WI WI - Nicholas Hietpas, 22, & dog, vehicle found abandoned in Oconto Co., Appleton, 1 Apr 2019

[Luckyzmom]

Thanks Rosiebones will check it out. Have been looking at spring flooding in the area last couple of days, still searching sites for Samantha possible whereabouts.

 

[Rosiebones]

@Luckyzmom If you can't find it let me know and I will PM you with the message.

 

[Luckyzmom]

Makes one wonder about accuracy of Available info too. Continue to pray for them and their family

 

[Rosiebones]

The pattern of the missing report and the investigation and <modsnip> and most importantly the quietness of the family since he went missing makes me think he is somewhere voluntarily or there is an element of self harm here.
His family knows so much more than we do of events that preceded his trip and may have knowledge of his plans for that trip.
They must be devastated beyond words in not knowing.

 

[PayrollNerd]

It’s good to know the dog has been well trained but odd that it is not microchipped.

What I find interesting is the family member repeatedly keeping the story alive on FB is a more distant family member. In the original post on the Onconto County Sheriffs Facebook page dated April 24th, the mother identified herself in the comments. I know some just aren’t familiar enough with social media and do not use it frequently. Perhaps the other more distant family is more social media savvy.

 

[Luckyzmom]

The vehicle abandoned is a red flag, huge wilderness area there. Wish we had more to work with, but it is what it is, will keep looking for what's out there. Is anyone local enough to provide any info about flooding this spring in the area ? Since searches were not productive ?

 

[OnlyFacts]

This is frustrating.

 

[Rosiebones]

Sheriff: Visitors to Oconto Co. this weekend could help find missing Appleton man
Google Maps
I re read this article and see that Samantha's collar was found on Spruce road. There are two roads with the word spruce in them, south of the place his car was found. Spruce Hill Road and Blue Spruce Rd. I looked at both with Google satellite and I think it is Blue Spruce Road.

I went up and down the roads with Google street level and honestly, I don't see why someone would hike around there. Hardly any trees, no water, no hills, in short, nothing to see.
But I did notice that there are many, many ATV trails etc. In fact, that seems to be an area that is very attractive to ATVers.
I cannot see why he would camp there to hike, especially when there were no facilities of any kind around.
I wonder if he enjoyed ATV riding an knew someone in the area to ride with.

 

[OnlyFacts]

A tarp and other gear were outside the car.

I would think his disappearance was voluntary if it weren't for the above . If it was just his car, but why leave gear outside of the car?

 

[Rosiebones]

From missing posters etc. we only know that the last contact was April 1st, Monday. We don't know who the contact was with. We don't know how long before that he was up at the campsite. We don't know who reported him, perhaps he didn't show up for his job on Monday morning.
We don't know if he was taking down and packing up his gear to go home or if he was setting up.
We also do not know whether the ATV rider found the abandoned car because he was looking for it or just happened to come across it.
We know that local LE looked for 3 days in the area and that a more intensive search with bloodhounds was done for 5 days much later. The only piece of information out of that was Samantha's unclasped collar found about a half mile away on a road with spruce in the name, most likely Blue Spruce Road.
I think that the area he chose to make a camp site is significant because it is in the middle of a popular ATV trail site. But it isn't reported that he had taken an ATV up there and there doesn't appear to be any place nearby to rent one.

Not much to go on. Just some things to think about.

 

[Tp3d]

I'm quite familiar with this area I live & work within a short drive to were car was found. I've traveled the ATV trail I think his car was found on quite a bit. It is a odd place to park your car for a hike that might have lasted longer than a day. Although ATV trails were closed at this time people still use them. I was on trials around this time just not that one. At the time there still would have been a snow pack on ground mostly in shaded areas. He might have been interested in the are because a tornado went through and cleared a path there about 10+ yrs ago. Trees are grown about 10' high but look tiny compared to trees on outside of scar. So I'm assuming from reading article he parked on or around ATV trail that takes you from blue spruce to shadow lake. So if that is the case that begs to question why he would have headed south back across hwy 64 to blue spruce. Spruce is a national forest road that doubles as an ATV trail. There are many forest roads that branch off that are mostly dead ends. The trees are real close together & would be at places hard to walk through. Even in spring when leaves and other foliage are not present.

 

[Tp3d]

I'm quite familiar with this area I live & work within a short drive to were car was found. I've traveled the ATV trail I think his car was found on quite a bit. It is a odd place to park your car for a hike that might have lasted longer than a day. Although ATV trails were closed at this time people still use them. I was on trials around this time just not that one. At the time there still would have been a snow pack on ground mostly in shaded areas. He might have been interested in the are because a tornado went through and cleared a path there about 10+ yrs ago. Trees are grown about 10' high but look tiny compared to trees on outside of scar. So I'm assuming from reading article he parked on or around ATV trail that takes you from blue spruce to shadow lake. So if that is the case that begs to question why he would have headed south back across hwy 64 to blue spruce. Spruce is a national forest road that doubles as an ATV trail. There are many forest roads that branch off that are mostly dead ends. The trees are real close together & would be at places hard to walk through. Even in spring when leaves and other foliage are not as present.

I found out about this case last month from a missing person poster at nearest gas station. What is curious is the month he was last seen is off. It says May instead of April. Lady working at counter said the mother came in memorial day weekend to put them up. Unless she was mistaken who it was. Why would the months be off.

 

[Rosiebones]

Was his white German shepherd mentioned on the poster, do you know?

Also, thank you for your post, it is good to have someone local adding to the thread.

 

[Tp3d]

Yes. It is the same picture they use for newspaper article. He had to have gone south. Everything to the north is private property. To the east is thick vegetation. He would have had to make his own path. There really would have been no need for him to go off road or trail. Plenty of wide open hiking. As far as animals go black bears are abundant but are scared of humans. It is extremely rare for black bear to attack humans. Although they would have been coming out of hibernation and would have been hungry. Around this time a couple years ago I had one eating my foam archery target. Wolf's have been known to be around but I have no clue if there is a pack in the area. I have not seen or heard of evidence. It is a tourist area with few people living year round. So there would have been not a lot of traffic in area at that time. It is possible someone picked him up. With it being remote up here some weird people are present.

 

[Rosiebones]

@Tp3d Are you surprised that there is not more notification or spreading of information to the public about his disappearance by LE in the area other than by the family?
Is there a local paper that carried the story?
Is it well known in the area so that if his dog Samantha showed up at someone's door, hungry, they would know who she was?

 

[Tp3d]

Besides a few flyers at gas stations and maybe an article awhile ago or a news story awhile ago I don't think it's well known. Especially to those who don't live up here year round. People come from all over the state & others to vacation up here. Most land is owned for vacation cottages. So on the weekends the population doubles if not triples. No bill boards no signs other than home made flyers at gas station. Makes me think something more is up. It is unfortunately common for the LE to keep things quite for some reason. My sister had a close friend of hers commit murder suicide in rumored gruesome fashion and burn house down about an hour south of here. And when police finished investigating all that was released was a small 2 paragraph article that said nothing really. I'm not sure if dog showed up they would know who it is

 

[Beagle]

I'm quite familiar with this area I live & work within a short drive to were car was found. I've traveled the ATV trail I think his car was found on quite a bit. It is a odd place to park your car for a hike that might have lasted longer than a day. Although ATV trails were closed at this time people still use them. I was on trials around this time just not that one. At the time there still would have been a snow pack on ground mostly in shaded areas. He might have been interested in the are because a tornado went through and cleared a path there about 10+ yrs ago. Trees are grown about 10' high but look tiny compared to trees on outside of scar. So I'm assuming from reading article he parked on or around ATV trail that takes you from blue spruce to shadow lake. So if that is the case that begs to question why he would have headed south back across hwy 64 to blue spruce. Spruce is a national forest road that doubles as an ATV trail. There are many forest roads that branch off that are mostly dead ends. The trees are real close together & would be at places hard to walk through. Even in spring when leaves and other foliage are not present.

Thank you for the background of the area, it would seem to me then for there to be no sign of him in the area that maybe he was picked up by someone. Since the dog is also missing and the collar found I am wondering if it might have been intentional. Do we know much about his background, family relationships, issues at work, something that might have made him want to disappear?

Just some thoughts ..... no facts

 

[Tp3d]

Its complete crickets about all that. Really odd.

 

[Rosiebones]

DBM duplicate

 

[Rosiebones]

His parents are down in Appleton and the disappearance was reported from there. There doesn't seem to be a lot of coordination or sharing of information going on. Somewhere upthread I read that Oconto County sheriffs dept. is the lead on this which makes sense I guess considering that is where his car and belongings were found.
It isn't even being made clear if this is a criminal investigation or a missing persons investigation or a recovery operation or no follow up at all.
Total crickets to say the least.