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The puzzling disappearance of ex-paratrooper Gilbert Gilman from Olympic National Park

Gilbert Mark Gilman, disappeared June 24, 2006, Olympic National Park, Washington State. Remains never located.

Updated June 2024

On Saturday, June 24, 2006, Gilbert "Gil" Mark Gilman, 47, went for a short walk in Olympic National Park, Washington, and never returned. Gilman intended to take photos rather than go for a serious hike, so he dressed lightly and wore casual footwear, without carrying a pack.

He parked his car at the Staircase Ranger Station and briefly conversed with Park Ranger Sanny Lustig. This was the last time anyone saw him. Despite an extensive ten-day search, no trace of Gilman was found. In the 18 years since his disappearance, no evidence has emerged regarding his fate.

Did Gilman intend to disappear and work covertly for the U.S. government? Was he murdered by a serial killer, or did he succumb to the elements in Olympic National Park? These questions remain unanswered.

Who was Gilbert Gilman?

Gilman was 5'7 and weighed 155 - 165 pounds with graying brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a bright blue and green Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants or shorts, sandals and prescription sunglasses on the day of the visit to the Olympic National National.

He was a tough and super intelligent guy, an ex-U.S. Army paratrooper who had served military duty in Panama, East Africa, and Israel. He had combat experience with the 82nd Airborne and received two Bronze Stars.

Gil had degrees from the London School of Economics, Union College in New York and Solvay Business School in Brussels.

He formerly worked as a military interrogator in Iraq and took assignments in counterterrorism and counterintelligence. He also worked as a civilian contractor for a year in Iraq and was fluent in Arabic, Russian, and Chinese.

Gilbert worked for the United Nations in New York before he came to Washington state to manage the 2004 congressional campaign for Sandy Matheson, the director of the state’s Department of Retirement Systems. From April 2005, he worked under Matheson as deputy director of the retirement systems department, advising her on national and local pension issues.

The hike on the Staircase Rapid Loops Trail

Staircase trail, olympic national park — Suspension bridge across the North Fork Skokomish River - Staircase Rapids Loops Trail

Gil was spotted by a Park Ranger, Sanny Lustig, carrying a camera but not a backpack on June 24, 2006. Sanny said, “I could actually hear the music playing in his car, so I went out to see what was going on. I had a brief conversation with him and asked him to turn down the music. I got the sense he was going for a hike.”

The Staircase area of Olympic National Park is located 30 minutes outside of Hoodsport in a lowland old-growth forest. It is the base of a seasonal ranger station, a campground, and the trailhead for the North Fork Skokomish River Trail, a beautiful spot for backpacking or, for day hikers, the beginning of the Staircase Rapids Loop.

The Staircase Rapid Loops Trail is a 2.1-mile, relatively flat loop that takes walkers under the canopy of 300-400-year-old Douglas firs, western hemlocks, and western red cedars.

The trail follows the North Fork Skokomish River and meanders through the woods, passing by mossy trees and ferns. A spur trail leads to a large fallen cedar. A suspension bridge, built in 2013, crosses the river, giving a viewpoint of the rapids. In 1998, the original bridge was removed by high water, and the new bridge was built much higher to accommodate the spring run-off in the area. Hikers can continue a longer hike of around 15 miles round-trip on the North Fork Skokomish River Trail to Flapjack Lakes.

Staircase Rapids Loop Hike in Olympic National Park

Reported missing, and the search for Gil

Gil was supposed to accompany Sandy Matheson to a meeting in Spokane, Washington, on Sunday, June 25, 2006, the day after he set out for his trip to the park. When he failed to meet Sandy as planned initially, Gilman was reported missing to the authorities.

A few days after he was reported missing, his 2005 Ford Thunderbird Convertible vehicle was located at the Staircase Ranger Station, where Park Ranger Sanny Lustig last saw him on June 24, 2006.

Searchers spent ten days looking for any clue of Gilbert in the Staircase area, examining nearby trails and ridges in the area, which includes steep, rocky hills, dense forest, and the North Fork Skokomish River, and found no trace of him. They used tracking dogs, a helicopter and a plane equipped with heat-seeking FLIR equipment, and 62 searchers on the ground.

After ten days of fruitless searching, the U.S. Forest Service declared him lost, and the official search was called off.

“It’s hard to imagine a person can just disappear,” said his mother, Doris Gilman. “Nothing was ever found”.

Aftermath

Gil was declared legally dead on August 27, 2015. To be presumed dead in Washington state law, an individual must be missing and not heard from for at least seven years with an absence that “is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry."

In June 2015, Doris Gilman petitioned Thurston County Superior Court to become the official estate trustee with the authority to close the estate.

What happened to Gilbert Gilman on the Staircase Loop Trail?

Lost on the trail

Since the Staircase Loop Trail is short and well-marked, getting lost is unusual unless he gets turned around and continues on the North Fork Skokomish River Trail. The entire area was well-searched.

This is not the first time someone has gone missing after hiking in the Staircase area. In the 1980s, two hikers were reported missing and never found.

Intentional disappearance

Some theories emerged about Gilbert in several TV shows over the following years. In 2008, KIRO-TV said Gilman had previously worked on top-secret military intelligence assignments and “led a mysterious life.” Gilman's mother believes he may have decided to become a spy for the United States government and disappeared as a result.

Murdered by Israel Keyes

A 2014 episode of “Dark Minds” by Investigation Discovery and hosted by author and investigative reporter M. William Phelps suggested that Gilman was a possible victim of Alaskan serial killer Israel Keyes.

Keyes committed suicide in custody in Anchorage in 2012. He was an avid hiker who had lived in Neah Bay in Washington since 2001 and was issued “a few overnight backcountry permits” to access the Olympic National Park. According to author Molly Koneski, Keyes was competing in a marathon in Port Angeles when Gilman went missing (he came 90th in the race).

Keyes was linked to the murders of 11 people from Vermont to Washington state between 2001 and 2012. He said he killed a couple and two individuals in Washington, dumping them in lakes, including Lake Crescent near Port Angeles, 650 feet at its deepest, never to be found.

The FBI said Keyes, a carpenter, was arrested at age 34 after admitting he murdered an 18-year-old Anchorage girl and sought many of his victims while hiking and camping and in remote locations. He traveled all over the USA on trips to the wilderness, and it seems that on these trips, he sought out murder victims and disposed of them very discretely to avoid detection.

But in March 2014, Anchorage-based FBI Special Agent Kevin Donovan said that Keyes was unlikely to be involved in Gilman's disappearance, based on evidence and reviews of unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. However, Koneski's theory about Keyes's involvement is quite interesting.

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