That map is based on the former timeline, which indicated they went missing between Tooele and Eureka. The revised timeline has them confirmed in Eureka on Dec. 30. Unless it's changed again, which is possible. Frustrating, and it possibly led to a much larger search area.
There are good comments on the article. The simplest explanation is that they blew out the tires and decided to hike back to civilization and are either holed up somehwere or didn't make it out. I keep coming back to some basic rules of survival in that situation. Riley was said to be an outdoorsperson, and the Jeep was reportedly operational except for the two flat tires.
They were only 1/4 mile off the Cherry Creek Reservoir Rd. It's rural, but there would be occasional traffic on that road. Why wouldn't they wait to flag down someone? They could still start the jeep and use it for shelter if no one stopped or came by (unlikely). Did they flag someone down and then encounter foul play?
Was Riley somehow incapacitated? There's no medical condition that has been reported, and, again, the jeep wasn't smashed up or overturned. Did he feel like they needed to hike out for a scheduling reason (New Year's)? If they decided to hike out, why not hike north up reservoir road? They would have been found by now. (I'm referring mainly to Riley since his outdoor experience has been emphasized. I don't know how much experience Breezy has had.)
Why leave the windows down? Originally the vehicle was said to be an early 1990s Jeep, but it turns out to be a 1999 Jeep Cherokee Sport. I don't know if there was a manual windows option. Was there an electrical problem so they coudn't raise the windows? I can see leaving the vehicle unlocked if you were hiking out, but I don't see leaving the windows down unless they couldn't be raised.
There's a video report that contains this image on the play screen, but the image doesn't appear in the video. Is it where the jeep was found? Does this mean they were stuck as well as having flat tires?
There's a collection of photos in the gallery here to give you an idea of the area:
http://kutv.com/news/local/jeep-of-missing-teens-from-tooele-county-found-kids-not-inside
I guess it could be questionable decisionmaking. They decided to hike cross-country, thinking it would save time, and are somewhere between the Jeep and Eureka. The second simplest is that they were turned around despite mountains in the area and hiked the wrong way. But it requires a series of strange decisions.
Now I've come across this report:
http://fox13now.com/2018/01/12/miss...ted-car-adds-to-mystery-behind-what-happened/
The entire story has been that Riley likes to go four-wheeling in his truck. If he's been living in Eureka for a while, I would think he would have been in the general area. It's Breezy's aunt, so maybe she isn't as familiar with the Eureka area.
Puzzling.
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