True Crime in the Great Outdoors

The most shocking crimes from national parks, camping trips, backpacker murders, and hiking incidents

StrangeOutdoors.com 6/2/21 StrangeOutdoors.com 6/2/21

Shocking camping abductions and murders

Revised July 2024

Since the 1970s, there have been several ghastly attacks on campers. Here are some of the most shocking stories from the USA and the United Kingdom.

Although you are highly unlikely ever to encounter a murderer stalking your campsite, these cases are certainly food for thought.

Lori Lee Farmer, Michele Heather Guse, Doris Denise Milner - June 1977

In June 1977, three young Girl Scouts attended summer camp for two weeks at Camp Scott, Mayes County, in the Ozark Hills of Oklahoma.

Lori Lee Farmer, 8, Michele Heather Guse, 9, and Doris Denise Milner, 10, were brutally sexually assaulted and murdered in their tent number 8, in the Kiowa sub-camp, under the nose of camp counselors.

Gene Leroy Hart was eventually tried for the killings but acquitted with allegations of both a botched investigation and a rigged jury. Who was responsible for these infamous and terrible murders in the beautiful forest around Camp Scott? Was it Hart, or did the authorities miss crucial leads which might have led to another suspect?

Read the full story at The Oklahoma Girl Scout Camping Murders

Susan “Susie” Marie Jaeger - June 25, 1973

In the summer of 1973, the Jaeger family from Farmington, Michigan, set off on a month-long road trip out west.

On June 25, 1973, Susan “Susie” Jaeger was camping at the Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks with her family when an intruder cut open the tent and kidnapped her in the middle of the night.

On September 17, 1974, a bone from a female child was found at an unoccupied remote ranch northeast of Three Forks.

The kidnapper turned out to be David Meirhofer, who was arrested on September 27, 1974, by the Gallatin County, Montana Sherrif’s office.

Sophie Louise Hart - July 30, 1995

Sophie Louise Hook was murdered at the age of 7 years in Llandudno, Wales, in the early hours of July 30, 1995. She was from Great Budworth, near Northwich, Cheshire, but was staying at the home of her uncle, Danny Jones, at the Welsh seaside resort when she was snatched.

She had gone missing from a tent where she was camping in her uncle's garden, and her body was found washed up on a nearby beach several hours later.

A local man called Howard Hughes was arrested for the murder soon afterwards and sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty in July 1996.

Following his trial, it was revealed that Hughes had been linked to multiple sex attacks against children. Still, police had been unable to prosecute either because of a lack of evidence or because the victims' parents had wanted to spare their children further ordeal in court. He had a troubled background, including allegations of abuse at the Bryn Estyn children's home in Wrexham during the 1980s, the site of a major pedophile ring.

The story is a shocking tale of childhood innocence snatched by an evil pedophile, obsessed with kidnapping and having sex with young girls. A man who was unable to resist his perversions and took Sophie’s life in the most horrible of circumstances and where even the coroner said it looked like she had been involved in a car accident given the seriousness of her injuries, many of which occurred whilst she was still alive and fighting for life. During the attack, she had been in so much pain that she left teeth marks on both sides of her tongue and inside her lower lip. For the Hook and Jones family, a birthday party turned sour, a night they would never have even thought of in their darkest hour.

Julie Hook, Sophie’s mother, said, “I protected my children so much. They were not allowed to cross the road on their own. We both feel very, very sorry that the one time she needed us most, we were not there for her. That feeling will never go away.”

Read an expanded article about Sophie’s abduction and murder by logging in or becoming a member at The horrific rape and murder of Sophie Louise Hook whilst camping in her Uncle's garden

Bob, Jackie, Janet, Karen Johnson, George and Edith Bentley - August 6, 1982

On August 2, 1982, Bob Johnson, 44, Jackie Johnson, 41, and their daughters Janet, 13, and Karen, 11, went on a two-week camping trip with Jackie's parents, George Bentley, 66, and Edith Bentley, 59. Sadly, it was the last family vacation they were ever to go on. The Johnsons and Bentleys were last heard from on August 6th, 1982.

Their time near the beautiful Wells Gray Park was cut short by a sadistic, brutal killer obsessed with young girls called David William Shearing. It is a sad and depressing story of outdoor adventure gone wrong, bad luck, and a mission by two Royal Canadian Mounted Police detectives to find the perpetrator of these awful crimes.

The media referred to the tragedy as the Wells Gray Park murders, but the actual site of the family’s massacre was just outside the park entrance.

Read the full story here: The disturbing story of David Shearing and the Wells Gray Park camping murders

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Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sophie_Hook

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12127046.house-of-laughter-silenced-as-garden-adventure-ended-in-rape-and-death/

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sophie-hook-murder-gerry-davies-9679720