Connie Marie Johnson, Disappeared October 3, 2018, Big Fog Mountain, Big Rock, Idaho

Revised January 2024

In early October 2018, Connie Marie Johnson, 76, worked as a camp cook for Richie Outfitters (based in Salmon, Idaho) around Big Fog Mountain, near Big Rock and Grangeville, Idaho. The area was very remote, with no roads, and only accessible by horse or on foot.

She was last seen on October 2, 2018, when the hunters left the camp. According to County Sheriff Doug Giddings, the next day, the hunters had radio contact with Connie, but they could not understand what she was saying as the radio transmission was weak. When they returned to the camp on October 5th, Connie and her dog, Ace, were gone.

Who was Connie Johnson?

Connie was an experienced outdoorsperson and previously worked as a U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger at the Moose Creek Ranger Station. She was also a member of the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation, and she frequently led young people and other groups on tours of the backcountry in the area. Her friends said she was experienced in the backcountry and knew how to survive, even if something went wrong. She was 5 foot 7, 140 pounds, and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

Chris Adkins, a former colleague, says, "It's reconcilable. You know, what everyone is dealing with, with this, because, like you said, this isn't like some pilgrim's first rodeo. This is a woman who spent the last 25 years of her life, most of them, on foot in the wilderness, alone, doing her wilderness range work, and if there's anybody who has a skill set that positions them to beat this, it's Connie."

In an oral history, Johnson recorded for the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation, she talked about her experience in the backcountry after relocating from Iowa years before:

“I don’t remember really being afraid of anything. I’m a spiritual and faithful person and I kind of gave over my life to, you know, there’s God taking care of me and I know that but I did learn to, and I don’t remember being fearful. There were lightning storms and there were creek crossings and there were lots of challenging things physically, but I’m naturally an impatient person and this taught me, since I was by myself, to be very careful about where you put your feet. You know, Connie, if you get hurt here there’s no way anybody’s going to help you; you’re on your own. So it taught me to plan ahead about how I would negotiate this or that or how I would deal with the water supply or bee stings and that kind of thing. I just love being in that place so much. It just took care of me, you know. It’s a pretty overpowering feeling to look up into those hills and especially being a flatlander like I was. I still am in awe of the power of those mountains and the power of the weather and the creeks and just the sheer hugeness of it and the fact that we’re not in control of anything.”

The search

A large search, with searchers on foot and tracking canines, was quickly deployed. It involved aircraft deploying FLIR heat technology from the U.S. Air Force, the Idaho National Guard, and the Clearwater County Backcountry Helicopter Rescue team. However, no trace of Connie was found, and the search ended on October 16, 2018.

Three weeks later, the dog, Ace, turned up at the Moose Creek ranger station, around 15 miles from the camp, but without Connie. The dog was examined, fed, and then taken out to search for its owner, but to no avail.

What happened to Connie Johnson?

Connie had good experience in the outdoors and was well-equipped for survival. Did she fall ill or have an accident? Did something else happen that day?

Her daughter said she could only speculate about what happened to her mother but did not believe her disappearance was intentional. “I think that she was enjoying the outdoors, which she loves, and something happened. The weather came up; she fell … I don’t know, but I think that she got surprised. Given the temperature, the lack of time, the lack of signs of her, and the fact that Ace is not with her all points to …”

The Terrence Woods disappearance

By coincidence, Terrence Woods, 27, was reported missing in mysterious circumstances around 5:30 p.m. on the same day in the Orogrande area of Idaho. He was a production assistant from Maryland helping film a documentary on Penman Mine for Whitewater, a British TV show.

At some point, he ran off into the woods for some reason and has never been found. Terrence's father said, "They [production crew] thought he fell off a cliff, but by the time he got over there, my son was 15 feet down the cliff, running like a hare. So I said what do you mean running like a hare. He said he run so fast I ain't never seen nobody run that fast. You can't get lost out there because if you get lost out there, you're going to run into a road or houses. So he didn't just poof, vanish and disappear. No, he made it to that road, someone picked him up."

Despite an extensive search, no leads were obtained from the previous seven days of searching, and no signs of Terrence were located in the search area or the expanded search area.

Read the full story on Terrence here: The shockingly weird disappearance of Terrence Woods

See the list of Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com

Read other Strange Stories from Idaho

The tragic disappearance and deaths of Jo Elliott-Blakeslee and Amy Linkert in Idaho

The unexplained disappearance of Susan Seymour Adams

The strange disappearance and death of Todd Hofflander in Hells Canyon

The controversial disappearance of DeOrr Kunz Jr

The strange disappearance of Fern Baird from the Prairie Peak Trail in Idaho

Sources

http://charleyproject.org/case/connie-marie-johnson

https://lmtribune.com/northwest/no-plans-to-resume-search-for-missing-nezperce-woman/article_59e375fa-eb1f-5760-b16d-93fb039f88c9.html

https://idahonews.com/news/local/where-is-connie-and-terrence-two-people-are-still-missing-in-idaho-county

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article220610130.html