Jon and Nathan met through friends one night while out having drinks. They immediately hit it off much to the pleasure of everyone they knew. Before long they had moved in to a great little condo by the beach, happily living the dream.

Inspired by a night of binge watching “Finding Bigfoot”, Nathan came to Jon with an idea. Jon was so smart, handsome and camera worthy, why don’t THEY go out and film themselves hunting for creatures? The Bigfoot people never found anything so they wouldn’t have to either!  Then they could post it for all of their friends online to watch and laugh.

This idea was just silly enough and fun enough to get Jon’s attention. At the very least this would be a great excuse to shop for some new camping gear and take a road trip. Why not?

They jumped online and searched for a new tent and sleeping bags. Happy they had something new to focus on, Jon sincerely thanked Nathan for always coming up with exciting and creative things for them to do. He was the fun half of this pair. Jon had a hard time loosening up. Nathan had no trouble at all.

Packed with far too many changes of clothing for a weekends excursion (“Jon you have to bring extra shirts in case you sweat…I want you to look good on camera”) they drove off towards the desert for a fun filled weekend of camping and Nathan filming Jon finding lost creatures in the wild. It was already too much fun.

They made it to their campsite with plenty of time to set up in the daylight. Nathan had already practiced setting up the tent in their living room the night before so he was ready. In no more than a half hour Nathan had created a mini home away from home and was full of way too much energy for Jon. Jon needed a nap before any “creature hunting” was going to take place. He went inside the tent and slept while Nathan wandered around scouting the area for good places to pretend to be lurking around.

The day slowly faded into night. Jon built a small campfire while Nathan played with the settings on his camera. (“Now you know this isn’t the Blair Witch! I don’t want snotty nosed fake sobbing out there Jon! I want you to be the hunter! Fiiiiiind the beast…”)

Nathan was so ridiculous Jon had to laugh. Fine, if Nathan wants a hunt he can have a hunt.

Armed with nothing more than an iPhone and a flash light the two set off to record what they were sure at the very least was going to be the next YouTube sensation.

The desert is not the safest place to go wandering around at night. The rangers had warned of this when Jon paid for the campsite at the front gate. “Stay on the trails and close to your tents at night” was the serious and stern reminder before they drove off. But honestly, Jon and Nathan hadn’t driven clear out to the desert to just walk around filming a public campsite! Their friends would not find that entertaining at all.

Earlier while Jon was napping, Nathan found a few areas not too far out into the desert that seemed easy enough to get to and had some large rocks to creep around. But now in the dark, he had no idea where he was wandering them off to. It definitely was harder to tell where any of the trails were at night. The big rocks he had planned on creeping around didn’t seem to be there anymore. Nathan was completely lost but playing it off like the director in charge!(” …just a little further..right up here…it will be perfect”) In Nathan’s mind  being temporarily lost was not a big deal. They would find their way back sooner or later or the sun would come up right?

Jon was secretly loving every bit of the attention. Normally Nathan was the star of the show and Jon was more than happy to sit back and enjoy. But now the spotlight was directly on him and it felt good.

A few more yards up ahead they would start filming. Nathan formally introduced Jon to the audience and they were off! Jon whispered to the camera as his search for any kind of desert beast was in full swing. Jon’s slow, exaggerated movements and serious tone cracked Nathan up so bad he had to stop and restart the filming several times. This trip was turning out to be one of their best times ever.

Still trying to keep his serious demeanor, Jon climbed on top of a group of boulders pretending to look out into the darkness in search of a beast. Whispering loudly, Jon described the suroundings, ramping up the excitement for his audience. The creature they came for was just up ahead! ( “…sshhh…I think I hear the beast behind me …”)

Creeping around the large boulder Jon’s right foot slid and twisted sending him falling backwards off the rocks down into the darkness.

Thinking this performance could earn him an award, Nathan called to Jon.

” …yes…yes…ok next time I need a scream with the fall…”

Silence from the other side.

Nathan ran to the group of boulders Jon had been playing around on. It was so dark he really couldn’t see Jon anywhere. ” Ok this is NOT funny!” Nathan yelled out slighlty confused.

Something moved…then growled.

” JON?!?”

Silence.

Nathan’s heart started to race. ” Jon?”

“JON!?”

 

 

Several concerned campers alerted the rangers upon leaving  that the fun duo they met a few days earlier never came back to their campsite. Search and Rescue were called and canvassed the area. The campsite had been untouched. The car still there. Jon and Nathan were gone.

Eight days later Nathan’s badly damaged cell phone was recovered over three miles from their original campsite. Authorities were able to retrieve Nathan’s video but will not release it fully to the public saying it is part of an ongoing investigation. No other remains have ever been found.

Jon and Nathan are still officially listed as missing.