Found Safe NC - Joshua Clauson, 20, Croatan National Forest, 29 May 2021

[helpfulcharlie]

Did anyone else see them leave and can confirm the story? Silly question here, but does anyone know if LE can ask the person reporting that they were "taking a walk in the woods" to take a lie detector test to verify the situation? I have no idea of policies and am just wondering when/if they even can get to the point of doing something to confirm the original report itself.

I really just hate the thought of search and rescue crews working their hearts out on a possible wild goose chase.

Meh. A rough day of traipsing about in the woods still beats yardwork.

 

[mlhenn]

Search teams may have found missing man's shoeprint

June 2

UPDATE
This is the fourth day of the search for Clauson.

Buck said crews are looking for anything unusual in the forest or a sign that Clauson has been there, and they now believe they may have found his shoe print.

Clauson entered the woods with his brother-in-law and the sheriff said they have found prints in the woods that match the same type of shoes both men had on.

K-9’s are back out again, tracking Clauson’s scent.

Four different crews were searching on Wednesday.

 

[mlhenn]

Family of missing man hoping for the best as search continues, saying “If you’re in trouble, find help.”

June 2
UPDATE #2

It’s been five days since Joshua Clauson went off on a walk through the Croatan National Forest with his brother-in-law, but got separated and never made it out.

Police further pieced together a timeline Wednesday to Joshua’s disappearance.

•Both men went into the forest at around 10:00 Saturday morning.
•At a time unknown to law enforcement, the duo got separated.

•Around 5:30 is when Clauson’s brother-in-law was able to make it out of the woods.
•he was picked up by a vehicle driven by a friend on Nine Foot Road.
•Then, they (brother in law & friend that picked him up) went back to their mobile home where they discovered Clauson did not make it out of the woods.
•they called 911.


To Note:
•the duo entered the forest with no supplies, including cell phones, but that the pair was familiar with the area.

•A track that matched the footprints of both men was discovered to narrow the 15 square mile search area down closer to Newport.

 

[mlhenn]

To Note from link above:

•The relative Joshua went into the woods with was his brother in law
•Neither did not have any supplies or cell phones
•Brother in law made it to Nine Foot Road and ended up being picked up by a friend driving down the road in a pickup truck.

 

[beth272]

So a friend just happened to be driving down the road when he made it out of the woods to the road??

 

[lag28wa]

Just moved from that area. Several thoughts.

It makes a little more sense to me that the above article says the brother in law came out on Nine Foot Rd, especially if he really was listening to the sound of cars. That road has decent traffic, there is almost not activity on Rams Horn Rd. So while that road goes deeper into the forest and makes sense for him to come to first, one of the articles said he came out on the END of Rams Horn Rd, and he wouldn’t be hearing cars there. I’d love the know the exact location he came out. As you can see, most of Nine Foot Rd has homes, only a few places don’t and the brother in law would almost have to “thread the needle” to only go in those areas to Nine Foot Rd. It’s possible he followed the prong of the Newport River. In my experience in that particular forest the brush and trees almost always grow all the way up to the creek/stream/river’s edge, so perhaps just as taxing to try to follow water as opposed to not. It’s also very marshy/swampy. Sometimes the waterways widen out into swamp and you can really see what direction it heads in. There are some service roads, but they are very infrequently used and winding. If he went pretty much east from his home, he’d eventually hit the power line cuts and would hopefully follow one of those. Not sure if he could tell direction though. There are also smaller roads or trails that serve as fire lines as this forest participates in a robust prescribed burning program. It was interrupted during Hurricane Florence in 2018 though. Fire lines needed to be cleared and access roads repaired to begin burning again. Forest Service resources were also diverted to immediate safety issues. I’m not sure what state of progress all that is in now though.

It is pretty easy to get lost in there, nothing is straightforward and it is very “wild”

Previous poster was also correct, quite a bit of drug activity around there, especially in the more isolated “country” areas. Multiple types of drugs too.

As I’m no longer local I don’t know about recent rainfall, but a good portion of the Croatan does well with increased water, especially where there is more Longleaf pine. Those parts of the forest are generally more open too, the height of the LLP keeps much underbrush from taking over- in addition to the burns.

This all is very curious to me.

 

[beth272]

I am local... well within 30-40 miles local, but I am pretty familiar with the area. Agree with everything you said, it has been very dry here the past month but today it stormed, heavy rain, lightening with 1 tornado warning a county over so I'm sure that didn't help with the search today.

 

[mlhenn]

So a friend just happened to be driving down the road when he made it out of the woods to the road??

I wondered that too...what are the chances?

 

[ThoughtFox]

I'm reminded of as another case a few years back when a father and his two young daughters went for a "short walk" in Congaree National Park in South Carolina and got lost for three days. They had no food or water with them and would have died if a park ranger hadn't found them. Ranger working overnight shift finds father, 2 kids lost in Congaree National Park

I think people get lost quite often. Not everyone comes prepared for emergencies. The Dad in that story had a cell phone, but no coverage, and I think the battery died.

I have been to Congaree before and my family was careful to stay on the raised walkway. I realized we could get lost almost in sight of the parking lot because it is so wild in there. I have not been to Croatan National Park, but sounds like the same kind of dark, swampy woods.

Alligators and insects would be a problem, but I would worry more about snakes this time of year. I hope nothing has happened to him and they will find him soon, or he will stumble out of the woods. hopefully that shoe print is a good lead!

 

[Limecat]

So a friend just happened to be driving down the road when he made it out of the woods to the road??

That was my first thought, too.

 

[annpats]

So a friend just happened to be driving down the road when he made it out of the woods to the road??

I know, I laughed at that!
Missing for nearly 7 hours in the woods and a friend just happens to be there with his car at exactly the place he exited from, even though he didn't have a cell phone to call him.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I know, I laughed at that!
Missing for nearly 7 hours in the woods and a friend just happens to be there with his car at exactly the place he exited from, even though he didn't have a cell phone to call him.

I don't find it that odd. It's a small town, pop 4500. Probably nearly everyone went to the same high school. Chances are he maybe walked a little while before someone he knew stopped.

 

[Inthedetails]

I don't find it that odd. It's a small town, pop 4500. Probably nearly everyone went to the same high school. Chances are he maybe walked a little while before someone he knew stopped.

I can picture that (unless we hear otherwise). On a local road in a small town, you're likely to know who is driving past.

I can envision being separated if the two disagreed on what way to go. One might have said, "I'll try this way - I hear cars" and the other person said, "No, I'm checking out this direction" and before you know it, you lost contact.

For the moment, I'm believing they got separated. My hunch is that perhaps one was in no condition to think straight (or got lucky) and made his way out while the other wasn't thinking straight. Not having food or drink is not going to help a muddled mind.

But, other ideas are on the table too. I've been in the woods without bug spray and the bugs can seriously drive you insane - that certainly doesn't help clear your mind to think you're way out.

jmo

 

[Unsolved]

The biggest hurdle for me is the fact that neither one had a cell phone with them. What are the odds, especially Joshua at 20 years old?

Maybe I'm just jaded from watching the parade of people glued to their screens down here lol.

 

[trucksareforgirls]

As I’m no longer local I don’t know about recent rainfall, but a good portion of the Croatan does well with increased water, especially where there is more Longleaf pine. Those parts of the forest are generally more open too, the height of the LLP keeps much underbrush from taking over- in addition to the burns.

This all is very curious to me.

It's been very very dry. We actually had an (uncontrolled) forest fire last month for the first time that I can remember. But in the next 3 days we are getting several inches of rain. Going to be very hard to continue search efforts will all the weather that is coming.

 

[swedeheart]

Marines helping in search for Joshua Clauson in Croatan National Forest

Log into Facebook. (WTCI News)

“We’re just trying to spread out, it’s gonna be some pretty thick bush we’re pushing through so we’re going to buddy pair up and there’s also going to be animals to look out for... water moccasins, rattlesnakes, black bears, so we need to stay in group pairs and keep each other safe while we look for this person."

 

[MimosaMornings]

The biggest hurdle for me is the fact that neither one had a cell phone with them. What are the odds, especially Joshua at 20 years old?

Maybe I'm just jaded from watching the parade of people glued to their screens down here lol.

I’m used to people carrying their cell phones especially when out hiking, in the woods, even fishing in these rural areas.

Depends on your work too, some are used to being “on call” so the cell phone goes everywhere but my eyes certainly aren’t glued to the screen, it just needs to be on my person.

Two people without a phone would not be a common occurrence unless you don’t want to be tracked, want off the grid or avoiding a phone call from someone. JMO

 

[Gobstopper]

The biggest hurdle for me is the fact that neither one had a cell phone with them. What are the odds, especially Joshua at 20 years old?

Maybe I'm just jaded from watching the parade of people glued to their screens down here lol.

Would there be cell service in a forest?

 

[annpats]

Would there be cell service in a forest?

It's quite near civilisation, so I think there would be a tower somewhere and some reception picked up on a phone.

 

[ClaireNC]

I’m used to people carrying their cell phones especially when out hiking, in the woods, even fishing in these rural areas.

Depends on your work too, some are used to being “on call” so the cell phone goes everywhere but my eyes certainly aren’t glued to the screen, it just needs to be on my person.

Two people without a phone would not be a common occurrence unless you don’t want to be tracked, want off the grid or avoiding a phone call from someone. JMO

I live in a rural part of NC and we don't have cell reception so we don't bother carrying a cell phone, even when we venture into the woods. I'm not sure if there is reception in Croatan, but, even if there is, I don't think it's unusual for someone to not have a cell phone when going for a walk. Some people just don't like to always be connected.