting away with if it meant losing austin at last it had gotten to a point where the truth needed to come out like his stepfather it took austin a moment to realize that the two had lost one another fortunately the authorities and his parents were right about one thing austin was well equipped to handle being alone in the forest all of his years hiking trails and becoming comfortable and familiar with the great outdoors had led to this moment the first step in any situation like this was to remain calm rather than getting scared and losing focus austin zeroed in on what he needed to do while his stepfather's instincts led him to return to the car austin had another plan since he didn't know for sure if his stepfather had found his glasses he couldn't be sure that hubert had made it back to the car without proper vision rather than taking the chance he decided to get to higher ground where he could hopefully make a phone call and clear things up he climbed to the top of a ridge and made the calls despite being up high the calls didn't go through but then it was already late and austin was exhausted from the day's events he camped out in the ridge and then the following day he headed back to lower ground as he trekked on he came upon a creek austin knew that it would be a good idea to stay near the water it provided him with something to drink but also gave him a sense of direction the small creek he had run into was tab cat creek and led him straight into a large creek called panther he followed panther creek for a couple of days without food he only grew weaker with each passing day what's worse is that the path was not an easy one the hike was full of steep areas and parts that required climbing a hill to get around the waterfall then austin realized he had been going the wrong way he turned around and headed in the opposite direction being lost is never fun especially when you can't tell if someone is looking for you austin could have expected that his family would be looking for him but there was no way to know if the authorities were on their way or if they would ever find him a spark of hope finally came one day as austin was walking along the forest he spotted a helicopter and tried to flag it down the tree canopies were too tall and thick for the young man to stand out against so he went unseen while austin knew that people were searching the woods for him he had to stick to his plan and stay on a steady course just like when he first got separated from his stepfather he couldn't wander into the woods looking for those who might be looking for him if he did so he would easily get lost in all of the trees without clear landmarks he could start walking in circles without realizing it he had to stay near the stream austin was burning hundreds of calories a day by continuing to hike especially with the rough terrain he had to engage muscles that had no fuel to run on that's what led him to nearly eating bugs however his body adjusted very quickly to the challenge after a few days without food he no longer was feeling pangs of hunger staying focused and in control forced his body to adapt to what was happening he went into survival mode back at austin's house his stepfather was finally ready to reveal the detail he hadn't been too proud to share he admitted to the reason that he and austin had gone out hiking in the first place they were looking for ginseng the plant's roots can be worth hundreds of dollars per pound however it's illegal to remove the plant or any part of it from the forest suddenly everything that had happened seemed crystal clear the park ranger had been right to question why hubert would hold off contacting the authorities about his stepson for two days it's possible that he resisted their help because he didn't want to get them both into trouble austin's stepfather may have thought he could find him on his own and save everyone the trouble of revealing their potentially illegal activity however those 48 hours that he waited enabled austin to stray further into the woods by the 11th day of being lost austin's body was depleted he had managed to avoid eating bugs but was still in desperate need of food he'd relied on untreated creek water which was good for the time being but was not what his body was used to he woke up on a ridge where he once again slept and looked down at the water below it was then that he saw it at last his nightmare would be over on the morning of august 22nd boaters were drifting down abrams creek austin opened his eyes to wake up just as the rafts drifted by the entire time that he'd been missing groups of 15 to 30 people were looking for him at once however these boaters were the first humans austin had seen since his stepfather it was incredible timing that he caught a glimpse of them the moment he woke up thanks to his spot on the ridge he managed to get their attention after hubert's confession everyone on the lookout had a clear idea of where he and austin had been and what to look out for by the 11th day of searching two teams of trained canines and almost 30 emergency responders from five different agencies were on the scene one park worker by the name of sanders told the local newspaper that the challenging terrain meant an hour-long walk could take as much as a full day to get through no one lost hope since they all knew that this was something austin could survive however they also knew that he was in an area they had been mining through for more than a week seven days after austin first went missing his local community held a candlelight vigil for him from churches to hunters to investigators and more everyone came together to find austin since they knew that it was in their power to do so with all of the news gathered about the missing boy in great smoky mountains national park it was clear the moment that the boaters spotted him that this was austin austin's mother was emotional as she got the news that her son was found he was immediately cared for and brought back to a stable level but was in impressive shape given all he'd been through austin went on to put his survival skills to use as a marine in 29 years with the park kloster told local reporters that he'd never seen a search last so long sanders said that losing sight of one another was a common reason hiking partners got lost emphasizing the importance of staying close together the positive that came out of the ordeal was that the community came together for a joined purpose bringing austin home his mother posted on facebook that the compassion of strangers was beyond moving