The Crash

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra, and the case I'm going to tell you about today is one of those missing person stories that almost feels like it could be a book, except it isn't. It takes place in two different recreation spaces in California, the Sierra National Forest and Yosemite National Park. And if you know anything about the American West, you know that those are two very large natural areas full of woods, mountains, cliffs, and, of course, predatory wildlife. For this episode, I was able to obtain more than 130 pages of law enforcement records, which were super helpful in deciphering some of the avenues of investigation that have been pursued over the years and where the case stands presently. And I realize that me stating it like that may cause some of you to think that this case is decades old, but it's not. It happened in July 2020, so pretty recently. Some of the theories have chased down range from foul play to the paranormal and everywhere in between. Even with as much time as I've spent poring over this story, I still can't wrap my head around it. Maybe with all of you listening, though, something new might surface. So let's get started. This is Park Predators. Park Predators. Around 8.45 in the morning on Thursday, July 2nd, 2020, two deputies with the Madera County Sheriff's Office received a phone call from a woman who had an odd observation to report. She said that she and her family had recently ridden their off-terrain vehicles through a remote campsite in the Johnson Meadows area of Sierra National Forest near the border of Yosemite National Park when they found several suspicious things. The woman told authorities that when her group had gone by the seemingly abandoned campsite, she had seen a woman with a tent and a bunch of other items in a pile, as well as a variety of papers and belongings tossed haphazardly on the ground. She'd stopped to pick up a purple file folder, which contained personal and legal documents that belonged to a 53-year-old woman named Sandra Johnson Hughes. The visitor reporting this information told authorities that after finding the campsite, she and her family left. And because it seemed so suspicious to her, she decided to take the purple file folder with her so she could give it to the police. She said that the woman had seen a woman with a tent, a bunch of other items, and a bunch of other items that belonged to a 53-year-old woman. When deputies arrived at this woman's campsite and spoke with her, they went through the file folder and located some papers, which included Sandra's social security card and birth certificate. According to investigative reports, the campsite where the folder had been found wasn't accessible by car or truck, so the deputies contacted an officer with the U.S. Forest Service and asked them to travel out to the coordinates of the campsite and check things out. When that officer arrived at the campsite, she said that she had seen a woman with a tent, an empty campsite with papers and items scattered all over. There were no indications someone had actually set up a camp there, though. It appeared someone had just dumped the stuff in the clearing. The forestry officer took photos of everything and sent those to the sheriff's office. Meanwhile, one of the deputies assigned to the case started going through the personal documents that were tucked into the purple file folder. Inside, he found a pad of paper that had several phone numbers listed on it, and after dialing for it, he found a pad of paper that had several phone numbers listed on it, and after dialing for it, he found a pad of paper that had several phone numbers listed on it, got in touch with a woman from out of state, who said she was Sandra's niece. The niece told the investigator that for the past year, Sandra had been traveling across the country and staying at different places. The last time Sandra had been in contact was when she called her sister nearly a week earlier, on June 26th. And for clarity, Sandra's sister was the mother of the niece who was telling all this info to the investigator. It doesn't appear the deputy actually spoke directly with Sandra's sister at that time. This was all coming from the niece who had spoken with her mother, Sandra's sister, about the last time anyone had spoken with Sandra. Anyway, during their last conversation on the 26th, Sandra's sister said Sandra was camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains and might actually go stay with a friend who lived in Fresno. Before authorities hung up with the niece, they got Sandra's phone number and the general description of the type of vehicle she was known to drive, which her niece described as a silver Subaru or station wagon style vehicle. Sandra's sister said, Two days later, on July 4th, with an official missing persons investigation in full swing, authorities got in touch with Verizon to see if the company could locate Sandra's cell phone. Unfortunately, though, the provider could only tell investigators that Sandra's phone had been turned off or its battery was dead because it hadn't pinged since 11.09 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1st. At that time, it had connected to a cell tower in Fresno County near Music Mountain, but its actual ping location was about 24 miles northwest of the tower, which just so happened to be in the general area where the abandoned campsite had been found. So, to investigators dismay, there would be no tracking her current whereabouts via her cell phone. And with little else to go on at that point, authorities had to basically just sit and wait for more information to come in. Meanwhile, Sandra's niece posted a missing person flyer for her on social media and made sure that local hiking websites got copies of that information, too. The next day, Sunday, July 5th, investigators got a call from someone who might have seemingly seen that flyer because a witness told authorities that they'd bumped into Sandra on the morning of June 29th near Granite Creek Campground, which, for context, is in the general vicinity of the area where Sandra's stuff and personal documents had been found. This witness said that Sandra had shown up to the campground by herself sometime between 5.30 a.m. and 6 a.m., wearing only a green tank top, flip-flop, and a black jacket. Sandra had shown up to the campground by herself with a black jacket, flip-flops, and tan shorts. The hiker who saw Sandra said her warm-weather attire struck them as odd because, at the time, it was about 30 degrees outside. So, shorts, a tank top, and flip-flops were not appropriate clothing for that kind of weather. At the time of this sighting, Sandra hadn't seemed to be in trouble or hurt, and she didn't ask anyone for help. She just showed up, walked through the campground, and then left. The same day Madera County investigators received this information, deputies also talked to a man who said he and his friends had seen Sandra on July 4th, which would have been two days after authorities even realized she was missing. And it was this eyewitness who would lead investigators to their biggest clue yet. The man who called the sheriff's office on July 5th said that when he'd seen Sandra on July 4th, she had been near an area known as Muggler Creek. This guy and some other people who were with him eventually stumbled upon a campsite that they said looked abandoned, and a little further away from there, down an embankment that ran next to a roadway, they'd noticed a car wrecked into some trees near Chiquito Creek Trailhead. After that is when they saw a woman who looked like Sandra. This witness said she'd waved at his group and then kept walking. After learning that information, the sheriff's office got in touch with the officer from the U.S. Forest Service who'd been helping them out, and that officer responded to the area where the witnesses said the crashed car was. When the officer arrived, a man on an all-terrain vehicle there who claimed he'd seen Sandra the previous day showed her where the vehicle was. But there was no sign of Sandra anywhere. The man who was escorting the forestry officer said when he'd seen Sandra, it was apparent she'd been involved in the crash, because she had some small scratches on her and was the only person around the vehicle at the time. Overall, though, she seemed unfazed and in good spirits. He'd returned on his ATV the next morning to see if she'd gotten some help, but didn't find her. By the end of the day on July 6th, investigators with the sheriff's office rode out to the crash scene and canvassed it again for clues, but unfortunately, they didn't find anything useful. They'd also utilized tracking dogs, which had briefly picked up Sandra's scent, but the animals eventually lost it along the roadway. Authorities observed that the vehicle was damaged, but in general, the vehicle appeared mostly unscathed. Pictures of it that were taken after it was found were included in the investigative reports I got from the sheriff's office. And they show it had a cracked front fender, but as far as car wreck damage goes, it's pretty mild. The keys had been left inside of it along with trash, personal belongings, and camping supplies. The sheriff's office later clarified that the way the vehicle was positioned when it was found indicated to them that Sandra had not been going very fast, when it crashed. Investigators looked up the vehicle's information, but quickly discovered that Sandra didn't actually hold the title to it. A person from Corsegold, California, who ran an organic farm and would often rent rooms to visitors, was the actual owner. Turns out, Sandra had stayed with this individual for about six weeks before she disappeared. And when investigators spoke to them, they confirmed that they'd sold Sandra their saw, but were presently still in the process of transferring the title to her. When Sandra left the seller said that she'd mentioned she was going to go to Hawaii. When investigators asked the seller if Sandra had been experiencing mental health issues or suicidal thoughts, they told them no. They emphasized that when they'd last seen the 53-year-old, she'd seemed happy. Between July 8th and July 19th, even more resources were put into conducting a ground search for Sandra. Everything from helicopters with infrared capabilities to people on horseback in ATVs scoured about 120 square miles of forest, between where her sob was located and the National Forest border with Yosemite National Park. During the search, several items were found that authorities were confident belonged to Sandra. For example, at the abandoned campsite, they discovered a duffel bag, jewelry, a green fanny pack, and grocery receipts that were dated for late June. A member of one of the search and rescue teams also found a Coleman brand flashlight propped on a rock. And another searcher discovered a blue and yellow sleeping bag that was REI brand. Which matched a purchase from one of Sandra's recent receipts. According to coverage by Fox 26, the sleeping bag was located inside the boundary of Yosemite National Park. About two and a half miles from where Sandra's wrecked car was discovered. But there was also a lot of stuff that investigators weren't sure was related to her disappearance. For example, they'd collected several drink bottles, tissues, wipes, shoe impressions, and other belongings that they knew could have easily come from other hikers. Because the trails in that area were safe. And they were not super popular. It was difficult to know what truly belonged to Sandra, and what didn't. During that time, additional witnesses also came forward to report sightings of her. But many of these stories ended the same way. They all said that they'd seen Sandra, but she'd either declined help, didn't appear to be in distress, or she'd run away. One witness said that on July 3rd, they'd found a pair of sandals on the side of the road, not far from her crashed car. And shortly before that, they'd encountered a group of people who claimed to have seen a barefoot woman with a large bruise on the side of her head, walking alone on the roadway, carrying a bag of clothing. But when that group had offered the woman assistance, she declined. The possibility that Sandra might be out in the wilderness without proper attire, shoes, or survival supplies was concerning to authorities, because they knew that the likely route she was hiking consisted of rough terrain. There were rocks and loose soil that would have made the trails dangerous to try and trek while barefoot. The description that went out for Sandra was that she was white, 5'3", with brown hair dyed blue, brown eyes, and she weighed between 130 and 150 pounds. The outfit she was believed to have been wearing when she vanished was a t-shirt and a long multicolored dress. Five days into the investigation, a different deputy for the sheriff's office was assigned the case and started conducting follow-up interviews with a few of Sandra's family members and friends. Sandra told the investigator that Sandra was normally really good about checking in to let loved ones know she was okay. In fact, she'd usually call or text one of them every week or two. If she was ever out of touch for longer than that, her sister would send her an email, and Sandra would always respond rather quickly. A prior friend of hers said that in the years before traveling the U.S., Sandra had been living in Moscow, Idaho. In 2018, she'd amicably divorced from her then-husband and then spent time at a two-week survival course in Wisconsin. While there, she'd picked up a lot of camping and backpacking skills and become quite the outdoor enthusiast. News articles about this case state that Sandra had reportedly studied earlier in her life to become a park ranger and had hiked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail. According to The Charlie Project and other coverage about this case, Sandra didn't have any children, so she was free to go wherever she wanted. She moved to Hawaii at some point in either 2018 or 2019, but after moving to California in June 2020, she told her sister and family that she thought she'd come down with COVID-19. And so she planned to quarantine herself while camping in the National Forest. One of Sandra's former co-workers told authorities that Sandra briefly lived with them after her most recent divorce and went through some noticeable lifestyle changes during that time. For example, Sandra had started donning blue-tinted hair, left her job, changed the kinds of food she ate, and seemed to be spending a lot of money rather quickly. Another friend who spoke with investigators told the magazine, that prior to getting divorced, Sandra had become involved with a group of people in Spokane, Washington, who promoted soul-play retreats. I wasn't familiar with what soul-play was, so I looked it up, and according to their website, it's a gathering of people who participate in workshops, dancing, and community building and self-expression, typically in an outdoor setting. Sandra's friend, who shared this information with the sheriff's office, said that Sandra had gone on several spiritual retreats with this group, and over time, the two of them had stopped hanging out, as much since Sandra had become so involved with the soul-play folks. Sandra and another one of her friends had also poured a lot of their time into repurposing an old school bus as a camper. Another person the investigator interviewed about Sandra was her brother, who told authorities that he'd last spoken with her on June 20th. During their conversation, he said she'd seem fine, and mentioned to him that she might travel to Santa Barbara, California. When the investigator described all of the circumstances of what was going on to Sandra's brother, he indicated that the behavior Sandra had reportedly exhibited during the last week of June and first week of July seemed out of character for her. He knew she was pretty respectful of the great outdoors, so he didn't think she'd abandon a campsite and leave trash behind, let alone all of her personal documents. He suggested that it was possible she'd suffered some kind of head or brain injury, which might explain her strange behavior and disappearance. Her niece told KFSN something similar when she said, According to investigative reports, during Sandra's brother's interview with law enforcement, he mentioned that towards the end of 2018, or maybe early 2019, Sandra had developed a friendship with someone whose name authorities redacted from their reports. They didn't know who they are, but according to Sandra's brother, this person was someone he suspected might have taken advantage of his sister for a period of time. But recently, Sandra had informed her brother that her and this unnamed friend had parted ways. The same day those interviews took place, the sheriff's office searched Sandra's station wagon and photographed it inside and out. They wanted to inventory the contents to make sure all of the stuff belonged to her, and not someone else. In the trunk, they found a tidy assortment of clothing, clothing ornaments, organizers, camping supplies, food, napkins, and personal hygiene items. And in the back seat, they discovered even more camping gear, some of which had the name "Sandy" written in black ink. In the glove box, there was the car's registration and two service documents from 2019 that originated from different auto shops in California and Oregon. Authorities also found Sandra's passport and personal checks, too. Now, instead of towing the vehicle away from where it had been crashed, investigators left it alone for the time being. In case Sandra came back for it. They also stuck a note on it asking her to get in touch with them. About a month later, deputies chased down several reports that she'd been seen alive. Some of these sightings came from hunters who'd indicated Sandra was still in the National Forest, while other witnesses claimed she'd been spotted at a retail store in a nearby town. The investigative reports I got don't clearly explain what came from those leads, but it doesn't seem like much did because Sandra was never formally identified. In early October 2020, so three months after she vanished, the sheriff's office got in touch with her bank in Idaho to see if there had been any activity on her accounts, but there hadn't been, which usually isn't a great sign. Another ominous indication that something bad had happened to her was that her Saab had remained in the same spot authorities left it in. In mid-November 2020, authorities realized it was unlikely at that point she was going to return to it. So they towed it to a storage yard for safekeeping and inventoried the contents once again. For the next four months, the case languished. Authorities had seemingly exhausted all their leads and they were no closer to figuring out where Sandra was. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office emphasized that the agency was not giving up hope. During that time, the department had released several of Sandra's personal belongings and camping gear to her brother. In March 2021, after a long winter, an investigator doing a review of the case realized that the sheriff's office had never obtained copies of Sandra's dental records. So he called several dentist offices in Moscow before eventually finding one that confirmed she'd been a prior patient. After filing the necessary paperwork, Sandra's records were sent over to the sheriff's office and quickly entered into the California Department of Justice missing persons database. It was also at that point in time that the California Attorney General's missing persons website generated a profile for Sandra, which featured her photo and a summary of the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Since the start of the investigation, she'd been listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database known as NamUs. But I guess getting her into California's system too only made the likelihood of locating and identifying her that much higher. A few months later, in mid-July 2021, which was just after the one-year anniversary of her disappearance, the sheriff's office received a message that reignited the investigation and introduced a a theory they likely never saw coming. Investigators with Madera County spoke with a man who claimed that on July 21st, 2021, while off-roading with his three-year-old son in Sierra National Forest, the boy had spotted a woman in a meadow who indicated she needed help. Except when the dad went back to try and find the woman, she was gone. This guy told authorities that he was convinced his son had seen the spirit of Sandra Johnson Hughes. The day after receiving this information, the sheriff's office sent personnel to search the meadow where the family had been, but they didn't find Sandra or anything connected to her. According to Fox 26 News, the family who claimed their son had seen Sandra's spirit told the press that the boy vividly remembered speaking to a woman with blue hair who'd been lying face down in the meadow and appeared dead. She'd been unable to speak or move, but indicated she needed assistance. The experience was so unsettling to this family that they decided to cut their off-roading trip short and head home early. A month after that, a paranormal investigation group contacted the sheriff's office claiming that one of their mediums had received a vision that Sandra was dead in a shallow grave off of an area forest service road. That medium reportedly relayed that a man had carried Sandra to the spot and buried her. The group said that Sandra was dead in a shallow grave off of an area forest service road. Unwilling to leave any stone unturned, the sheriff's office dispatched a deputy to search the general area where the medium said Sandra would be. But he didn't locate her or any human remains. It's worth noting, though, that authorities were less likely to find a lot of viable clues or potential remnants of a makeshift gravesite at that point in time because a few months after Sandra vanished, a large wildfire had swept through that part of California and burned a significant amount of forest land. The fire didn't consume the area where Sandra's vehicle was buried, but it did make some of the potential areas where she'd likely hiked unrecognizable. Nearly a year later, in June 2022, the sheriff's office received a tip from a horseback rider that their dog had unearthed a distinctly round-shaped bone while trail riding near the Chiquito Trailhead, which, if you remember, was close to where Sandra had last been seen. Authorities went out to that area and retrieved the bone as well as another one that a forest service canine officer had found. But unfortunately, as promising as that lead seemed, it was quickly determined that neither of the bones were human. That same month, so June 2022, the sheriff's office got back in touch with Sandra's brother to retrieve some of the personal belongings they'd previously released to him. In their reports, investigators stated that they realized at that time they'd inadvertently given him stuff that they needed for evidentiary purposes. Something else that struck me as kind of unusual was that the sheriff's office never actually collected what they believed was Sandra's bone. Sandra's sleeping bag, when they first found it during the initial searches for her in July 2020. I know, wild, right? According to investigative reports, when searchers first spotted it, they looked it over, but then just left it on the ground. It sat there for two years before investigators in July 2022 finally went back and retrieved it as evidence. Why there was such a delay in getting the sleeping bag is a question I can't answer. But what I can tell you is that when it was finally retained by the sheriff's office, they sent it off for forensic testing to see if there was any DNA on it. There was also some lag time between when authorities properly stored the Coleman brand flashlight that had been found in 2020 and when further forensic testing was done on that item. Investigative reports state that after the flashlight was discovered, it stayed on a Yosemite National Park search and rescue team member's desk for two years. It wasn't until mid-August 2022 that Madera County got a hold of it and sent it off for latent fingerprint processing. But by that point, though, it was assumed to have been contaminated because it had been in someone else's possession for a long period of time. The only compartment that wasn't believed to be contaminated was the battery storage area. Later examination of the flashlight resulted in one usable latent print being found, but analysts at the Bureau of Forensic Services lab in Fresno determined it wasn't identifiable or suitable for comparison to Sandra's prints. Which, by the way, authorities didn't even have because they weren't able to find it. They weren't available in the state's database to begin with. Yeah, I know, I definitely still have some questions about what was going on there. But I don't have answers. Anyway, that same year, a man from Belgium who said he'd become very interested in Sandra's case called the sheriff's office to let them know he'd spoken with a medium who'd provided detailed insight into what happened to Sandra. This guy claimed that she'd been the victim of foul play at the hands of a serial killer and she was buried in Yosemite National Park. I imagine. I imagine, curious about this guy's motives, a sheriff's investigator went along with this tip and communicated back and forth with the guy for several days. But ultimately, his claims never proved useful. In July 2022, a deputy patrolling a section of Sierra National Forest stumbled across six small bones, but those two were eventually determined not to be human. In subsequent months and years, the sheriff's office continued to go out into the areas where Sandra had last been seen and where her car was found. But to date, no new clues about what happened to her have surfaced. Some additional bones were discovered and tested in 2023, but were once again confirmed not to be human. Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue told Fox 26 that the case is uniquely challenging. In 2023, he stated, quote, One of the hardest things with this case is just really the lack of clues. We found a campsite. We found a sleeping bag we believed belonged to her. He later continued, We had people who came across her, offered her assistance. She was, I don't know if despondent is the right word, but she didn't accept help. And in many cases, she just kind of ignored the people and went on. So we don't know really what her mind frame was. We don't know if she had an injury from the accident. End quote. He went on to discuss how the wildfire that altered parts of the original search radius in September 2020 had made the investigation that much more difficult to navigate. In March 2025, a detective wrote in the agency's case file that he specifically recommended Sandra's investigation be closed until further leads emerged. Prior to releasing this episode, I asked Sheriff Tyson Pogue for an interview, which his public information officer confirmed he was interested in doing. But a few weeks later, the agency rescinded its desire to speak with me. They did, however, fulfill my records request, which was very helpful in putting together this episode. So there's that, at least. Sandra's niece told the Mariposa Gazette a few years ago that her family has thought about her every day since she disappeared, and they pray for a miracle. The reason why I wanted to put out this episode is because I believe Sandra is still out there somewhere. At this point, could she be deceased? Possibly. Did she suffer a head injury that caused her to become disoriented and wander off into the woods? That's possible too. And I think the other obvious theory is that she could have died. She could have been killed by someone. But until she's found, law enforcement can't even attempt to answer those questions with certainty. So if you're someone who frequently visits Chiquito Trailhead or the Johnson Meadows area of Sierra National Forest, please be on the lookout for anything that stands out. And that also goes to folks who visit Yosemite's border with the National Forest too. Keep your eyes peeled for a piece of clothing, personal belongings, anything that you think might be useful to investigators in this case. The Sheriff's Office has asked visitors to mark on a GPS app the specific location where they find something noteworthy. If you're one of those people I just talked about or feel you can help locate Sandra Johnson Hughes, please contact the Madera County Sheriff's Office at 559-675-7770. That information, as well as Sandra's NamUs profile, are linked in the show notes and blog post for this episode. Park Predators is an AudioChuck production. You can view a list of all the source material for this episode on our website, parkpredators.com. And you can also follow Park Predators on Instagram, at Park Predators. I think Chuck would approve.