Daijiworld Media Network - Oregon
Oregon, Sep 25: It has been 19 years since 8-year-old Samuel Boehlke vanished into the woods of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, yet search and rescue teams have not given up hope of finding him. Agencies from Oregon and California spent the weekend combing trails, hillsides, and forests, determined to bring closure to Sam’s grief-stricken family, but no new clues emerged.
Samuel went missing on October 14, 2006, during a hike with his father, Kenneth Boehlke. According to Kenneth, Sam ran off suddenly into the woods, prompting a massive rescue operation amid an approaching snowstorm. Sam’s mother, Kirsten Becker, described how her son, who was autistic and fascinated by yellow pumice stones, likely wandered and became lost in the challenging terrain.
Despite repeated searches over the years, including helicopters, dogs, and volunteers navigating steep slopes, no trace of Samuel has been found. Rescuers have consistently ruled out foul play, focusing instead on the possibility that Sam may have sought shelter in the rugged landscape. Teams continue to return to the area, using the search as both a rescue effort and a training exercise for steep, difficult terrain.
In a bittersweet outcome, Becker has turned her grief into a mission to help other children with autism. She founded Autism Anchoring Dogs, a program pairing Newfoundland dogs with autistic children to prevent them from running off, achieving a 100% success rate so far.
Crater Lake, Oregon’s only national park, remains a place of awe and danger. Formed nearly 8,000 years ago after the eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama, it is the deepest lake in the U.S., holding roughly 5 trillion gallons of water without any connecting rivers. Its remote location, attracting just over 500,000 visitors in 2024, underscores the difficulty of search operations in the vast and rugged terrain.
Sam’s family continues to hope that one day, evidence of their missing son will be found, bringing long-awaited closure after nearly two decades of uncertainty.