Haunting Photos with Chilling Backstories

VanishedVoyage

Haunting Photos with Chilling Backstories     #FinalPhotos #UnnervingBackstories #CreepyImages #LastMoments #HauntingVisuals #DarkHistory #EerieStories #CinematicHorror #TrueMystery #DisturbingTruths

Transcript

00:00In February 2015, 18-year-old Dalen Pua went to visit his grandmother Martha Bear in Waianae, Hawaii.

00:07Once there, he mentioned to his grandma he was planning on going hiking in Mauna Lua Valley Park in the morning.

00:13According to Martha, Dalen mentioned he was going to climb the Haiku Stairs, also known to the locals as the Stairway to Heaven.

00:21Consisting of over 3,900 steps that ascend the Kohulahu Mountain Range,

00:25the Stairway to Heaven was once a popular tourist hotspot until it was officially closed to the public in 1980 due to the dangerous conditions of the climb.

00:33Still, many daring hikers over the decades continued to climb the legendary staircase for the thrill of the challenge,

00:39and it's not uncommon for the police and fire department to have to rescue and arrest lost hikers

00:44who realized they'd been off more than they could chew once they were at the top of the staircase.

00:48When Dalen told his grandmother about his plans, she warned him that it was illegal and tried to stop him,

00:53but he was determined to climb the Stairway to Heaven and didn't listen to his grandma.

00:57On the evening before the climb, he posted to Facebook with the caption,

01:00Stairway to Heaven, hiking this insane hike tomorrow, wish me luck.

01:04His friends quickly jumped into the comments to remind him that a recent mudslide had damaged an entire section of the staircase,

01:10making it even more dangerous to attempt to hike.

01:13But the very next morning, Dalen took a bus to Mauna Lua Valley Park and began the hike,

01:18documenting the start of his journey on Facebook with the caption,

01:21and the hike begins, hashtag haiku.

01:24At the beginning of the hike, he sent some pictures of the mountain range to his friends.

01:28At around 11am that day, he sent this last image,

01:32after which he became unreachable on all communication channels.

01:36His friends tried to get in touch with him,

01:37but it soon became clear that something had gone wrong during the hike.

01:41The next day, Dalen was reported missing,

01:43leading to a citywide search involving the Honolulu Police Department,

01:46the Fire Department, the U.S. Navy, several drone pilots, and local volunteers.

01:52From the moment the search began, the authorities suspected he had successfully climbed the stairway to heaven,

01:57but was unable to come down safely due to the treacherous conditions.

02:01On the first day of the search, it rained heavily over Honolulu,

02:04making the climb to the top almost impossible for the authorities.

02:08After four days of looking for Dalen with dogs, helicopters, and infrared cameras,

02:13the search was called off.

02:15But later that very same day, two hikers who were climbing a nearby ridge

02:18claimed they heard someone screaming for help,

02:20and the Fire Department decided to extend the search another day.

02:24But on Tuesday, March 3rd, after days of fruitless investigation,

02:28the search was permanently suspended.

02:30Still, Dalen's friends and family continued to search the area,

02:34posting his pictures everywhere online,

02:36and even starting a GoFundMe campaign that raised over $15,000.

02:40After weeks with no convincing clues, or even a trace of what happened to Dalen,

02:45several theories started circulating on the island.

02:48While many people claimed he probably fell down the side of the mountain on his way up,

02:51others speculated that something much more sinister had happened to Dalen

02:55while climbing the stairway to heaven.

02:57In the last image he sent to his friends,

02:59you can see the head of a man popping up behind the bushes next to the stairway.

03:04While the skeptics alleged that the figure was probably just a bunch of leaves and branches,

03:08and a trick of the light,

03:09the Honolulu Police Department decided there was enough evidence in the image

03:12to issue an alert and request anyone from the public

03:15who had information on the mysterious man behind the bushes to come forward.

03:19It now appeared as if Dalen's disappearance had turned into a criminal investigation,

03:23with many people believing that the man in the bushes was a stalker

03:26who had seen the teenage hiker's Facebook posts

03:28and followed him up the mountain to attack him.

03:31Some Reddit users thought they recognized the guy,

03:33with one user mentioning that the guy in the picture was a good friend of his,

03:36and that he had nothing to do with the disappearance.

03:39But when asked how he could recognize his friend in the image,

03:42if the man's face was barely even visible,

03:44he didn't answer,

03:45and nobody's statements on the matter have been verified as true.

03:48Almost nine years after his disappearance,

03:50the case of Dalen Pua remains a mystery.

03:54In 2021, the Honolulu City Council voted unanimously to remove the stairs,

03:58awarding a $2.5 million demolition contract to NACOA Companies.

04:02The decision was pretty controversial,

04:05but in the end, it was decided that it was the best choice.

04:09Unfortunately, we'll still probably never know what happened to Dalen Pua on that day in February 2015,

04:14and whether or not the man in his last photo had anything to do with it.

04:18For a lot of these cases, I've always found it odd just how quickly searches get called off

04:26after dogs lose the scent of the person they're trying to track.

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05:48This story takes place in Sugar Land, an affluent suburb of Houston, Texas,

05:52and one of the safest cities in the US.

05:54On December 10th, 2003, Kent and Trisha Whittaker went out to dinner at Papadu Seafood Kitchen

06:00to celebrate their son Thomas' graduation from Sam Houston State University.

06:05That night, Thomas, or Bart as his friends and family called him,

06:09got a $4,000 Rolex watch as a gift from his parents.

06:13Over dinner, the family laughed, talked, and teased each other

06:17like the happy family they appeared to be on the surface.

06:19At one point during the meal, Kent asked his wife and sons to get together for a picture.

06:25The image shows Trisha and her two sons, Kevin and Thomas, smiling for the camera,

06:30and at first glance, everything seems pretty much perfect.

06:33Just after 8pm, the Whittaker family left the restaurant and headed back home.

06:38As they walked up the steps to their house,

06:40Bart stayed back to get something from his car, and his dad waited for him.

06:44As soon as Kevin opened the door,

06:45a man in a ski mask held up a gun and opened fire on the family.

06:50Within a few seconds, Kevin, Trisha, Kent, and Bart were lying on the floor with gunshot wounds.

06:56As soon as the shots rang out, a neighbor called 911,

06:59and even though he was injured, Bart did the same as the attacker ran out the back door.

07:03When the responding officers arrived, they found 19-year-old Kevin Whittaker dead on the floor.

07:09Trisha was immediately airlifted to the hospital, but sadly didn't survive.

07:13Miraculously, Kent survived a gunshot wound to the chest,

07:16while Bart got away with a single bullet wound to the arm.

07:20Initially, the authorities called the crime a burglary gone wrong.

07:24Suspiciously, the alleged burglar left behind the gun he used to commit the crime,

07:28but the palm print on the gun didn't yield any useful information.

07:32As it was later revealed, the gun had been taken from the Whittaker family's upstairs gun safe,

07:36which made it clear that whoever committed the gruesome crime knew the layout of the house before entering.

07:42The detectives on the case soon realized that this was no ordinary burglary,

07:46as no valuables had been stolen, and the family's drawers and closets seemed to have been neatly pulled out

07:51by someone who had been a little too careful not to destroy anything.

07:54The day after the murders, detectives discovered that Bart was hiding something from his parents.

08:00Not only had he not graduated from university,

08:02but he was actually a freshman on probation for not attending his classes and had a 1.4 GPA.

08:08About a week after the horrifying incident, Kent and Bart went to Kevin and Trisha's funeral,

08:13which was attended by over 1,000 Sugarland residents

08:16who had never even heard of such a brutal crime being committed in their city.

08:20Several law enforcement officers were at the funeral,

08:22not so much to mourn the victims, but rather to watch Bart Whittaker closely.

08:27The night before the funeral, a former roommate of Bart named Adam Hipp

08:31had gone to the police station and made a shocking revelation.

08:34According to the police report, Adam mentioned to the cops that one day in 2001,

08:39Bart had approached him and told him about an elaborate plan to murder his family

08:42in order to inherit their house and about $1 million in life insurance money.

08:47Adam claimed that Bart had even offered him a cut of the inheritance money

08:50if he agreed to kill his family framed through a burglary gone wrong

08:54and shoot him in the arm in the process to make it look more believable.

08:58The more details Adam revealed about the chilling conversation,

09:01the more the cops realized that the plan Bart had talked about

09:03with his roommate was eerily similar to the events that took place

09:07on that fateful night in December 2003.

09:10During Adam's interrogation, the name of two more of Bart's college friends were brought up,

09:14Chris Brashear and Stephen Champagne.

09:17Chris and Stephen worked at the same country club as Bart,

09:20and when the cops tested their DNA and sent samples,

09:23they found a perfect match for what was found at the crime scene.

09:26As the detectives closed in on the suspects, Bart realized he was in trouble.

09:30One night, about seven months after the murders,

09:33he told his father he was going out to the club, and he never came back.

09:37The authorities looked everywhere for him, but it seemed he had just disappeared without a trace.

09:42With Bart nowhere to be found, the cops focused their efforts on Chris and Stephen.

09:45Eventually, Stephen cracked under the pressure of the interrogation,

09:49and admitted that he had been the getaway driver on the night of the crime.

09:52Chris had been the gunman, and Bart had orchestrated the entire thing.

09:56Stephen even led the police to a bag that had been thrown off of a bridge into Conroe Lake,

10:01which contained pretty damning physical evidence,

10:03including two-way radios, water bottles, and ammunition that matched the shell casings at the scene.

10:09Almost two years after the murder, Stephen and Chris were arrested,

10:12but Bart was still nowhere to be found.

10:15Unbeknownst to the police, Bart had started a completely new life in Mexico.

10:19He had a small apartment, a job in a furniture store, and even a girlfriend.

10:25Disturbingly, it was later revealed that Bart had lied to his girlfriend's family,

10:28and spun a very convincing tale about his past,

10:31alleging that he had gotten shot in the shoulder while serving in Afghanistan.

10:34A year and a half after the murders,

10:37a man named Rudy Rios called the cops and confessed that,

10:40about a year earlier, Bart paid him $3,000

10:42to let him assume Rios' identity and flee to Mexico.

10:47In September 2005, Bart was arrested in Mexico,

10:50extradited, and charged with the murder of his mother and brother.

10:54As it was later discovered,

10:55he had tried to carry out the plan on several occasions with other roommates and friends,

10:59but something always seemed to get in the way.

11:02In an interview with ABC News,

11:04Bart claimed that when he was planning the killings,

11:06he was operating on autopilot and about as close to numb as a human being can get.

11:12After the trial,

11:13Bart was sentenced to death,

11:14a decision his father lobbied against for years.

11:18Kent claimed that having his son executed would only make him a victim once again,

11:22and that he had suffered enough.

11:24In February 2018,

11:26just 40 minutes before Bart's scheduled execution by lethal injection,

11:30the governor decided to spare his life.

11:32As of 2024,

11:34Bart is still in prison,

11:36where he will remain for the rest of his life.

11:38Miraculously,

11:39Kent has forgiven his son,

11:40and went on to remarry and even write a book about his experience called

11:44Murder by Family,

11:45The Incredible True Story of a Son's Treachery and a Father's Forgiveness.

11:50For many people,

11:51the most haunting aspect of this whole case

11:53is the fact that in this last picture

11:55of the apparently happy family together at dinner,

11:57Bart knew very well

11:58that if everything went according to plan,

12:00his entire family around him would be dead

12:02less than half an hour later.

12:08Maura Murray was born on May 4th, 1982

12:11in Brockton, Massachusetts,

12:13and was the youngest child in a family of seven.

12:16She grew up with her siblings in Hanson,

12:18a small suburb of Massachusetts.

12:21Growing up,

12:21she was gifted athletically and academically,

12:24competing at a high school level in basketball,

12:26running,

12:26and multiple other sports.

12:28An award-winning cross-country runner,

12:31Maura graduated at the top of her class

12:32at Whitman Hanson High School,

12:34after which she decided to go to West Point

12:36and follow in her older sister's footsteps.

12:39But two years into West Point,

12:40she decided to transfer to the University of Massachusetts,

12:43Amherst,

12:44where she went into nursing.

12:46In 2003,

12:47she did something pretty unexpected

12:49that stood out as unusual to everyone who knew her.

12:52In November of that year,

12:54she admitted to using a stolen credit card

12:56to order takeout from multiple different restaurants.

12:59Although the charges were eventually dropped

13:01thanks to her good behavior,

13:02the fraud marked the beginning of a series of incidents

13:05that completely changed the course of her life.

13:08One night,

13:08in early February 2004,

13:10Maura was working at her campus security job

13:12and decided to call her sister Kathleen.

13:15After talking about Kathleen's troubled relationship

13:18with her fiancé for a while,

13:20Maura allegedly broke down in tears

13:21at around 10.30pm

13:23while still on the job.

13:25When her supervisor arrived at her desk,

13:27Maura seemed completely zoned out,

13:29just completely out of it.

13:31When asked what was wrong,

13:32she only responded with the words,

13:34my sister.

13:35For 13 years,

13:36the details of the conversation

13:38between Maura and Kathleen remained a mystery,

13:40but in 2017,

13:42it was finally revealed

13:43what had upset Maura so much.

13:45On that evening in 2004,

13:47Kathleen had been discharged

13:48from an alcohol rehab facility,

13:50after which her fiancé had taken her

13:52to a liquor store

13:53where she unfortunately relapsed.

13:55On February 7th, 2004,

13:58Maura's father went to visit her in Amherst

14:00and after going car shopping

14:01and to dinner with one of Maura's friends,

14:03Maura dropped him back off at his hotel.

14:05That same evening,

14:06she borrowed his car

14:07to go to a dorm party at her campus

14:09and at 2.30am on February 8th,

14:12she smashed into a guardrail

14:14in her father's Toyota

14:15on the way back to his hotel.

14:17Even though she almost totaled the car,

14:19there are no records of sobriety testing

14:21being conducted that evening.

14:23She spent the night at the hotel with her dad

14:25and the next morning,

14:26she went back to Connecticut

14:27in a rental car.

14:28On Monday, February 9th,

14:30Maura used her computer

14:31to look for directions

14:32to Burlington, Vermont.

14:34She texted her boyfriend

14:35to tell him she loved him

14:37and on the afternoon of Monday, February 9th,

14:39she emailed the nursing school faculty

14:41informing them that she would be

14:42away from school for a while

14:44due to a death in her family.

14:46But it was later revealed

14:47that nobody had died in her family.

14:50That same afternoon,

14:51she texted her boyfriend again,

14:52promising him that they would talk later

14:54and made some phone calls

14:55to rent an apartment in Vermont.

14:57At around 3.30pm,

14:59she drove away from her school's campus

15:01in her black Saturn sedan,

15:02which she had stuffed with clothes,

15:04textbooks, and toiletries.

15:06Ten minutes later,

15:07she withdrew about $300 from an ATM,

15:10which is where this image

15:11taken from the ATM's security camera

15:13was captured,

15:14the final image ever taken

15:16of Maura Murray.

15:17After this,

15:18she bought $40 worth of alcohol

15:20at a nearby liquor store

15:21and got back in her car

15:22to drive away from Amherst.

15:24A little after 4pm,

15:26she checked her voicemail

15:27and that was the last time

15:28she used her phone.

15:29Shortly after 7pm,

15:31a Woodsville, New Hampshire resident

15:32called the cops

15:33to inform them of a car accident

15:34on a sharp turn

15:35on the highway near her house.

15:37She claimed in the 911 call

15:39that she saw a glowing light

15:40inside the car,

15:41possibly from a cell phone.

15:43A few minutes later,

15:44a school bus driver

15:45drove past the car

15:46and saw a young woman

15:47walking next to it.

15:49She didn't seem to be injured

15:50and when he asked her

15:51if she wanted him

15:52to call the police,

15:52she claimed she had already

15:53called AAA,

15:54but records show

15:55she never made that call.

15:57At 7.43pm,

15:59the bus driver

15:59called the cops anyway

16:00and this is where things

16:01started to get a little strange.

16:03Another Woodsville resident

16:05driving home from work

16:06claimed she saw a police car

16:08parked right in front

16:08of Maura's car

16:09at about 7.37pm.

16:12She claimed she didn't see

16:13anyone inside the car

16:14and continued home.

16:16Strangely,

16:17this statement contradicts

16:18the police department log,

16:19which mentions the cops

16:20arrived at the scene

16:21at about 7.46pm.

16:23According to the police department,

16:25when an officer

16:25with the Harvardville Police Department

16:27arrived at the scene,

16:28he didn't see anyone inside.

16:29The car had apparently

16:31smashed against a tree

16:32on the driver's side,

16:33causing both airbags

16:34to deploy.

16:36Upon inspecting

16:37the inside of the vehicle,

16:38he found stains

16:38of red wine

16:39all over the car,

16:40as well as an empty

16:41beer bottle

16:42in the back seat.

16:43The only things missing

16:44from the vehicle

16:45were Maura's debit cards,

16:46credit cards,

16:47and cell phone,

16:48which haven't been used

16:49since that night

16:50in February 2004.

16:52Another resident

16:53returning home that night

16:54claimed he saw

16:55a woman matching

16:55Maura's description

16:56walking quickly

16:57down the side of the road,

16:58but failed to report it

16:59to the police

16:59since he didn't know

17:00she was a missing person

17:01until several weeks later.

17:03The next day,

17:04a search was launched

17:05for Maura,

17:06but the cops

17:06couldn't find any clues

17:07indicating where she

17:08could have gone.

17:09As the authorities

17:10continued searching for her,

17:12Maura was labeled

17:12as possibly suicidal,

17:14and her friends,

17:15boyfriend,

17:15and family members

17:16were interrogated.

17:18Unfortunately,

17:19even though Maura

17:20had clearly shown

17:20an intention to go to Vermont,

17:22the case was only handled

17:23by Massachusetts

17:24state authorities

17:25for 10 days

17:25after the disappearance,

17:26after which the FBI

17:28finally stepped in.

17:30But by then,

17:31it was too late,

17:32and Maura had seemingly

17:33disappeared into thin air.

17:35During the investigation,

17:36several theories

17:37regarding Maura's disappearance

17:38started to emerge.

17:40Although the cops

17:41initially claimed

17:41she had been suicidal,

17:43the evidence found

17:43in her car

17:44seemed to indicate otherwise,

17:46as it seemed unlikely

17:47that a person

17:47bent on taking her own life

17:49would even bother

17:49to pack toothpaste

17:50and teeth whitener

17:51in her vehicle.

17:53It's also possible

17:54that she was so terrified

17:55of getting into serious

17:56legal trouble

17:56if she was found intoxicated

17:58at the crash site,

17:59especially after

17:59her recent credit card

18:01fraud charges

18:01that she ran away

18:02to Canada by hitchhiking.

18:04This would also free her

18:05from the drama going on

18:06in her personal life

18:07back home,

18:08but it's pretty much

18:09impossible to confirm

18:10a theory like this.

18:12After the disappearance,

18:13Maura's father alleged

18:14that she had been abducted

18:15by a local kidnapper,

18:17while several members

18:18of the public

18:18started pointing fingers

18:19at the bus driver

18:20who had failed to stay

18:21with Maura

18:21until help arrived.

18:22Suspiciously,

18:24that same bus driver

18:25moved to Florida

18:26with his wife

18:26a few months

18:27after the incident.

18:28Still,

18:29despite the amount

18:30of theories that have

18:31surfaced for the past

18:3120 years,

18:33authorities haven't made

18:33any significant breaks

18:35in the case,

18:35and will likely never know

18:37what happened

18:37to Maura Murray.

18:43Reynaldo Dagsa

18:44was a councilman

18:45in Manila, Philippines

18:46who was known

18:46for cracking down

18:47on local crime,

18:48specifically gang activity,

18:50during his term.

18:51On New Year's Eve 2010,

18:53the 35-year-old councilman

18:55asked his family

18:55to wake him up

18:56before midnight

18:57so he could celebrate

18:58the new year with them.

18:59Shortly before midnight,

19:01the family went out

19:01on the street

19:02to join in

19:02on the New Year's

19:03celebration

19:03with their neighbors

19:04by lighting firecrackers

19:06and counting down

19:06to midnight.

19:08At one point

19:09in the evening,

19:09Reynaldo asked his wife,

19:11mother-in-law,

19:12and daughter

19:12to pose for a picture

19:13next to their car.

19:15Just as he stepped back

19:16to take the picture,

19:17a man with a baseball cap

19:19approached the family

19:20from behind the car.

19:22Shockingly,

19:22right as he pressed

19:23the button

19:23to take the picture,

19:25the man in the baseball cap

19:26pointed a gun at him

19:27and opened fire,

19:28shooting the councilman

19:29in the chest

19:30with his .45 caliber revolver

19:31before fleeing the scene.

19:33Surrounded by the sound

19:34of fireworks,

19:35the family didn't hear

19:36the gunshot,

19:37but saw Reynaldo collapse

19:38on the street

19:39with blood flowing

19:39out of his chest.

19:41As soon as the police arrived,

19:42they rushed him

19:43to the hospital

19:44where he was

19:44unfortunately pronounced dead.

19:46However,

19:47thanks to the image

19:48in question,

19:49which was somehow

19:49taken just in time

19:51to act as perfect evidence

19:52and arrest was made

19:53very quickly

19:54after the crime.

19:56The killer was

19:57immediately identified

19:58as Michael Gonzalez

19:59and two of his accomplices

20:00were also arrested

20:01in the days

20:02following the murder.

20:03According to the victim's

20:04mother-in-law,

20:05the man in the tank top

20:06shown in the image

20:07was acting as Michael's lookout

20:08and was also arrested.

20:10It was later determined

20:11that the crime

20:12had probably been carried out

20:13as revenge,

20:14as Reynaldo

20:14had ordered the arrest

20:15of Michael

20:16and his accomplices

20:17for car theft

20:18in 2010.

20:20Apparently,

20:20the criminals

20:21were out on bail

20:21that night

20:22and decided

20:22to exact revenge

20:23before being thrown

20:24back into prison.

20:26Unfortunately,

20:27nothing will ever be the same

20:28for Reynaldo's family,

20:29but at the very least,

20:31the picture was enough

20:31to capture his killers

20:32and bring the councilman's

20:33loved ones

20:34a sense of closure.

20:36And thanks again

20:37to Sandbird

20:37for sponsoring this video.

20:39Check him out

20:39with the link

20:40in the description.

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