True Crime in the Great Outdoors
The most shocking crimes from national parks, camping trips, backpacker murders, and hiking incidents
The unsolved murder of Scott Lilly on the Appalachian trail
Scott Lilly, disappeared July 31, 2011, The Priest, Nelson County, Virginia. Remains found Friday, August 12, 2011, Cow Camp Gap Shelter, George Washington–Jefferson National Forest.
Revised November 2024
On Friday, Aug. 12, 2011, a group of hikers came across a dead body, apparently murdered and lying in a shallow grave along a side trail to Cow Camp Gap Shelter in George Washington–Jefferson National Forest. The area is in the Mount Pleasant Special Management Area.
The body was identified as Appalachian Trail (A.T.) hiker Scott A Lilly, 30, of South Bend, Indiana. Scott was likely dead around 12 days before his discovery.
All investigations have failed to identify the killer.
What is Mount Pleasant Special Management Area, and where is it?
The Mount Pleasant Special Management Area is in Amherst County, Virginia, north of U.S. Route 60 and east of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Cow Camp Gap, where the body was found, is several miles from the Wiggins Spring Road, which the trail crosses.
The AT/Hotel Trail Loop in the Mount Pleasant National Scenic Area is 7.5 miles long. This trail follows the AT through the bald on Cole Mountain before descending to Cow Camp Gap and the Cow Camp Gap Shelter. It contours along the mountain, making several small stream crossings before entering an old clearing where an old cabin stood known as the Hotel. Hunters and herders used it in times gone by. The trail continues to Hog Camp Gap.
Background to Scott Lilly and the Civil War
One of Scott’s interests was Civil War history, which led him to Virginia and, starting June 15, 2011, to hike the trail. He went by the trail name “Stonewall,” most likely a reference to Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a commander in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Stonewall Jackson died as a result of friendly fire in 1863 across the border in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He had embarked on his Appalachian journey as a path to self-discovery, finding himself, and visiting the Civil War battlefields.
Scott intended to hike southbound from Maryland to Springer Mountain in Georgia but never made it.
Before the murder
The last time anyone saw or heard from Scott was around July 31, 2011, when he climbed The Priest, a 4,063-foot mountain in Nelson County, Virginia, where the Appalachian Trail crosses it.
He stayed at the Priest shelter about 0.6 miles east of the A.T. along the Old Hotel Trail, which loops around and rejoins the A.T. again about two miles north. The Shelter and the Hotel Trail are 16.8 miles (an average day’s hike on the trail).
The Cow Camp Gap Shelter is another 0.6 miles off the Appalachian Trail down the Hotel Trail. Scott probably wanted to camp at Cow Camp Gap Shelter with the next day’s plan of hiking the 3.8 miles to US 60 and hitch a 9.3-mile drive into the famous trail town of Buena Vista, Virginia, for a resupply.
Priest Mountain
Autopsy
In January 2012, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released the cause of death of Scott Lilly as “asphyxia by suffocation.” and ruled the death a homicide.
Lilly’s blue or purple backpack, new trail shoes (Walmart’s Ozark Trail brand), a Nintendo game, and “an A.T. handbook” were taken by whoever killed him. However, it was never stated by investigators whether they believed that robbery was the motive for the attack.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Tim J. Heaphy, said it was unlikely that the death was connected to several unsolved deaths in the George Washington National Forest. He said, “The level of cooperation on this case…is remarkable” and stressed that his office is placing a high priority on this open case, as well as “unsolved murders” along the Blue Ridge Parkway and a 1996 killing of two women hikers, Williams and Winans, in Shenandoah National Park, but at the time he had seen no connection between them.
Read the The Williams and Winans camping murders in Shenandoah National Park
The investigations into the murder
Steve Duenas FBI Investigator
Because the crime had been committed on federal land, the Federal Bureau of Investigation assumed control of the investigation. FBI Special Agent Steve Duenas was the lead investigator.
In 2012, the FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Scott’s killer. The combined investigative team, including National Park Service A.T. rangers, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers, and Virginia State Police, conducted 83 interviews of hikers, maintainers, and others, “in multiple states and two other countries,” including all long-distance hikers known to have been in the area in that period.
Special Agent Duenas declined to provide more specifics about the coroner’s report or the “many possibilities” being investigated said the reward announcement and news conference “are part of the investigative strategy—to generate more leads,” particularly from 2011 hikers who might not have seen last August’s news reports and from 2012 hikers noticing something unusual. “I have no reason to believe the Trail is any more dangerous. Hikers have to be aware and take all the normal precautions."
Despite an extensive investigation by Federal agents, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, and the U.S. Forest Service, no evidence has been found to solve the crime, and no one has been arrested.
What happened to Scott Lilly?
One theory was that Scott had been attacked by hill people, “hillbillies”, but Cow Camp Gap is not isolated and is a highly-used recreational area. It is miles to the nearest human habitation, and one common characteristic of "hillbillies" is that they're not big walkers. You'll only see them in remote areas if they're accessible by ATV, which Cow Camp Gap isn't. It's also an extremely popular loop trail for day hikes and overnight camping; It is not the sort of place anyone would set up a pot farm.
Chad Austin
On May 27, 2019, another thirty-year-old male, Chad Austin, vanished near Panther Falls just East of the Blueridge Parkway. His dog was found locked in his car nearby. His wallet was mysteriously found months later near where he vanished. He has still never been found. He disappeared just a couple miles from where Scott Lilly's body was found. A hiker found The wallet on a trail on Sunday, December 22, 2019, near the Panther Falls area. According to authorities, the wallet was near one of the posters with his face on it. They say the wallet was not weathered when found, so they believe it was left there recently. The wallet had his driver’s license and other identifications inside.
In March 2020, authorities researched the area around Panther Falls following a tip. Search crews with Buena Vista Police, Virginia State Police, Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, and Virginia Department of Emergency Management all helped with the effort. Nothing was found.
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Sources
https://appalachiantrailnoir.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/the-death-of-scott-lilly/
http://www.vawilderness.org/mt-pleasant.html
http://appalachiantrail.org/home/community/news/2012/04/25/federal-authorities-have-offered-a-$10-000-reward-for-information-leading-to-the-conviction-of-the-death-of-a.t.-hiker-scott-lilly-in-virginia-last-summer
https://hikeitforward.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/who-was-scott-lilly/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/g57uk8/what_happened_to_scott_lilly_and_chad_austin_is/
https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/New-tip-leads-crews-to-search-Panther-Falls-area-for-Chad-Austin-569109611.html