Ecuador - August Reiger, 18, US student, Banos, 16 June 2013

[fabvab]

Snipped from link below:

"An Oklahoma City valedictorian vanished Sunday while on a family vacation in South America, according to authorities in the United States and Ecuador.

Family members say local authorities believe the teen may have been kidnapped."

http://www.news9.com/story/22627340/okc-valedictorian-vanishes-in-south-america

 

[LadyL]

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/august.reiger

 

[lucky181]

How strange. They were hiking on a mountain. I wonder how far ahead of the rest of the family he was and what the terrain is like.

 

[wfgodot]

Lengthy story at Daily Oklahoman:

Classen School of Advanced Studies valedictorian disappears while hiking with family in Ecuador

---
“The really strange thing about it is that whatever happened to him was in the space of five or 10 minutes,” his father, Chris Reiger, said. “We were right behind him.”
---
“He couldn't have gotten lost,” Reiger, said. “The whole of the trail is visible from the hotel. You can see the way down. It's a tourist area, and it's not isolated at all. If he was hurt on the trail, somebody would have seen him.”

Chris Reiger said authorities think August Reiger either fell off a steep ledge just off the trails or was kidnapped, although Banos is considered a safe part of the country.

“A kidnapping has never happened here before,” Chris Reiger said.

The family has not received any ransom calls, which would be likely in an abduction.
---

the rest at the link

 

[fabvab]

This is really strange and sad. He is a good student, has a girlfriend and a scholarship to OU this fall. It is like he just vanished! I'd love to see pics of the area where they are hiking. The reports say he could have fallen off a steep ledge, been kidnapped or run off.

I pray they find him soon!

 

[lucky181]

This website has pictures of Banos. The mountains are quite steep. I can see why it would take some time to find him if he fell off a cliff.

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.c...cuador/hiking-at-high-altitude-banos-ecuador/

 

[SeaEclipse]

An 18 year old male would be a very strange target + 1/2 way up a relatively highly traffic mountain pass in a touristy area would be a strange location for a for-ransom kidnapping. I think, unfortunately, that he almost certainly fell. He either could have intentionally wandered off the main path to explore (not unusual behavior for most teens) or could have gotten confused/dizzy from the altitude.

 

[necco]

An 18 year old male would be a very strange target + 1/2 way up a relatively highly traffic mountain pass in a touristy area would be a strange location for a for-ransom kidnapping. I think, unfortunately, that he almost certainly fell. He either could have intentionally wandered off the main path to explore (not unusual behavior for most teens) or could have gotten confused/dizzy from the altitude.

It's really not that unusual in many Central/South American countries that have a kidnapping problem to kidnap grown men.

That being said, and please do not take this as anything against August, the pictures I've seen of him are quite androgynous, long hair, slight build, etc. He's a good looking kid. However, to someone from another culture, it might be less obvious that he's a man, particularly if you were doing recon from a distance looking for someone to kidnap.

 

[fabvab]

This website has pictures of Banos. The mountains are quite steep. I can see why it would take some time to find him if he fell off a cliff.

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.c...cuador/hiking-at-high-altitude-banos-ecuador/

Thanks for the link. Yes, I could see where it might be difficult to find him if he fell from a cliff. I'm torn between August falling and kidnapping. I don't like the odds of either.

 

[fabvab]

It made the national news. There are a lot of people looking for him. I wonder how many other people were on the trail.

snipped from link below...

"I thought he must have gone on. You couldn't get lost. There's only two trails. You can see the whole town... all you have to do is go down," said the father over a phone interview with KWTV from his Ecuadorian hotel room.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57590032-504083/august-reiger-missing-okla-high-school-valedictorian-vanishes-in-south-america-report-says/

 

[lucky181]

Here is a local article. Per Chrome translation:

They decided the day Sunday, at ten o'clock, leaving the hotel and walking into this sector of the Cross, which he did see the younger brother, who is about 11 years old, is only about a hundred meters away and disappeared into the curves the path...

They also mention dogs being used to search. They were hiking La Cruz which leads to a cross on a building at the top. According to websites and videos, it seems like a popular hike, but I don't know how fast an 11 year old (or anyone else) can go at that elevation.

http://www.ecuadorinmediato.com/ind...a_bfasqueda_de_turista_desaparecido_en_baf1os

A video showing the overall path from the town

Hike to La Cruz - YouTube

 

[SeaEclipse]

An 18 year old male would be a very strange target + 1/2 way up a relatively highly traffic mountain pass in a touristy area would be a strange location for a for-ransom kidnapping. I think, unfortunately, that he almost certainly fell. He either could have intentionally wandered off the main path to explore (not unusual behavior for most teens) or could have gotten confused/dizzy from the altitude.

But the men targeted are typically businessmen (or those that appear to be such). It just seems weird to kidnap a sport-ily attired 18 year old male as it seems to hit the double-whammy of "difficult to do -- especially without anyone noticing" and "total crapshoot whether his family has any money." Also, kidnappers call in ransom demands way more quickly than 4 days later...

 

[Auburn]

Bumping for August

 

[fabvab]

They haven't found anything yet. They also said he didn't have anything with him...no water...no money...nothing.

http://www.okcfox.com/story/22638527/missing-okc-valedictorian-theyve-found-nothing-so-far

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/20/family-searches-for-oklahoma-valedictorian-missing-in-ecuador/

 

[lucky181]

Authorities in Ecuador are officially treating the disappearance of an Oklahoma City valedictorian as a kidnapping case, according to family members searching for the teen.

The U.S. Embassy says it is in close contact with the Reiger family while the State Department continues to warn of the dangers in the area.

Those familiar with Ecuador say kidnappings are more common in the northern part of the country, near Colombia. August was far from that area.

http://www.news9.com/story/22638726/foreign-authorities-assume-kidnapping-of-okc-valedictorian

Google translation:

Operations Committee (EOC) Baths cantonal decided to suspend the search for American tourist Reiger August, but the Governor of Tungurahua decided to keep it.
"The search will continue until we find the missing citizen."

http://www.cotopaxinoticias.com/seccion.aspx?sid=17&nid=12407

 

[missgulfsouth]

My gut instinct is that he doesn't want to be found. I'll keep up with this thread and see what happens.

 

[Elainera]

"Nothing makes sense to me. ... Everyone's baffled, because it's not a dangerous place," his father, Chris Reiger, told CNN. "There's no rebels or something like that that who kidnap people. I can't come up with a scenario that could make sense."

Teams of firefighters, police, army troops and village volunteers have combed the area, Chris Reiger said, rappelling over steep mountain slopes and using search dogs in their hunt.

"They're still searching in the mountain, but not with that kind of force. They're confident he's not up there stuck somewhere," Chris Reiger said. "I could see. I was up there. I knew what they were doing, and I don't know, they didn't find him."

snip

It's out of the question that August would have wandered off or could be trying not to be found, the teen's father says.

"I feel that he's particularly mature for his age. He's not the kind of kid that does crazy stuff," Chris Reiger said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/20/world/americas/ecuador-missing-teen/index.html

I'm surprised the search dogs couldn't locate any scent at all?

 

[dillysmom11]

My 18 year old daughter thinks he ran off, I think I concur. This young man has a lot on his plate, and Ecuador is incredible.

 

[dillysmom11]

August is fluent in Spanish and loves Anthropology. Those are two of the reasons why he chose to travel to Ecuador. Chris says August recently received a full-ride scholarship to the University of Oklahoma starting this fall.

They were halfway through a three-hour journey when August took the lead and disappeared.

http://www.news9.com/story/22627340/okc-valedictorian-vanishes-in-south-america

He is fluent in Spanish and chose to travel to Ecuador for his graduation gift, planned? I hope so.

 

[wfgodot]

If he disappeared voluntarily - which I hope is the case - why would he choose to do so when his family was, as his father said, "five or 10 minutes" behind him - and thus could almost immediately begin a search? There must have been many, better, chances to slip away.