Stuart Isaac disappeared September 24, 2010, Craig Pass, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Revised July 2024

Stuart Isaac, 48, was a native of the Republic of Palau in the Pacific. On September 6, 2010, he left his Burtonsville, Maryland, home and left a note for his family saying he was going on a cross-country trip. He drove approximately 32 hours from his home to Yellowstone National Park.

On September 26, 2010, he parked his black 2009 Lexus IS-250 sedan at Craig Pass, eight miles east of the Old Faithful Geyser on Yellowstone National  Park's Grand Loop Road in Wyoming. There were no hiking trails in the area. Then Stuart vanished.

What is and where is Craig Pass?

Craig Pass is at an elevation of 8,262 feet (2,518 m)) and is a mountain pass located on the Continental Divide. The small Isa Lake is located just west of the pass on the Grand Loop Road. It is noted for striding the Continental Divide and draining into two different watersheds—the Atlantic via the Missouri River and the Pacific via the Snake River.

The search begins

Stuart's car was found abandoned during a routine patrol of the parking area on the evening of September 26th, 2010, by the National Park Service. The car, which has vanity license plates reading "BELLEK” was unlocked and still had the keys in it.

A search was started immediately, but repeated ground and air searches failed to find any clues or signs of him.

One of Isaac's former high school classmates, Matsue Evans, spoke to Stuart on September 24  at around 6.30 pm in Guam, which would have been about 3.30 am in Maryland. She said that during this last two-hour phone call, Isaac said he was on his way to Yellowstone, which she said was "kind of odd. I was kind of surprised to hear from him because he seldom made calls. We text each other and we do email. Now I know that he's missing, why would he call me two days before something happened?"

Stuart was not an experienced hiker or outdoorsman. Why did he go to the Yellowstone National Park that day in September 2010? A hike that went wrong, suicide, or something more sinister? Unfortunately, there was little coverage of this missing person case in the media, and he remains missing. 

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Sources

https://charleyproject.org/case/stuart-isaac

https://missingnpf.com/listing/stuart-isaac/