The mysterious death of Carol Laughlin in Yosemite National Park
CAROL LAUGHLIN, DISAPPEARED SEPTEMBER 1979, CURRY VILLAGE, REMAINS FOUND APRIL 1980, COOKIE CLIFF, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA
Carol Laughlin, 19, worked in the Curry Village gift shop in Yosemite National Park. She lived in tent 51 in Curry Camp 6.
In September 1979, she mysteriously vanished, and her remains were found at the base of a tunnel near Cookie Cliff some months later.
The Cookie is a classic Yosemite crack area. It contains some of the world's best crack climbs, including "Outer Limits", "Meat Grinder", "Red Zinger", "Butterfingers", "Wheat Thin", "Waverly Wafer" and "Crack-A-Go-Go". It is about 1/2 mile down the canyon from the Cascade Creek bridge.
The body was discovered by two men descending Castaneda Wall near Big Oak Flat Road on April 28, 1980. The remains were scattered four hundred feet below the longest tunnel on the road. Rangers found bones scattered in a 15 feet radius, beer cans and other trash in the area. The tunnel itself is 75 feet long.
Austin Laughlin, the father of Carol, said that the authorities had told him that there was no way she could have fallen down the shaft; she must have been pushed.
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), a.k.a. the Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer known for stalking and murdering his victims in State Parks in California. Carpenter at least ten people, with one attempted victim, Steven Haertle, surviving. Carpenter used a .38 caliber handgun in all but one of the killings, with a .44 caliber handgun being used in the killing of Edna Kane on Mount Tamalpais.
Carpenter worked as a travelling salesman for Gems of the Golden West, a firm supplying Yosemite gift shops. But records showed he had not joined the firm until two months after Carol’s disappearance. Her supervisor at the store, Larry Lopez, never recalled Carpenter visiting the store, but he had talked to him a couple of times on the phone.
Could Carol have been murdered by the Carpenter, the Trailside Killer? The frightening case of the Trailside Killer David Carpenter
Become a member of StrangeOutdoors
Exclusive articles for members of StrangeOutdoors that are not available elsewhere on the site.
See the latest list of Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com
Read other strange stories from California
The puzzling disappearance and death of Paul Miller in Joshua Tree National Park
The strange disappearance of George Penca in Yosemite National Park
The strange disappearance of Harold Drake from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
The disturbing disappearance of Arvin Nelson in the Los Padres National Forest
The disturbing death of Katherine Wong at the Bear Valley Ski Resort
The disturbing death of Evelyn Consuela Rosemann in Yosemite National Park
The haunting case of the Mathias Group (Yuba County Five)
The puzzling disappearance of Jared Negrete from Mount San Gorgonio
The strange death of Timothy Nolan in Yosemite National Park
The strange disappearance and death of Stephen Michael Morris in Shasta-Trinity
The disturbing death of Thomas Heng in Sequoia National Park
The strange death of Larry Conn in Kings Canyon National Park (Member Only)
The puzzling disappearance of Matthew Greene from the Ansel Adams Wilderness (Member Only)
The perplexing disappearance and death of Mike Herdman in the Los Padres National Forest
The strange disappearance of Michael Madden from the Stanislaus Forest
The bizarre disappearance of Stacey Arras from Yosemite National Park
The strange disappearance and death of Jeannie Hesselschwerdt in Yosemite National Park
The strange disappearance of Rosemary Kunst from the Marble Mountains Wilderness
The mysterious disappearance of Carl Landers from Mount Shasta (Member only)
The Strange disappearances from Donnell Vista Point in the Stanislaus National Forest (Nita Mayo, Patty Tolhurst, Breck Phelps)
The strange disappearance of Jerry Lee McKoen from Door Knob Snowmobile Park
The disappearance and death of Thomas Mullarkey at the Bear Valley Ski Resort
The mysterious disappearance and death of Barbara Thomas in the Mojave Desert
The shocking events on Mt Baldy in December 2019 - the Sree Mokkapati and Tim Staples deaths
The mysterious disappearance of Bill Ewasko in Joshua Tree National Park
The strange disa0ppearance of Laura Bradbury from Joshua National Park
The puzzling disappearance of Max Schweitzer in Yosemite National ParkDeputy Jonathan Aujay
The puzzling disappearance of Saeed Emadi at Strawberry point
The Sandra Johnsen Hughes disappearance in Sierra National Forest
David O’Sullivan (The disturbing Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) disappearances)
Chris Sylvia (The disturbing Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) disappearances)
The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders and the two faces of evil
The mysterious disappearance of James J. Arthur at Iron Lakes
The puzzling disappearance of Ruthanne Robert in Yosemite National Park
The strange disappearance of Peter Jackson in Yosemite National park (Member Only)
The Strange disappearance of Aloys Krost in San Bernardino County (Member Only)
The shocking unsolved Keddie Cabin murders (Member only)
The strange death of Elisa Lam in the LA Cecil Hotel
The disturbing case of the death of Erika Lloyd on her pandemic road trip to Joshua Tree National Park (Member only)
The perplexing and controversial disappearance of Sherri Papini
The strange disappearance of Michael Ficery near Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite
