Eight Years Ago, a Survivor From Oregon Went Missing in the Valley of Death. His Family Still Wants to Know Why

In 2016, Justin Alexander Shetler went on a journey in the “Valley of Death,” which is what people call India’s Parvati Valley.

In early September of that year, Mr. Shetler, an Oregon travel writer and survivalist, told his readers about the big trip. He wrote on his blog, “I should be back around the middle of September.” “Don’t look for me if I’m not back by then.”

This was his last post. His family still doesn’t know what happened to him almost ten years after he disappeared.

A new ten-part podcast called “Status: Untraced” is bringing the traveler’s story back to the public’s attention. It tells the story of Mr. Shetler’s life and how his family tried to find him.

Liam Luxon, a podcast host, said that Mr. Shetler, who would have been 43 years old now, had survival training and would have likely been able to find his way around the wild Parvati Valley. This makes his disappearance even more strange.

“Justin knows a lot about survival, so if anyone were living off the grid, it would be him.” “He’s been trained for it,” Mr. Luxon told Fox News.

There’s a reason why the Parvati Valley is called “The Valley of Death.” He wrote in his 2022 book Lost in the Valley of Death: Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas that dozens of tourists had gone missing there since the 1990s.

Mr. Luxon, on the other hand, isn’t sure that Mr. Shetler left because he couldn’t live in the area.

He said, “Others had gone by him on the trail.” “They said he was going down, and there was only one way to go up or down.”

“I’ve now made the journey, and it looked like he would have made it back to camp.” Again, this guy knows a lot about how to survive. He wasn’t stuck in the middle of the desert for days with no water or anyone else around.

“He should have gone on this trip.” It didn’t make sense.

He told Fox News that Mr. Shetler had “given up everything” before he vanished.

The show host said, “He didn’t have a job anymore.” There was an earthquake in Nepal, and he was trying to raise money for a school there that was still being built. He was getting around on his own dime.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Shetler’s mother said similar things about her son.

“He had a kind heart from the start and always cared deeply about others, especially children who were homeless, abused, or victimized,” she wrote on his birthday, one year after he disappeared in 2017. He worked hard to make the world a better place, and I want to respect that.

In honor of her son, his mother asked people to give to the Nepal Youth Foundation and the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, among other places.

There are many ideas about what happened to the adventurer, such as that he was killed, was being hunted by the local mob, or was living off the grid in secret. However, Mr. Luxon said he hopes his show finds new proof.

Mr. Luxon told Fox News, “I think one of the strangest things about this whole thing has been grieving for someone I’ve never met.” “But now I feel like I know him.” I talked to family and friends for hundreds of hours…My life was also changed by Justin.