Found Deceased NH - Hiker Emily Sotelo, from MA, dropped off in Franconia, Lafayette trailhead, Hiking Mounts Lafayette, Haystack & Flume, 20 Nov 2022

[Unsolved]

A FB with one post on November 14, 2021:

Emily Sotelo

Emily Sotelo is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Emily Sotelo and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.

www.facebook.com

 

[Herat]

I can't believe I'm saying this but when is the last time anyone other than mom saw her? 5am it's still dark for at LEAST another hour.

Yes, this alls sounds very odd. It would really be bitterly cold at 5 am and almost 2 hours before sunrise.

Dark, very cold, no descriptions of hat / gloves. Footwear that doesn't really sound like a winter footwear warm enough and waterproof enough to be walking in snow. No description of a backpack or anything to carry phone, extra food, water, other safety items for a winter hike.

Did she tell her mother she was going hiking, but instead met up with someone and essentially ran away?

 

[Unsolved]

Franconia is a solid two hours by car from Westford. Unless they were staying up there, theoretically on vacation or something, Mom was in the car en route at 3 AM for this 5 AM dropoff.
Would be very curious to hear an interview with Mom.

ITA. JMO no insinuation here, but I do find this very interesting MOO.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Yes, this alls sounds very odd. It would really be bitterly cold at 5 am and almost 2 hours before sunrise.

Dark, very cold, no descriptions of hat / gloves. Footwear that doesn't really sound like a winter footwear warm enough and waterproof enough to be walking in snow. No description of a backpack or anything to carry phone, extra food, water, other safety items for a winter hike.

Did she tell her mother she was going hiking, but instead met up with someone and essentially ran away?

Yep

 

[Choochoobella]

Above is another photo of Emily.

A few additional facts from the WMUR link below:

She had no lighting equipment and little food and water.

Eighteen search-and-rescue crews continued the search Monday.

"We're going up the rivers and streams that come down," said Charlie Stewart, of Pemi Valley Search & Rescue. "We'll follow them up until we get close to the ridge and then cut over and come down another one."

"Her mother watched her start hiking up the trail, so we know that," Stewart said. "We departed from that area, and we have an idea what her itinerary was."

New Hampshire search crews continue to look for missing 19-year-old hiker

The search continued Monday for a missing hiker in northern New Hampshire.

www.wmur.com

 

[youarentsilly]

Yes, this alls sounds very odd. It would really be bitterly cold at 5 am and almost 2 hours before sunrise.

Dark, very cold, no descriptions of hat / gloves. Footwear that doesn't really sound like a winter footwear warm enough and waterproof enough to be walking in snow. No description of a backpack or anything to carry phone, extra food, water, other safety items for a winter hike.

Did she tell her mother she was going hiking, but instead met up with someone and essentially ran away?

The explanation is so crazy it definitely seems like something is up.

IMO if the person who dropped her off was her boyfriend the opinion of the masses would be very different.

 

[tigerteeth]

Hiking in late November wearing exercise pants, sneakers, and a jacket? The temps for the month in Franconia are prime for hypothermia day OR night and have been for over a week before she set out. https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/franconia/03580/november-weather/2174569

I’m not even experienced really compared to most hikers and when I did my first winter hike a couple of years ago I wore waterproof pants over my pants, good spikes, and brought a hiking pack, etc. it is very odd.

 

[tigerteeth]

The friend I hike with is one of the many SAR people today.

 

[Melynder]

Using localconditions.com, the temperature in Fredonia, NH at the time of drop-off (5:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 20) was approximately 25 degrees F on a day with an expected high of 25 degrees F and an expected low of 15 degrees F.

These conditions cause me to wonder the reasoning behind an outfit that consisted of a “brown jacket, sneakers and exercise pants.”

Was she truly planning to hike on a trail in adverse conditions described by a Fish and Game officer as “high winds, temperatures, varied conditions -- you have, in the higher elevations, snow up to your chest”?

Her mother has stated that she was an experienced hiker but not a winter hiker, so it may have just been a gross underestimation of the conditions. The Fish and Game officer does say in the below article that, in warm weather conditions, the hike can be done in a day, so she may simply have failed to take into account winter reviews of the trail.

I hope that she is found safe soon.

New Hampshire search crews continue to look for missing 19-year-old hiker

The search continued Monday for a missing hiker in northern New Hampshire.

www.wmur.com

I joined just to comment on this. I have hiked the area. I am super suspicious. The girl has a very sheltered like history it seems like from google and her Facebook. What does anyone know about this family ? How does ANY mother pratically send their child off for a death sentence? Why has been there no mention of a cell phone ?

 

[realanastasia]

ITA. JMO no insinuation here, but I do find this very interesting MOO.

I, too, find the mother’s account…interesting. Is there any concrete evidence that the missing hiker was dropped off when and where the family has claimed?

The parents’ quotes in the article linked below are also interesting; father Dr. Jorge Sotelo and mother Dr. Olivera Sotelo don’t seem too concerned, and I can’t imagine why that would be the case.

Boston Globe article on this: archive.ph

 

[MissMYB]

Oh nooooooo. High strangeness. Hmmmmm

 

[White_Mountains]

Franconia is a solid two hours by car from Westford. Unless they were staying up there, theoretically on vacation or something, Mom was in the car en route at 3 AM for this 5 AM dropoff.
Would be very curious to hear an interview with Mom.

Good point. This week is when it typically gets busy in the area with skiers at Cannon and Bretton Woods. We also see folks coming to the area to spend time in their vacation homes or at the resorts. I’d be very interested to know whether they are staying locally in/around Franconia Notch or whether mom drove up from MA in the dark to drop her daughter off in 20 degree weather with blustery winds?

Something doesn’t sound quite right.

 

[Quim The Extraordinaire]

I can't believe I'm saying this but when is the last time anyone other than mom saw her? 5am it's still dark for at LEAST another hour.

JMO.
Yep, this doesn’t add up.
I hope there’s confirmation this drop off happened as described.
The search activities are going forward despite risk to SAR, so perhaps there is confirmation?
I hope she’s not on the mountain and is located soon.
JMO.

 

[Addicted2Crime]

I live in the next town over from where she is from. I would NEVER drive that far at that time to drop one of my kids off for a hike alone in this type of weather. Was she driving all the way home and back again to pick her up? I’m so perplexed and concerned.

 

[White_Mountains]

I am in this area as we speak. It was bitter cold last night and even though it warmed up a bit in the notch, the mountains are frigid. Not to mention the wind gusts. I can’t imagine someone in sneakers being out there. When I was out on a trail with my pup today, I was bundled up from my head to my toes.

Did she really go hiking?

 

[acutename]

have hiked and XC skiied in NH... wind at the top of the Whites is insane. (watch the Mt. Washington video)You need a lot of clothing and a ski mask (neoprene) to avoid frost bite. wind turns snow into ice... sneekers ? Not possible. Pack boots. yak trax. And you should be back in your car or house by 3 pm because darkness comes early.

 

[acutename]

Agree. I spent a few past winter weeks at the Balsams, which was a winter resort a couple of counties away from Franconia (imagine Dirty Dancing with big snowbanks) and I cannot even describe to you the cold up there. For anyone less familiar with New Hampshire, this is way way up there, far closer to Canada than to the state capital, actually north of a few of the most populated areas of Maine. It is otherworldly. The wind in the mountains - I cannot fathom what was going on here in the conversations leading up to this drop off/hike - but let us all pray for some miraculous outcome. Credit to the rescuers, the hardy stock who are locally geographically familiar, because - imagine this - it was a low of 9 degrees in Franconia today, and that’s at town center. That’s not ascending the mountain. Whoa.

miss the Balsams... best xc ski trails...

 

[MsMarple]

IF this is a legitimate lost hiker case then once again family describes the person as "experienced," which is not interchangeable with "expert." Why do we keep seeing this over and over? Underprepared person goes off and family thinks it's okay?

I'm a hiker, biker, camper lite, meaning I don't do the scary stuff and still I make sure I'm properly clothed and have appropriate supplies even if it's just for the day.

OTOH if this is a more complicated case then I guess it doesn't matter. Circumstances are odd enough to consider foul play or worse. I hope Emily wasn't upset or depressed. In any event I hope SAR finds her.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1594871958860353536

 

[White_Mountains]

Agree. I spent a few past winter weeks at the Balsams, which was a winter resort a couple of counties away from Franconia (imagine Dirty Dancing with big snowbanks) and I cannot even describe to you the cold up there. For anyone less familiar with New Hampshire, this is way way up there, far closer to Canada than to the state capital, actually north of a few of the most populated areas of Maine. It is otherworldly. The wind in the mountains - I cannot fathom what was going on here in the conversations leading up to this drop off/hike - but let us all pray for some miraculous outcome. Credit to the rescuers, the hardy stock who are locally geographically familiar, because - imagine this - it was a low of 9 degrees in Franconia today, and that’s at town center. That’s not ascending the mountain. Whoa.

Your comment of “otherworldly,” made me chuckle. Yes, it’s up there - though some will tell you that the White Mountains are perfectly positioned between Boston and Montreal. I love it!

The pemi SAR and officers who are searching are incredible humans who go up mountains to save the souls who are lost. Praying they stay safe as they search.

 

[PastaKing]

She is from Westford, Mass. Is that where she and the mother left from to get to the trailhead? I can't find in any reports if they started out from home or had stayed overnight in the area. Driving from Westford to Franconia is a solid two hours without stopping for bathroom breaks, etc. So that means they had to have left Westford at 3 am?

And has the mom said what her plan was for when her daughter was hiking? Was she just going to wait at the trailhead or drive somewhere?

I get that some hikers are this committed but there are a lot of questions in this situation. jmo