The Strange Case of Jaryd Atadero

The Strange Case of Jaryd Atadero

Colorado’s Big South Trail is an 11-mile hiking trail situated in the Comanche Peak Wilderness and at the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest. Surrounded by over 700,000 acres of vast trees, rivers, and mountains, the trail is known to be moderately tough, even for the more experienced hiker. With lots of steep inclines in places, the trail is very rocky and treacherous underfoot. Though, overall, many find the Big South Trail a leisurely one with the reward of stunning views along the way. The area is home to several species of wild animals including elks, bobcats, moose, mountain goats, black bears, and even mountain lions. The forest is a popular tourist destination for camping enthusiasts, backpackers, animal lovers, bird watchers, and hiking groups alike, with thousands upon thousands taking on the trails every year.

By 1999, three-year-old Jaryd John Atadero, along with his father Allen and six-year-old sister Jocelyn, lived at Poudre River Resort situated in Poudre Canyon in Bellevue, Colorado. Allen owned the resort alongside his twin brother Arlen and ran a small store there. It was an ideal situation: Allen could run the business and keep a close eye on his children. His youngest, Jaryd, was described as a typical three-year-old boy who was adventurous, energetic, and funny. He loved the movie Godzilla, American football, supporting the Oakland Raiders, and he enjoyed playing with his Star Wars toys and army soldiers. His bright personality and cheeky smile would always light up a room.

In October of 1999, a Christian singles network group was staying at the Poudre River Lodge, a group which Allen was actually a part of, as he was divorced from Jaryd’s mother Stacey by this time. In exchange for their food and board, the group helped Allen prepare for the tough winter ahead, completing all sorts of odd jobs in and around the lodge itself.

On October 2nd, the group of 11 decided that they wanted to visit a nearby fish hatchery approximately two miles away from the resort. Both Atadero children expressed their interest in joining the trip, but despite his own reservations, especially about his young son joining, Allen eventually allowed both Jocelyn and Jaryd to tag along, as he knew that the other members of the group would take care of his children.

The group left the resort at around 10:00 a.m. and visited the trout hatchery before deciding to take a spur-of-the-moment trip up to the Big South Trail for a mid-morning hike. The group parked at the trailhead before beginning their journey along the track. The group kept a distance between one another, with the slower members of the network lagging behind. At the front of the group was Jocelyn and Jaryd alongside one of the adults. Both children were enjoying their excursion, fascinated by the views and wildlife around them. They were having a good time playing and running about.

At around 11:30 a.m., having walked around a mile and a half, Jaryd abruptly ran ahead of either the front or back group—this particular detail is unclear—before running into two fishermen. He spoke with them, asking, “Are there any bears around?” before heading off along the adjacent trail to the second campground. According to the fishermen, a group of people was around 50 to 80 feet down the trail at this time, and they believed that Jaryd was with this particular group, therefore didn’t think it was unusual that he was alone. This was tragically the very last time that Jaryd Atadero was seen alive.

At around 12:15, several members of the hiking group and six-year-old Jocelyn heard a scream, which Jocelyn described as, “like somebody getting attacked or somebody playing with someone.” It was at this time that the party realized that three-year-old Jaryd was missing. The female adult whose name is not publicly known lost track of Jaryd’s movements after about 10 or 20 minutes when they suddenly realized he was gone.

The group searched the vicinity for around an hour or so whilst some members returned to the lodge to inform Allen that his son had disappeared. He was understandably confused and shocked that the group had taken his children along the trail without his permission, especially considering they were only three and six years old at the time. Allen and the group searched the trail for hours before he contacted authorities at around 4:00 p.m. He also informed his wife that their son was missing; in turn, she immediately flew from San Diego to Colorado to help look for him.

By 6:30 p.m., a 65-strong team of search and rescue members arrived at the lower trailhead and joined the search for Jaryd, later meeting with other members searching at the upper trailhead between campsites seven and eight, but neither team had found any trace of the missing toddler. The search operation expanded with dive teams searching at the Big South River and a helicopter being deployed at dawn the following morning.

To add insult to injury, however, the helicopter suffered with a heavy fuel load and experienced difficulties in the rugged mountain terrain. As a result, the helicopter stalled whilst in the air at around 3:30 p.m. and fell approximately 100 feet before crashing along the trail. Miraculously, all five crew members on board survived, but two suffered horrific injuries, one being a search and rescue member who was knocked unconscious. He suffered a fractured eye socket, a gash which exposed his femur bone, three broken vertebrae, a broken shoulder, and concussion.

This incident added further stress to an already delicate and desperate situation. Pressure was mounting, but time and resources were not on their side. The media began to swarm onto the scene as the search for Jaryd Atadero continued, psychics giving their two pence on what may have happened, and even an American Indian performed a ritual asking the mountain to give Jaryd back to his family. The situation shocked many across Colorado, many of whom were still captivated by the infamous case of JonBenét Ramsey. Though the media seemed invasive, Allen Atadero bravely faced the cameras and appealed to the public for assistance; all he wanted was for his little boy to come home.

Meanwhile, the search for Jaryd continued in the following days and nights with another helicopter being deployed to aid in the search alongside Larimer County Search and Rescue teams, canine units, trackers, and a dive team. But as the days went by, hope that Jaryd was still alive began to dwindle.

On October 8th, the search for the three-year-old was suspended due to lack of any clues. Nothing was found which could help indicate where Jaryd was or what fate befell him. Many theories were possible: did Jaryd get lost, fall between rocks and succumb to the elements? Did he perhaps fall into the river and drown, or fall down a ledge and perish? Or was he attacked by a wild animal such as a mountain lion?

Many believed that this was a very probable theory, but no evidence of a mountain lion attack was found along the trail or in the areas searched. Mountain lion tracks were found, but nothing suggested that a recent attack had occurred. Several attacks had occurred near Idaho Springs in 1991, and a ten-year-old boy was killed by one in the Rocky Mountains National Park in 1997, the Rockies neighboring the Comanche Peak Wilderness. But these attacks are notably extremely rare, with only 14 fatal mountain lion attacks having been recorded in the United States and Canada since 1915.

Though the attacks were rare, they did still happen. The screams heard by the group and young Jocelyn certainly suggested that Jaryd was either frightened or startled in some way. Was he perhaps approached by a predator, possibly animal or even human? Despite the unlikelihood of kidnapping in the wilderness, abduction was deemed a possibility. Members of the Christian singles group as well as the two fishermen who were likely the last people to see Jaryd alive were questioned, as were Jaryd’s family members, but nothing seemed awry.

In the book titled Missing: When Sunsets, The Jaryd Atadero Story written by Allen and Arlen Atadero, Jaryd’s father describes the heartache he felt following his son’s vanishing: “His disappearance was like a nuclear bomb. The original impact made me want to die, and although the fallout has blown away, the radiation from the bomb entered my system and I feel as if I’m slowly wasting away.” He also told the Colorado newspaper, “It became a tornado, hurricane, biggest storm in all of our lives.”

With the search for Jaryd now at a tragic end, his family were left heartbroken. Over the years that followed, the case sat silently, many assuming that little Jaryd had gotten lost and perished as a result—a simple yet tragic conclusion. But all of this changed when a shocking discovery was made a few years later and the case was completely turned on its head.

On June 4th of 2003, two men named Gary Watts and Rob Osborne were hiking off the Big South Trail when they fell upon what appeared to be a child’s shoe around 500 vertical feet above the main trail path. The pair, who were businessmen in Fort Collins, then stumbled upon a second shoe, both of which were barely weathered, as well as a brown fleece jacket dotted with what appeared to be puncture marks, and a pair of tattered blue trousers which were turned inside out, one of the legs mostly ripped away.

Oddly enough, Gary and Rob walked along the trail not a week earlier and discussed the possible outcomes in the Jaryd Atadero case. They knew when they found the clothing items what they had stumbled upon: little Jaryd’s clothes. The location where the clothing was found was near to campsite 2, where Jaryd was last seen. The pair reported their findings to authorities who in turn sent pictures of the clothing to Allen Atadero, who then confirmed the clothing found did indeed belong to his missing son.

Searchers arrived at the area following this heartbreaking discovery and scoured for further clues. During their search, they found a child’s molar tooth and a skull on an elevated area over 9,000 feet further up—tragically, an area which was due to be searched by the helicopter which crashed. According to Gary and Rob who found Jaryd’s clothing, where it was found was difficult for them to get to, and they believed that no child could tackle such rugged terrain. Someone or something took Jaryd there.

Though authorities and Allen himself knew the skull and tooth belonged to Jaryd, it wasn’t officially confirmed until a decade later when DNA tests confirmed their worst fears. Many believed this to be an open and shut case despite this new evidence—a clear-cut mountain lion attack, but several details seemed to quash this theory.

According to Allen, several tests were carried out on the clothes which revealed no mountain lion hairs, no blood, and no DNA. The clothing was then sent to the CBI and their results reached the same conclusion. This baffled many, as did the fact that if a mountain lion had attacked Jaryd, there would have been some sort of evidence left behind, whether it be hair or blood, but there was absolutely none on Jaryd’s clothes.

Unfortunately, his skull didn’t offer authorities any new clues as to how the boy died. According to mountain lion experts, naturally, if an attack had occurred, they would have gone for the stomach area, an area of which Jaryd’s clothing was still fully intact. His clothing would have been in shreds if a mountain lion had attacked him, and this simply appeared not to be the case. Jaryd’s trouser leg was torn, but it was concluded that this was due to rodents and birds taking the materials for their nests, not as a result of a predatory attack from a mountain lion.

Many were also left scratching their heads at the fact that Jaryd’s shoes were in near perfect condition. Some believed it would have been impossible for them not to have been in worse condition after over three years exposed to the elements. If Jaryd had been possibly dragged up the mountain by the lion, or if he tried to put up a fight even, surely there would have been marks or scuffs on his shoes, but there was nothing.

Some theories suggest that perhaps Jaryd’s clothing had been removed prior to his death, hence the lack of DNA and blood, but this too leaves some loopholes: why were they found 500 feet up the mountainside? If Jaryd’s clothes were removed, by who and why? Is the fact that his trousers were inside out significant or not?

According to the medical examiner, it was determined that Jaryd’s cause of death was “undetermined, possible mountain lion attack.” But what truly happened? We simply don’t know. The theories ranging from a mountain lion attack to abduction all seem plausible in one way or another, but as previously mentioned, each does present their own unique problems.

If an animal attacked, Jaryd’s clothing showed no evidence of this. We don’t know how his clothing and remains reached 500 feet above the mountain trail. Yes, an animal could have dragged him there, but again, no evidence suggests this occurred. The lack of animal hairs, blood, and DNA evidence is truly what baffles many, though some dispute the harsh conditions of the wilderness could have washed blood and tear away, but not even microscopic specks of anything was found, which in itself is very mysterious.

Looking at abduction, it seems unlikely, but it still cannot be ignored. Perhaps whoever abducted Jaryd accidentally killed him as he put up a fight before fleeing the scene, but it’s difficult to explain how Jaryd’s trousers in particular were inside out, not to mention how his clothing was so far up the mountain. But again, no DNA was found on the clothes nor any traces of blood or hairs. We simply do not know how Jaryd Atadero spent his final moments, nor how he ultimately met his demise.

Jaryd’s loved ones have struggled to come to terms with what happened on that fateful October morning in 1999, though knowing at least some of his remains were found has brought some comfort, especially to his father. Though many find it hard to understand why Allen keeps his son’s skull in a cardboard box in his home, he told the Coloradoan, “I know it seems weird and some people might not understand, but this is all I have of him. It’s sad, kind of surreal to think that this is my son.”

On January 2nd every year, Jaryd’s family still remember him on his birthday. His sister Jocelyn is now married, and the family even left a seat for Jaryd at the reception alongside his Raiders cap. Even Allen made the heartbreaking hike up to the spots where Jaryd’s remains were found and left him an invitation to the nuptials.

Despite the years that have gone by, Jaryd has never been forgotten by those who adored him the most. Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” was Allen and Jaryd’s favorite song, and whenever it plays, it reminds him of his beloved son. Allen’s Christian faith has helped him through the heartbreaking ordeal of losing his son, and he believes that one day he will reunite with him. He has not let what happened consume him and has finally found some peace. Though it seems likely that we will never know the truth about what happened to three-year-old Jaryd Atadero, his memory will live on in the hearts and minds of all who cherished him.