Young Hikers Missing in Joshua Tree Since Thursday [7/27/17]

[Wildhorse]

It is perhaps significant that the law enforcement agency involved is US Marshal. Looking at their jurisdiction and operations, it seems most likely that Fugitive Operations would be involved. The link may be the drugs. Perhaps they have been linked to a fugitive. Or perhaps some other evidence causes suspicion that a particularly dangerous person is involved.

Cynthia, your early instinct may not be entirely accurate but remains profound, as does that of Otherhand. The US Marshal's involvement suggests that cops with big guns are looking for someone who does not want to be found.

[zippetydude]

Wow, that's a scary thought. These two poor kids get involved in a little extra-curricular chemistry ( ) and find themselves on the run from a drug cartel? Good heavens, I hope they just ran away out of youthful exuberance (if they did, indeed, run away). This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. No wonder his dad is so dedicated. There is no closure here. And, speaking honestly, those two hitting the chemistry homework does not sound at all like he did anything sinister at all. Just sounds like 2 twenty-somethings messing around with an unfortunately risky experiment. Really hope they're okay.

z

[cynthia23]

Well, Zip, who among us has not at some time had in their possession four separate types of hallucinogens?

But seriously, while I certainly did, in my wild youth, use my share of not-exactly legal substances, I am little taken aback at the possession of four different kinds--I'm not even sure I can list that many (LSD, mushrooms, peyote ... maybe ecstasy?) Did they really plan to take all of them during a single overnight trip to JT??? In other words, were these all for personal use? Maybe so--I dimly recall someone in the JOSAR facebook thread referencing some kind of post that suggested there had been communications between Orbeso and Nguyen re getting mushrooms for her birthday. While this suggests the two of them 'weren't making good choices' as they say at my kid's schools, it doesn't necessarily mean they were hardened druggies involved in something criminal.

But I agree with Wildhorse that the most interesting detail is the involvement of the US Marshals--what does this mean? I'm hoping OtherHand will weigh in here, I have a feeling he could inform us.

[OtherHand]

I'm bewildered by the reported involvement of US Marshals. Generally they deal with fugitives, witness protection or Federal procedures and usually don't get involved in criminal investigations. Missing persons and criminal investigations (absent a Federal offense) would normally be the domain of the County Sheriff. But this all does reinforce the idea that whatever went down out there, it wasn't a couple of hikers getting lost. High weirdness indeed. And I can't be the only one wondering what four hallucinogenics they had. Because, you know, two just aren't enough anymore....

[Wildhorse]

One possibility is that one or more of the drugs may have had a known link to a fugitive.

Two missing hikers with four hallucinogens does not in itself trigger US marshal involvement. A link of even one drug or a link of one of the hikers, even without their knowledge, to a dangerous fugitive would arouse the interest of the US Marshal.

A missing fugitive, not a missing hiker, is what one would think interests the US Marshal.

[zippetydude]

My only comment now is that, in the most bizarre fashion imaginable besides alien abduction, there appears to be a real possibility that they are alive. Whatever the circumstance, that is better than I had imagined possible, so I am filled with a strange hope that it turns out they are okay but in a witness protection program. The desert, since Biblical times, has been the site of inexplicable phenomena, so who's to say...

z

[Wildhorse]

Interesting thoughts, Z. Made me remember the white stuff in the desert after the exodus, manna. Wiki mentions that some mystics with a taste for certain mushrooms think of manna in that context.

Not that this leads to the missing hikers, but I always enjoy finding such connections.

[cynthia23]

As you say, Wildhorse, perhaps the drugs they had somehow link them to a fugitive. Another possibility, an unpleasant one, is that the US Marshals think a fugitive they are tracking attacked or killed the couple.

A third possibility is that for some unknown administrative reason, somebody somewhere has tasked the US Marshals with finding the couple, believing that the couple deliberately disappeared and are somewhere outside the immediate area. The Marshals are good at finding people who don't want to be found, after all, and in my brief internet search, it did appear that at times, they are co-opted into work for other agencies. In a case this odd and high profile, perhaps it was felt that the sheriff's dept. wouldn't have the resources to really look for the pair, especially if they are suspected of being far away. For the NPS, finding this couple and resolving this troubling case must be a very high priority. The problem with this theory, though, is why in this case the FBI, rather than the Marshals, hasn't been called in. As Otherhand says, it's bewildering.

[zippetydude]

Amen to that Cynthia! Wildhorse, the only problem with that manna theory is how totally confused the Israelites would have become. They would have ended up wandering around in the desert for, like, 40 years or something...

z

[Wildhorse]

Visions in the desert. So much of history has been shaped by them.

For such visions many eat mushrooms or take drugs.

Joseph and Rachel are even associated by their names with visions in the desert.