AK AK - Mary Dawn Wilson, 69 - 2-YO Grandchild Found Locked in Abandoned Car, Healy, 12 July 2022

[SimplyCass]

Mary Wilson - Google My Maps

Mary Wilson

www.google.com

I made my own GMM.



Here's a critical discrepancy that hasn't really been clarified. What do they mean by "6.8 miles up on the Stampede Trail"? By driving distance, the exact coordinates would be 63.87573, -149.24252. However, 'as the crow flies' (the 'usual way' how MSM usually reports distance), would put it much further west.

However, I'm more inclined to believe 6.8 miles is by driving distance, since 6.8 miles 'as the crow flies' appears to well after the road ends?

 

[WingsOverTX]

Maybe because I work with seniors who are up to 103 years old, I don’t think of 69 as being as “elderly” as many people in this discussion do. I also haven’t read anything in MSM to indicate this woman had a serious medical condition. I don’t have any answers, but I’m not convinced that her age was a big factor in whatever happened.
Hoping this case is solved soon.

I agree. We have not heard anything in MSM to suggest she was compromised mentally or physically due to age. However, a sudden medical event could have occurred the day she drove into the wilderness on this remote dead-end road which becomes a trail.

Was she disoriented in some way? I can't imagine someone well-versed in the challenges of travel in Alaska, as I think she was, would take a Ford sedan with a toddler in tow on this road unless something was very off.

Hypothermia after the car getting stuck seems reasonable to me as well.

I do not find calling off the search to be reasonable. A SAR group should really take this on and try to find her body before the snow flies in September or October.

And unless a search continues, how can any answers be found? Her body could yield clues.

Maybe LE has a theory but is not releasing it to the public. We haven't heard anything in MSM about why she traveled to Healey, who the friend is she stayed with & what they speculate might have happened.

JMO

 

[kccorona]

Mary Wilson - Google My Maps

Mary Wilson

www.google.com

I made my own GMM.

View attachment 356112

Here's a critical discrepancy that hasn't really been clarified. What do they mean by "6.8 miles up on the Stampede Trail"? By driving distance, the exact coordinates would be 63.87573, -149.24252. However, 'as the crow flies' (the 'usual way' how MSM usually reports distance), would put it much further west.

However, I'm more inclined to believe 6.8 miles is by driving distance, since 6.8 miles 'as the crow flies' appears to well after the road ends?

I am also a bit confused about where the car was found. Been following this case from the start but just went back and read from page 1 all the way through again, and noticed one post from (what sounds like) a local, or someone familiar w the area-

Have driven this road several times during various times of the day and night and while fairly remote I have always seen other vehicles passing through. Hard to imagine her not ever seeing anyone either during her struggle to free the stuck car or during her mile long trek up the road. This case is very strange.

This leads me to believe the area where her car was found was a bit less remote than the “trail”, as I am picturing it. If vehicles are passing through regularly at all times of day and night, it isn’t the primitive type of backwoods trail it is being described in the articles I’ve read. At least that’s what I had imagined.

Also- the main reason I went back through and read the whole thread was because it kept nagging at me that we didn’t have a good reason or explanation for the odd timing of her car being reported as spotted on the “trail” to LE - 1:30am on Thursday. It kept bugging me that we didn’t have more info about who was wandering along a trail in the middle of the night and reported seeing a baby in a car. However… the whole scenario makes a lot more sense in the context of @ComfortablyNumbb ’s post- that it is in fact a regularly traveled road, so it’s much more “normal” - Or at least less bizarre (and creepy tbh)- that someone driving along would notice the presence of a car on the side of the road and report it to LE. Honestly makes more sense that it would be reported at 1:30am, as this would be a time of heightened awareness of anything out of the ordinary. Easier to dismiss a car on the side of the road during the day, maybe thinking someone had gotten out to do some hiking… but at night it would certainly raise some alarm bells.

 

[ConundrumPonderer]

I am also a bit confused about where the car was found. Been following this case from the start but just went back and read from page 1 all the way through again, and noticed one post from (what sounds like) a local, or someone familiar w the area-

This leads me to believe the area where her car was found was a bit less remote than the “trail”, as I am picturing it. If vehicles are passing through regularly at all times of day and night, it isn’t the primitive type of backwoods trail it is being described in the articles I’ve read. At least that’s what I had imagined.

Also- the main reason I went back through and read the whole thread was because it kept nagging at me that we didn’t have a good reason or explanation for the odd timing of her car being reported as spotted on the “trail” to LE - 1:30am on Thursday. It kept bugging me that we didn’t have more info about who was wandering along a trail in the middle of the night and reported seeing a baby in a car. However… the whole scenario makes a lot more sense in the context of @ComfortablyNumbb ’s post- that it is in fact a regularly traveled road, so it’s much more “normal” - Or at least less bizarre (and creepy tbh)- that someone driving along would notice the presence of a car on the side of the road and report it to LE. Honestly makes more sense that it would be reported at 1:30am, as this would be a time of heightened awareness of anything out of the ordinary. Easier to dismiss a car on the side of the road during the day, maybe thinking someone had gotten out to do some hiking… but at night it would certainly raise some alarm bells.

That’s a good point. It occurs to me, since there aren’t any details in the stories I see in MSM, MOO the person who called it in may indeed have become alarmed that the car was there at 1:30 in the morning, because it was the second time they’d seen the car. If the witness was going to work, or an outing, they may well have seen the car and presumed a reasonable purpose, as you suggest. Hiking, berry picking, or the call of nature, and not found it odd. Then on the way home, the witness saw the car still there, and they stopped to investigate. IMO they might not have been too concerned even so, thinking the driver was camping, but as soon as they saw the baby… 911. It seems Mary just had really poor luck, she got stuck when there wasn’t anybody around for a longer stretch. ETA Or, the wrong person did come by.

 

[WingsOverTX]

I am also a bit confused about where the car was found. Been following this case from the start but just went back and read from page 1 all the way through again, and noticed one post from (what sounds like) a local, or someone familiar w the area-

This leads me to believe the area where her car was found was a bit less remote than the “trail”, as I am picturing it. If vehicles are passing through regularly at all times of day and night, it isn’t the primitive type of backwoods trail it is being described in the articles I’ve read. At least that’s what I had imagined.

Also- the main reason I went back through and read the whole thread was because it kept nagging at me that we didn’t have a good reason or explanation for the odd timing of her car being reported as spotted on the “trail” to LE - 1:30am on Thursday. It kept bugging me that we didn’t have more info about who was wandering along a trail in the middle of the night and reported seeing a baby in a car. However… the whole scenario makes a lot more sense in the context of @ComfortablyNumbb ’s post- that it is in fact a regularly traveled road, so it’s much more “normal” - Or at least less bizarre (and creepy tbh)- that someone driving along would notice the presence of a car on the side of the road and report it to LE. Honestly makes more sense that it would be reported at 1:30am, as this would be a time of heightened awareness of anything out of the ordinary. Easier to dismiss a car on the side of the road during the day, maybe thinking someone had gotten out to do some hiking… but at night it would certainly raise some alarm bells.

Respectfully, I have seen no source that supports what you are saying about Stampede Trail.

It is called a trail because it is not maintained for vehicles for most of its length. Plus it is a one-way dead end so Mary wasn't going to find anything but more vast wilderness at the end, had she arrived there.

I wish we could hear from someone with a first-hand account of having traveled it.

Because it is summer near Denali, the highest mountain in America & one of the most remote, more people are out there in this season than any other I'm sure. But that does not make it well-traveled. Except maybe by hikers.

If you are familiar with the outback in Alaska, it might not be intimidating. To all others, it is very remote wilderness.

That Mary was on it with a toddler in a vehicle with very low clearance is odd. Very odd.

MOO

 

[kccorona]

Respectfully, I have seen no source that supports what you are saying about Stampede Trail.

It is called a trail because it is not maintained for vehicles for most of its length. Plus it is a one-way dead end so Mary wasn't going to find anything but more vast wilderness at the end, had she arrived there.

I wish we could hear from someone with a first-hand account of having traveled it.

Because it is summer near Denali, the highest mountain in America & one of the most remote, more people are out there in this season than any other I'm sure. But that does not make it well-traveled. Except maybe by hikers.

If you are familiar with the outback in Alaska, it might not be intimidating. To all others, it is very remote wilderness.

That Mary was on it with a toddler in a vehicle with very low clearance is odd. Very odd.

MOO

I understand, but if you read the second quote in my post above (re: local info from user @ComfortablyNumbb), it is from who has/does travel the road/trail regularly.

 

[Stunned]

I agree. We have not heard anything in MSM to suggest she was compromised mentally or physically due to age. However, a sudden medical event could have occurred the day she drove into the wilderness on this remote dead-end road which becomes a trail.

Was she disoriented in some way? I can't imagine someone well-versed in the challenges of travel in Alaska, as I think she was, would take a Ford sedan with a toddler in tow on this road unless something was very off.

Hypothermia after the car getting stuck seems reasonable to me as well.

I do not find calling off the search to be reasonable. A SAR group should really take this on and try to find her body before the snow flies in September or October.

And unless a search continues, how can any answers be found? Her body could yield clues.

Maybe LE has a theory but is not releasing it to the public. We haven't heard anything in MSM about why she traveled to Healey, who the friend is she stayed with & what they speculate might have happened.

JMO

We have also heard nothing about what was going on from the mothers child.

 

[kccorona]

We have also heard nothing about what was going on from the mothers child.

Unthread I believe it was reported that his mother was away in another part of the state working in the mines, and Mary was caring for the child until that job was completed.

 

[Stunned]

Respectfully, I have seen no source that supports what you are saying about Stampede Trail.

It is called a trail because it is not maintained for vehicles for most of its length. Plus it is a one-way dead end so Mary wasn't going to find anything but more vast wilderness at the end, had she arrived there.

I wish we could hear from someone with a first-hand account of having traveled it.

Because it is summer near Denali, the highest mountain in America & one of the most remote, more people are out there in this season than any other I'm sure. But that does not make it well-traveled. Except maybe by hikers.

If you are familiar with the outback in Alaska, it might not be intimidating. To all others, it is very remote wilderness.

That Mary was on it with a toddler in a vehicle with very low clearance is odd. Very odd.

MOO

I have always felt there was a reason for her being there. I just don’t know what. Could be so far off and yet I can’t shake it.

 

[NervousNellie]

I understand, but if you read the second quote in my post above (re: local info from user @ComfortablyNumbb), it is from who has/does travel the road/trail regularly.

Per my internet research Stampede Road is not the same as Stampede Trail. The Road leads to the Trail. I imagine the reports of her vehicle being at the 6.8 mile point of the Trail mean exactly that - her car was on the Trail and not the Road. The blog post shared in this thread has a lot of pictures and discusses the terrain at length.

Stampede Trail

A lot of people know the Stampede Trail from the book Into the Wild . The guy Chris McCandless went "into the wild" in Alaska via the Stampe...

travelingwithandrewandjenn.blogspot.com

Stampede Trail II

I have been trying for days to get these pictures and pictures from our trip on the Denali Highway posted and have had all kinds of computer...

travelingwithandrewandjenn.blogspot.com

 

[kccorona]

It does seem there is some discrepancy on MSM of where exactly the car was stuck. In this article on July 18, when the search was changed from active to reactive, it gives more details about the location:

“Officials have ended their search for a woman whose 2-year-old grandchild was found alone last week in a locked car that stuck in mud on a rural Alaska road, authorities said.
Wilson’s car was found Thursday on Stampede Road, off the Parks Highway just outside the small community of Healy. Officials believe her vehicle got stuck on Tuesday and that she started walking away from the highway instead of toward it.
The trail road eventually ends at treacherous Alaska backcountry”

Search for Alaska grandma halted after toddler found in car

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Officials have ended their search for a woman whose 2-year-old grandchild was found alone last week in a locked car that stuck in mud on a rural Alaska road, authorities sa…

www.news10.com

ETA: I kind of think even local MSM uses trail and road interchangeably when referring to Stampede Road, but I did find this further clarification regarding location:

“They say the Ford Focus was stuck in the mud about 6.8 miles out on Stampede Road, off the Parks Highway.
Troopers said it’s believed she started walking, but in the opposite direction from the highway. Personal items believed to belong to her were found around mile 7.9 of Stampede Road.
Troopers say volunteers that would like to participate in the search should check-in at the Stampede Road staging area in Healy, about 10 miles north of Denali National Park and Preserve.
Stampede Road heads west off the Parks Highway at mile 251. The first four miles are paved, the second four are dirt and gravel, after which it deteriorates into a trail.”

Troopers searching for grandmother after 2-year-old found locked in car near Healy - Alaska Public Media

Troopers says evidence at the scene indicates the child and vehicle had been abandoned on Tuesday.

alaskapublic.org

 

[kccorona]

Not to beat a dead horse but this is intriguing to me … I got on Google maps and while Stampede Road is certainly remote, there are various excursion/outdoor travel businesses located along it, even as far out as mile 7.5 on stampede road:

Stampede Excursions Backcountry Base Camp
(907) 290-2191

Stampede Excursions Backcountry Base Camp · Mile 7.5, Stampede Rd, Healy, AK 99743

★★★★★ · Tour operator

goo.gl

 

[NervousNellie]

Thanks for the clarifications, @kccorona . Somehow I got it stuck in my head her vehicle was found on the Trail, but you are correct it says Stampede Road everywhere.

 

[Owlpellet]

On apple maps, the whole road is labelled as Stampede Trail. There are quite a few buildings in Healy near to where her car was reportedly found. If it was dark when she got stuck, one possible scenario could be that she saw a light and continued along the Stampede Trail in the same direction to get help (leaving a sleeping child possibly) and was hit by a vehicle. The personal items or clothing found could be her boots, hat etc and things that scattered when she was hit. In this scenario, the driver then decided to dispose of her body rather than doing the decent thing and only discovered later that there was a child in the car. It could also happen during the day I guess, particularly in poor visibility (e.g. heavy rain) and road conditions.

The scenario springs to mind as something similar happened to a missing cyclist, in a rural area near where I live.

 

[Stunned]

The bottom line was/is that she was there and then she wasn’t. Why? And no one seems to be interested or care. That bugs the crap out of me.

 

[NervousNellie]

The bottom line was/is that she was there and then she wasn’t. Why? And no one seems to be interested or care. That bugs the crap out of me.

I don't think it's true that no one is interested. I have found quite a bit of discussion by locals about MDW's missing status on social media.

 

[RickshawFan]

Maybe because I work with seniors who are up to 103 years old, I don’t think of 69 as being as “elderly” as many people in this discussion do. I also haven’t read anything in MSM to indicate this woman had a serious medical condition. I don’t have any answers, but I’m not convinced that her age was a big factor in whatever happened.
Hoping this case is solved soon.

Yes. Calling a 69-year-old "elderly" is way off base. It's the new 40.

 

[Stunned]

I don't think it's true that no one is interested. I have found quite a bit of discussion by locals about MDW's missing status on social media.

Sorry I misspoke. I would love to be directed to the sites you are referring too. Thanks

I don't think it's true that no one is interested. I have found quite a bit of discussion by locals about MDW's missing status on social media.

I want to add I have been searching for more sites to research and haven’t found any. I had an interesting one shown to me at the beginning that couldn’t be shared and as far as I know was not screen shot before being deleted. That one was what got me going.

 

[NervousNellie]

Sorry I misspoke. I would love to be directed to the sites you are referring too. Thanks

I want to add I have been searching for more sites to research and haven’t found any. I had an interesting one shown to me at the beginning that couldn’t be shared and as far as I know was not screen shot before being deleted. That one was what got me going.

I cam embarrassed to say that I can only find one of the groups at this point; I will send you a message with a link to that one. I don't think it's allowed as it's not an official page, other than a community page.

 

[ComfortablyNumbb]

I've been on the Stampede Road for various reasons including during the middle of the night for aurora viewing and also during the the day. Even at 3am the occasional vehicle would go by headed away from the Parks Hwy. from where I was parked going who knows where. To be honest I've driven the road for quite a distance including up to where the road turns into a trail but never really paid attention to the mile markers. I will be in the area again mid September and will drive the road and find the 6.8 mile mark where Mary's car was found. Will also take some photos and post here if allowed.