Michelle Vanek - Strange disappearances from the US mountains

, ,

The mysterious disappearance of Michelle Vanek on the Mount of the Holy Cross

, ,
Michelle Vanek, Mount of the holy cross

Michelle Rae Vanek, disappeared September 24, 2005, Mount of the Holy Cross, Eagle County, Colorado.

Revised April 2021

On 24th September 2005, Michelle Rae Vanek, a 35-year-old mother of four, went to climb one of the famous Colorado "fourteeners" for the first time. She chose Mount of the Holy Cross, a relatively difficult hike with an elevation of 14,005 feet.  But she was confident about climbing it as she was in very good physical shape, being a triathlete and marathoner. By the end of that day, it was the last time she or her possessions were ever seen again.

Many years later, Michelle remains missing on the Mount of the Holy Cross and no clues have been discovered.

The fourteeners

There are fifty-four mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet in height and these are known as "fourteeners". These are challenging hikes given the possibility of acute mountain sickness (AMS) and the rapidly changing weather conditions above the treeline. 

Each year the mountains claim victims from falls, avalanches, and the rapidly changing and unpredictable weather. AMS can cause headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, and lethargy. Some fourteeners are relatively easy, but others are more technically challenging, requiring a good level of fitness or technical abilities in climbing. 

The Mount of the Holy Cross Hike

Michelle was so excited that she and her husband, Ben, went to Gart Sports and Costco the day before the trip to Mount of the Holy Cross to buy some more equipment for the hike.

Michelle was accompanied by a friend who had hiked 38 fourteeners, Eric Sawyer. The two of them had planned for more than a year to hike one of Colorado’s fourteeners and Michelle left all the planning to Sawyer.  

Michelle and Eric set off together on the hike at around 6.30 am.

Michelle was wearing a blue lightweight ski jacket with white stripes on the sleeves and pants, a hat, blue and white mittens, hiking poles, and a CamelBak backpack. She had blonde hair with blue eyes and was 5'8 and weighed 145 pounds

Surprisingly, the two of them carried no maps, compass, GPS or personal locator beacon. If anything went wrong, they were asking for trouble.

Mount of the holy cross, Colorado

Trouble on the trail

Things quickly started to go wrong on the hike. Michelle was complaining of a headache as they started from Half Moon Campground at 6.30 am, intending to approach Holy Cross from the north on Half Moon or North Ridge Trail. This could have been a sign of acute mountain sickness (AMS). After the events that unfolded later, Sawyer told the authorities that Michelle was moving slowly but not having any obvious problems.

The sign indicating the easier North Ridge Route and the more arduous Halo Route was reportedly being replaced by park services. Near the trail to 13,000-foot plus Notch Mountain, Sawyer consulted his map and found they were on the wrong trail. The two were on the Halo Ridge route, a circuitous 9-mile route that approaches Holy Cross from the southwest. The Halo Route can take up to 2 days to hike due to its length, distance above treeline, and the up-and-down path of the last few miles. The trail is only recommended for very experienced adventurers.

They also soon realized that Eric had accidentally left their food and his water purifier in the car. Unfortunately, there was no way to reduce the length of the hike on Halo Ridge without serious climbing or taking a very steep off-route slope down.

The two of them were behind schedule, but Sawyer chose to push on, later telling police the two would not have time to summit the peak if they turned back to look for Half Moon Trail. A bad mistake in hindsight.

Soon they came upon a hut where they stopped for 10 to 15 minutes to take shelter from the cold and wind. At any given time, Michelle was lagging behind Sawyer by up to 60 feet and he had to help her to keep up with him so they would not fall even further behind schedule.

Holy cross ridge, Colorado

By the time Eric and Michelle reached the top of Notch Mountain on the way to Holy Cross, Michelle was severely slowing down. By 1.25 pm, Michelle and Eric had completely run out of water.

Within half a mile (and 500 feet of altitude gain) of the top of Mount of the Holy Cross, Michelle decided she couldn't finish the hike and she told Eric to continue to the summit by himself, despite his apparent objections to her suggestion.

He told Michelle to traverse what he estimated to be about 600 feet to the North Ridge Route for an easier descent, an area covered in large boulders. It would have taken another 45 minutes to get off the mountain if Michelle didn’t start toward the trail.

Holy cross ridge, Mount of the holy cross, Colorado

Eric hurried to the summit, arriving at 1.42 pm and then he called his wife to say they were running late. According to witnesses Bill and Julia Taylor, he was there only about five minutes, “He just seemed to be rushed because he had to get back to his hiking partner,” Julia Taylor said.

Sawyer and the Taylors exchanged typical pleasantries and snapped each others’ pictures before he headed down towards the North Ridge Route to meet Michelle. A short time later, they heard Sawyer yelling what they thought were calls for “help” but actually were his shouts of “Michelle!”

Michelle Vanek’s disappearance and the search

When Sawyer got to the spot on the North Ridge route that Michelle was meant to be waiting for him, there was no sign of her.

He continued down the trail back towards Half Moon camp looking for Michelle but to no avail. He then reported her missing.

A small team of rescuers began looking for Michelle that evening. The route to the North Ridge is where rescuers speculated she had headed and might have fallen off the ridgeline into the Cross Creek drainage, where large pine trees could have blocked the view from search helicopters. The area consists of a series of steep, wooded cliffs that rescuers said would be too difficult to explore without some sign of where they should look.

A huge search and rescue effort, led by the Vail Mountain Search and Rescue team, was quickly started the following day, September 25, 2005, and involved around 700 searchers who combed the area the following week.

It was the largest search effort in Colorado's history. Dogs were used but the search was hampered by torrential rain. Tim Cochrane, head of the Vail SAR team said: "It's truly a mystery as to where Michelle is. That's probably the most baffling thing. We've put five search dogs in the area where we know she was, and they haven't found anything".

The possibility of foul play was explored, as a shotgun was found in a duffel bag on the mountain on Wednesday, September 26, 100 yards past the Cross Creek trailhead and there were reports of a suspicious man in the area. Rescuer, Brenda Parks, and her partner ran into a man who refused to talk to them and hid behind a tree to hide his face. He ran down the hill away from them when they wanted to question him.

Later that day, a dog team spotted what appeared to be blood in the snow. No footprints were found and teams could not follow up on the blood because of bad weather.

Rescuers confronted a suspicious person in a yellow tent with a light on inside. The individual refused to unzip the tent or respond. Later,  rescuers and deputies found a man coming off the trail they believed to be the person in the tent. The man reluctantly told deputies after prodding that his name was Peter Martin. He offered vague details about where he lived and told deputies he had no identification. Unfortunately, he was never investigated further. Was he involved in Michell's strange disappearance?

Puzzling aspects of the Michelle Vanek case

Michelle's sudden disappearance from the Mount of the Holy Cross is a baffling case. Minutes before she vanished she had been with her hiking partner. Was the stranger in the tent, the man spotted hiding in the woods, gun in the bag and blood on the trail connected?

Foul play certainly seems a possibility and if not, altitude sickness may have been a big factor exacerbated by dehydration.

Finally, perhaps Eric was involved in some way? Some red flags relating to Sawyer have been mentioned by others online:

  • He forgot the food and water. It would be normal to do a gear check before a major mountain hike, especially making sure that water had been packed.

  • Eric was planning the hike for a year and a half, yet apparently took the wrong trail just because the signs were being replaced.

  • Why did he leave Michelle behind, without any water, and arrange to meet after he had summited?

Michelle was very fit and was a star athlete specifically in track & field and cross-country running, distance and endurance racing. Prior to this hike, she had taken part in marathons and triathlon competitions. Would someone who was in incredible shape be lagging behind and out of breath, unless altitude sickness had gotten the better of her?

There were some reports that Eric was apparently infatuated with Michelle and they were sexually involved. Michelle had even told her friends that he was weird and obsessive about her, but she desperately wanted to do the climb anyway. Sawyer was also very envious of her husband, but their relationship was incredibly strong.

At the funeral, when Michelle was finally declared legally dead, Eric was present. However, it was said that he did not speak to anyone and was said to be tense, pale as a ghost, fidgety, and his eyes were very shifty. Why?

Did Eric Sawyer shoot Michelle with the shotgun that was found well below the drainage area they assume she 'fell' into, hid the body, and made a story up to divert the rescue efforts to avoid where she actually rested? Did he shove her into the drainage area without anyone looking and knew she wouldn't be found?

Become a member of StrangeOutdoors for exclusive content

StrangeOutdoors Exclusive Members Only Area
$15.99
One time

Exclusive articles for members of StrangeOutdoors that are not available elsewhere on the site.

✓ 61 articles as of 2024