Asesinato en el Susitna: How a primavera flood revealed the truth behind the disappearance of Jessica Lawson

During these years, the official story was that Jessica Lawson, a 27-year-old excursionist from Seattle, lived so devastated by the relentless nature of Alaska. It was recorded as “disappeared, almost suddenly lost” in the Susitna River, a tragic accident in one of the most unpredictable river routes of the state.

But Susitna has been buried una verdad aún más cura below the lodo and the rocks.

In the early days of 2023, unexpectedly violent and historic floods disappeared from the river’s river, revealing what was hidden: the rest of a woman’s tobillos were attached to the rocks that were being climbed, that is, one with heavy rocks at the end. No accident. Fue un asesinato. And the track leads to a borroso gasoline surveillance video from 2016, a video that finally brought to the investigators a suspicion that could not be taken before the courts.

A dream trip to the north

Jessica Lawson now lives in rural areas of Alaska. In July 2016, the graphic designer resident in Seattle next year, studied maps of the Denali National Park and took a route of various days through the Susitna River. The family knew how to contact her for five days.

The last confirmed notice was in a gasoline fueled by Talkeetna. The monitoring video shows the truck on your blue truck to buy gas and refrigerators. A man in a black truck approaches her, the driver briefly and signals the road. No signs of hair; Jessica flew and drove to the park.

A few days later, the parklands of the Denali National Park were located at their campground, located 360 meters from the river. It is in your sleeping bag, your backpack, your wallet, your satellite phone and your food intact. All mountain boots are clean and dry at the entrance.

Jessica se había ido.

Una búsqueda sin respuestas.

The initial theories stem from an accident. The frozen and rapid corridor of the Susitna can be transported even by experienced senderistas. Another surprise is an attack on the bones, but the tranquility of the camp and the food intact are improbable.

The most worrying theory is that a crime has occurred. The gasoline engine will be white from the attention, but the low resolution camera will obscure the rear and the vehicle registration number.

During the days, helicopters rastrearon the river, perros rastreando su rastro asta la orilla y voluntarios peinaron el circundante bosque. We didn’t encounter anything. After a few weeks, the bus was suspended. If you encounter neither a skin nor a warning, it is despised in this case as a presunto ahogamiento.

El río revela su secreto

Last year, the Susitna overflowed with a record loss. The weather breaks the orillas, desplazando rocks and stranding sediments years ago.

The residents of Talkeetna are fishing when they note a bota that is covered with a trozo of crushed stone. When we remove it, we will discover that one item has a human touch.

La policía estatal llegó ese mismo día. The forensic teams worked slowly, excavating a skeleton where there was a complete natural depression in the lake of the river. The restaurants were safe with lisas stones, cada with a weight of between 7 and 9 kilograms, and attached to the tobillos with climbing bones.

All there is is a blue raincoat, just like Jessica wore among her losses, and a destroyed metal termo.

The accident theory was refuted. Alguien se había segurado de que este cuerpo nunca reapareciera.

Confirmation and an indicator of violence.

Dental records and an ancient fracture clearly visible in the femur confirm the identity of Jessica Lawson’s restaurants. The forensic examination also revealed a recent fracture in the anterior lesion, which occurred shortly before or at the moment of death. The experts affirmed that it was the result of a drop with a weighed object, no damage.

Jessica was agredida, weighed and watered by the Susitna River.

From vuelta to the gasolinera

In this case classified as a homicide, the Alaska State Police re-examined all the tracks from 2016. The best, and the only, track was the recording of Talkeetna’s gasoline. Here you go, keep with the best herramientas.

The tape is sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, where neural network software is used to create photo images. The man’s head is partially dark, but the technical staff will recover the majority of the characters on the truck’s registration number.

The number of data with DMV registrations reduces the bus to a single vehicle: a black truck registered in Montana that received many in Anchorage a week before Jessica’s disappearance.

The owner: Brian Rhodess, 42 years old and resident of Billings.

A violent pasado.

Rhodes has a criminal record. For a few years before, you have been subjected to aggression in the second year when you attack a woman on a hiking trail in Montana. Not for several years in prison and subsequently life was lost as a temporary measure in fishing and construction, even in Alaska. Care of permanent residence and social welfare links.

The investigators agreed to live with their man: a man without a history of violence against women, who lived before the last time he lived with Jessica Lawson and found himself in the area at the moment of his disappearance.

Demasiado delay para la justice

When the Alaskan authorities tried to question him, Rhodess had to refuse. Our family does not belong to the year 2017. Our financial and labor registers are also due this year.

The front control revealed the final track: in March 2017, Rhodess’ truck was registered to enter Canada. It is now undocumented.

An investigation by the Real Police of Canada yielded an unexpected result. In 2019, Rhodess found herself dead in a barato motel in British Columbia. The cause: suicide. Although there are no suspicions of crime, the Canadian authorities will protect the case.

A solo caso cerrado in teoría

For the Alaskan investigators, there was a solution and a disappointment. Las circunstanciales — their criminal pasado, their presence in the gasolinera, their flight from United States — convirtieron a Rhodes en le principal sospechoso. However, without a confession, a DNA analysis or the possibility of a trial, the only case may be “as an exception” due to the death of the suspect.

The cause of Jessica’s death officially changed from accident to homicide. For your family, it’s the final day of a year’s life, but there’s no justice you hope for.

“Sabemos lo que pasó”, said an investigator. “Nunca sabremos por qué”.

The River Susitna flows together with Jessica Lawson’s body permanently buried under its weight and rocks for years. She raised the weight of a crime to be found much later and is a record that in the vast wilderness of Alaska, the dead are not permanently buried, but despite the truth.