Solo Thru-Hiker Vanished in Colorado, Years Later an SD Card Is Found Hidden in Her Shoe… | HO

On a crisp September morning in 2015, Officer Piper Crumbede, 31, set out alone on a multi-day hike deep in Rocky Mountain National Park. Known for her meticulous nature and tactical precision as a Denver Police Department veteran, Piper’s disappearance would spark one of the most baffling and emotionally charged missing person investigations in Colorado history—a case that would remain unsolved for years, until a single, hidden SD card reignited hope.

The First Signs of Trouble

The Denver Police Department’s command staff briefing on September 14, 2015, was marked by a glaring absence—Officer Crumbede, newly promoted and renowned for her reliability, failed to appear. Initial calls went straight to voicemail; her parents, Jerick and Mna, revealed she’d taken authorized leave for a solo hiking trip to decompress before her new role. She was due back on September 12, but by the 14th, there was no word.

Piper was an experienced hiker and a trained police officer, comfortable in the demanding Colorado terrain. Her disappearance was immediately alarming. By midday, she was officially declared missing.

A Massive Search in the Wilderness

Investigators found Piper’s vehicle parked and undisturbed at the trailhead, exactly where her backcountry permit indicated. Her last confirmed contact was a text to her mother on September 9, sent from the park entrance, mentioning that cell service would soon be unavailable.

Rocky Mountain National Park, with its 415 square miles of rugged peaks and unpredictable weather, became the site of a massive search. Park rangers, search and rescue teams, volunteers, and Denver PD officers established a command center. Helicopters flew low-altitude grid searches; dog teams combed the trails. The searchers were relentless, knowing Piper’s training would help her survive if injured.

Yet, despite exhaustive efforts, no trace of Piper was found. Days stretched into weeks. Even technical clues—like a canceled requisition for ice climbing gear—led nowhere. Investigators briefly considered whether Piper had attempted a dangerous, unauthorized ascent, but searches of remote ice fields yielded nothing.

A Critical Oversight

During the initial search, one potential lead was missed: the High Alpine Lodge, a remote seasonal outpost near but not on Piper’s planned route. Assumed an unlikely detour, no one interviewed the staff. As autumn turned to winter, the search was scaled back. Piper’s parents organized private efforts, but the mountains remained silent.

For nearly two years, the case went cold. The Crumbede family endured agonizing uncertainty, refusing to accept that their daughter had simply vanished.

The Breakthrough: A Hidden SD Card

In July 2017, Ellen Wilder, a field biologist, stumbled across a tattered tent and degraded gear deep in a remote section of the park while surveying beetle-killed forests. Among the items was a pair of hiking shoes. Inside, concealed beneath the insole, was a waterlogged SD memory card—a deliberate act, likely by someone trained in evidence preservation.

The gear and partial ID confirmed the items belonged to Piper. The discovery shifted the investigation from a missing person case to a potential homicide. The SD card, rushed to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, was severely degraded after two years exposed to the elements. Initial attempts to recover data failed, but forensic experts refused to give up, employing advanced chip-off techniques.

After weeks of painstaking work, the team managed to extract fragmented metadata from the card’s file allocation table. No images or videos survived, but they recovered GPS coordinates and timestamps—digital breadcrumbs pointing to a remote cave miles from the gear’s location.

A New Search: The Cave

The coordinates led a specialized search team to a hidden fissure in the limestone cliffs, far from established trails. Inside the cave, they found a distinctive water bottle—identified by Piper’s family as hers—but no remains, no camera, and no further clues. The evidence was circumstantial but compelling: Piper had been in the cave, but the circumstances remained agonizingly unclear.

Why was her gear found miles away? Had she tried to hike out after an injury? The mystery deepened.

A False Witness and a Cold Trail

Investigators revisited the High Alpine Lodge, where owner Quila Brasher initially identified Piper as a guest who’d dined with a man shortly before her disappearance. This seemed a breakthrough—until Brasher retracted her statement, admitting a case of mistaken identity after reviewing photos online. The investigation stalled again.

A Bureaucratic Needle in a Haystack

In 2018, a new investigator took an unconventional approach, cross-referencing Piper’s police academy training with local wilderness experts. A tenuous link emerged: Vaughan Go, a local guide and former contractor for police wilderness operations, matched the loose description provided by Brasher before her retraction.

Go’s background check revealed a hidden felony conviction for aggravated robbery. He was known to frequent remote cave areas and had the skills to navigate the unforgiving terrain where Piper vanished. The circumstantial evidence mounted.

The Tactical Arrest

Investigators tracked Go leading a private tour in the park. In a high-altitude operation, undercover officers posing as rangers intercepted him on a narrow ridge. Once isolated, Go was arrested for the disappearance of Piper Crumbede.

Under pressure, Go confessed. He validated Brasher’s initial sighting: he’d met Piper at the lodge, and they decided to hike together, quickly forming an intimate connection. In the cave, Go revealed his criminal past. Piper, alarmed, demanded to leave. An argument escalated; Go shoved her, causing her to fall and strike her head on a rock. Panicking, he fled, leaving her behind.

Based on Go’s confession and the evidence, investigators theorized that Piper, injured but conscious, attempted to document her situation—explaining the SD card metadata—before hiding the card in her shoe. She tried to hike out, but her injuries proved fatal. Her remains were later found beneath a rock overhang, confirming Go’s account.

Closure and Consequences

Go pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. For Jerick and Mna Crumbede, the discovery of their daughter’s remains brought devastating closure after years of agony.

Lessons from the Wilderness

The disappearance and death of Piper Crumbede exposed the limits of even the most meticulous planning and survival training. The case highlighted the challenges of wilderness search operations, the importance of forensic innovation, and the agony of missed opportunities—like the overlooked lodge witness.

Ultimately, it was a hidden SD card, preserved by a desperate act, that provided the breakthrough. Piper’s story is a testament to resilience, the unpredictable dangers of the wild, and the relentless pursuit of truth in the face of overwhelming odds.