You are so right. In a group situation, when EVERYONE is watching the child, no-one is watching the child. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Also, I learned from working in emergency rooms and from law enforcement classes the adage "If something is everyone's job, it becomes no one's job". Triple this for watching kids near bodies of water.

If I saw a small child alone in the woods, I would keep him with me until I found his family. I would never assume that he was with any group of people. It boggles the mind that the 2 fishermen just watched him run off! He was a toddler!!!!

A three-year-old and a six-year-old on a fifteen mile hike...unconscionable. They had zero right to change their plans without notifying Alan. And how could any adult let a toddler run down a trail *anywhere* alone?!!!

When the "group" decided to change plans and go hiking instead of going to the fish hatchery, that was the first error they made. They should not have taken the kids hiking without telling the dad first. They should have returned the kids to dad instead of just taking them into the wilderness.

Doesn't matter what actually happened to this poor boy, the reality is none of those things would have happened had he not been neglected.

Many People don’t seem to comprehend that nature isn’t Disney land. It’s real, raw, beautiful and unforgiving. I have been hiking/camping for 30 yrs. Did the AT, PCT & been thru the major national parks & was a guide for several years. The utterly thoughtless things I’ve seen people do are truly mind boggling. Encountered a family at the Grand Canyon with young kids. They were allowing the kids to run ahead and go off trail. Adults were busy chatting & taking pics. i told them it’s really dangerous. I was kind but very serious. They said ok but then rolled their eyes at each other and giggled. One guy said he hikes all the time & they had it “under control”. As I was leaving the trail, ran into a ranger & mentioned the situation. Went to have lunch and 30 mins later I heard the commotion amongst rangers. They were sending Rescue out. One of the kids had fallen off the ledge. They had to air lift him out. He fell over 100ft, smashing his skull & breaking arm & leg. I was there when the family came off the trail. While I have compassion for the fear they had, I stared them down. When they saw me, they turned away nervously & refused to look in my direction. I wish I hadn’t been right but I did my best to warn them. Sadly, their child paid the price for their hubris. I gave a statement to the rangers & as I left the park, I cried.

So I had to come back to this video to comment how the story and you sharing it may have helped another young boy. The interaction with two fisherman and the strange nature of seeing a young boy hiking alone was in my head, as well as the story of Susan Clements. See me and my family were hiking down from Clingman's Dome taking the bypass, non-paved, route back to the parking lot. As we are hiking down a young 6 yo boy was hiking up alone. My wife and I stopped and asked him questions about his hiking group and where they were. He commented his dad was back there, but hiking slow (kid had no mercy on his dad, haha). We waited a bit to see if anyone did come along, but no one did. The boy seemed lost based on where he was saying he needed to head. He was on the same path, it seemed as Susan Clements, but all alone like Jaryd. Fortunately we were able to get enough cell service to contact his parents and get him in touch with them again. I keep thinking about if I didn't have those stories in my mind, and if we would have taken the pave path back down, what might have happened to that young boy! I share all of that to thank you for these stories. I feel this is a real world result of how they can help out future hikers from facing some of thee tragic stories. Thank you!

Who is going to take 2 little kids on a 15 mile hike with no parent. Why didn't they ask themselves this question?

About Jared’s inside-out pants: my first thought was he dressed himself that morning, and pulled them on inside-out, and no one noticed. Not an unusual occurrence. Not saying this is necessarily what happened, just adding another possible explanation. Little kids that age can dress themselves just sometimes not perfectly.

If the boy only let out a short scream, it was most likely a mountain lion. Thank goodness is wasn't a bear or human, the boy would have suffered much more. I just don't understand how this even happened. A lot of people REALLY dropped the ball on this one. The one I feel worst for is his sister. I hope she's been able to live a somewhat normal life.

It all boils down to the adults not taking care of a three year old child! They should all be held accountable

Two things of interest. Animals, including domesticated preditors, do not view children as little humans. They view them as another animal. Also, in Australia a dingo had enteted a tent and took a child. When the clothes were found, some were inside out. Experiments to how a preditor would leave clothes in this manor was conducted using a dressed lamb. The results were similar to this case as well.

Here is something you should know. Joggers outside of Boulder Colorado, are told, do not jog alone, and do not bed over to tie your shoes. Why, Mountain Lions will attack things running alone, or if they bend over and present an easy target. Colorado is a dangerous place.

When you run into a 3 year old, in the woods, you stop, make contact with those adults in the area, or take responsibility for that child and get him to safety. Don't assume anything. He is just out of babyhood for Petes sake, where was their dang common sense? Who lets their little one go off with single adults? A potentially distracted and unfocused on a child they said they would watch.

I once encountered a young boy walking up a trail in Chautauqua Park near Boulder Co. unaccompanied by an adult. Minutes later his father showed up but by this time the boy had already disappeared up the trail. I tried to impress upon the father the danger of allowing the boy to be that far ahead of him. The father's reply was, " he's okay, we go hiking in Utah all the time with no problem. I was dumbfounded. There's no cure for stupidity.

Coming from a hiking family, I’ve never known a 3 or 6 year old who could hike 15 miles in one day. What zi mean by this, is a bunch of people decide to take a 15 mile hike rather than what they told the kids’ dad, 3 and 6 year olds are not liking 15 miles a day. It was a stupid decision from the get go.

Children who are stragglers and allowed to fall behind by the group has been known to cause many a search and rescue. Each group hiker says the same thing to the law officers. "I thought he would catch up and I wasn't responsible for keeping an eye on him." To me I think everyone is responsible for every child that comes hiking with you no matter if they are yours or not.

A toddler being taken on a MILES LONG hike?? I would sue every single person who breathed the air that day in that canyon!! Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable

If you take your extremely young kids or pets on trails; do not let them off leash.

I found a deer killed by a cougar the night before, or perhaps earlier that morning. There was next to no blood as the deer died from s broken neck. The next day, the carcass had been dragged off leaving no sign it had ever happened.

Jaryd Atadero was my nephew (my sister's son) so I followed this as it happened and the response of the authorities pissed me off. They refused to allow in volunteer searchers (some with trained dogs) and refused to follow up on reported sightings and quickly called off the search after only 4 or 5 days because deer hunting season was to begin & they didn't want to continue the search because no hunting could be allowed if there was an ongoing search, so they called it off. And the group that allowed a 3-year old to set off on his own is inexcusable. What were they thinking? Also, when the group discovered that Jaryd was missing, they all went to town to report the missing child, NONE of them stayed to search. Also, there was an officer who reported sighting a child matching Jaryd's description who was being dragged along by an elderly couple. The officer was many miles away and claimed to be drawn to the couple because the child did NOT want to go with the elderly couple and that the elderly couple was dragging this kid against his will. He chalked it up to just an unruly child but made a menta note of it. When he heard of a missing child matching the description of the child he saw, he notified authorities immediately. He was IGNORED. There was NEVER any search for Jaryd outside the park, they wanted to declare him officially dead from the start.

I think that the poor little _unsupervised_ boy simply wandered off, got lost, and died of natural causes. The takeaway from this is to ALWAYS watch small children when taking them into the woods!

Shameful and disgusting case. Totally irresponsible adults. No excuse. None.

The fact mountain lions tracks were found near a child footprints is highly suspect. The tearing on the clothes looks like wild animal. People don't really bleed after they die and M. lions ago straight for the jugular. Cougars hide their food too so they can go back to it. Smaller scavengers could have further disrupted remains. It's either he got lost and scavengers ate his remains or something truly horrific and terrible. Sad story, thanks for covering it.

Man, can't help but feel incredibly saddened for Jaryd's family. Not gonna lie though, I sorta wanna head butt the people who said they were gonna watch him.

I’m so nosy I get in trouble but seeing a kid alone I would ask what was going on…make them stay with me until we meet with a adult. This has happened too many times…lost child at Walmart, lost child wandering alone in McDonald’s parking lot, lone child running into elevator on cruise ship…yes, I’m that person and I wont stop. I have seen too many news stories when someone random person will say “I saw a lone child but didn’t say anything, or yeah I heard screams….no phone calls, no searching …disgusting

I was intimately involved in the search, and Jaryd's dad, Allyn, and I became good friends at that time. I had gained a good bit of notoriety as a tracker at that time because I had tracked 27 year old Troy Tilley to his body long after a much larger search involving over 500 searchers from seven states, including Army Blackhawk helicopters with IFR imaging, could not find him. That 1998 search for Troy, his 11 year old stepson Drew Naylor, and his best friend 10 year old Josef Lippincott took place south of Canon City, Colorado on Tanner Trail. All three had perished from hypothermia in a late spring snowstorm. The boys were found leaning against a log where they had perished on the slopes of Tanner Peak by an air scent German Shepherd. Troy was not found, but after giving my word to his widow, Jolene, also the mother of Drew, I just had to find him. I also gave my word to Mark Lippincott, the father of Josef and also Troy's best friend. I searched for days finding fires the hikers had made old tracks, their campsite and many clues telling me what happened. I tracked Troy's tracks, sometimes holding my horse's reins in my teeth while wearing reading glasses and turning over pine needles and leaves while on my hands and knees. It was simple. The tracks and sign told me, Troy had crossed over the ridge during the blizzard and built a camp among a grove of trees up above South Chandler Creek to get on the lee side of the ridge away from the wet blowing. He made a large pine bough bed big enough to hold the two boys, and broke off every pieces of "squaw wood" he could reach in the grove, built them two fire, and left them with a pan to put snow in and boil for water. Then he set off cross country, during the blizzard and with no coat trying to make it to Canon City past North Chandler Creek on the other side of the ridge. He was training to reach Tanner Trail but never made it out off the steep canyon surrounding North Chandler Creek, due to hypothermia. He was fighting the blinding blizzard and I found places where he literally broke branches falling down while trying to climb up to Tanner Trail. My late wife and I on our horses found his backpack, with matches, toilet paper, wallet, and car keys in it, hanging on a log over North Chandler Creek. I knew his body had to be close, and I sent her with the backpack, up to Tanner Trail, then six miles back down the mountain to Oak Creek Grade at the Trailhead to find someone with a cellphone to call the sheriff. I found Troy lying facedown in the creek his buttocks and back of his head barely sticking out of the water. The coroner and i agreed he must have died on his feet struggling to get out during the storm to save the boys. The boys ran out of wood and tried to step in his tracks and climb 300 feet up to the ridge to follow his track and finally succumbed to hypothermia. Allyn invited me to join the search and my horse and I put on some miles. I learned that Allyn had fired a handyman several miles away at Allyn's campground. He had remained in the area, and his daughter later called Allyn and said her father had been arrested previously for pedophilia. He has since died. There was a homeless encampment comprised of a few tents several hundred feet above the trail. It was almost the same elevation as where the body was found. Jaryd had indeed been running from the slower half of the Christian group to the faster half. Allyn did not know someone he left his son with was not watching him as closely as they should have. I saw official photos of Jaryd 's clothing, and it was in much too good a shape to have been part of a lion kill and weathered outside as long as it did. I have seen many lion kills over the years in Colorado's mountains and bear kills, too. They are both very messy eaters. Jaryd's clothing could not have survived such an attack and not be in pieces. I feel very strongly about the cause of Jaryd's death and to me it was by the most deadly predator of all, a human. I shared my thought with Allyn. Allyn wrote about me in his book about the search as well as a friend of mine, a fellow former Green Beret Seaux LaReaux, also a well-known tracker. Allyn used fake names for Seaux and me. Blessings, Don Bendell

I wouldn't presume anything when it comes to a child- especially so young and in a place which is potentially so dangerous. When I have come across a lone child, I have stuck with them until I was sure they were reunited with their parent/guardian. It's beyond negligent to be so casual about the welfare of a child. Everyone in that group is responsible.

How do you as grown men see a 3 year old alone in the woods and not follow him, ask h8m questions, stop him or call out for nearby adults? This baby was failed by EVERYONE who saw him that day.

Kid's parents should be charged with Felony Stupidity.

"Everyone assumed that somebody else was doing it." This happens a lot. This is how children drown in a pool with dozens of adults around them at a party. Everyone assumes somebody else is in charge of watching the kids. If you leave your child with anyone, make sure there is a single, designated person to watch your kid at all times.

Old Coloradoan here, I remember the Jared Atadero story when it was breaking news and the Mark Miedema story a couple years earlier. Both tragedies had a couple things in common. Both occurred close to each other. Mark was killed by a mountain lion in the National Park not far away from the Big South as the crow flies. The other thing is that both children, Jared 3yo and Mark 10yo had gotten ahead or away from their adults. In Mark's case he got ahead when the lion grabbed him. To this day, I still cringe when I see parents let their kids run ahead on the trail. I've hiked everywhere around the area, and it's pretty common to see mountain lion tracks, but it's rare to see the lion. They're stealthy.

There is another scenario. The child did die from an accident like a fall or exposure. Then his remains were scavenged by animals. That would explain the lack of blood or cougar evidence on clothing and it’s location and the few scattered remains. It’s quite a stretch think that the boy was murdered, the perp took his clothing then years later returned to the exact spot to replace his clothing.

What was the matter with the boy's father?! He did not know any better? The boy was only 3yrs old! He let him go with a 6yrs old and a bunch of total strangers! What's up with that father??

I responded to a call where a “concerned” motorist called about a very young child walking at the side of the road through fields. That caller did not wait with the child for help, they simply carried on their journey. So, it does happen, it boggles my mind whi you would call that in and drive on…. luckily we found the child safe and sound before it got really dark.

As someone that lives in Colorado and knows this case backwards and forwards, I don’t see anything suspicious or sinister about it. We have a lot of dangerous places and dangerous wildlife and, sadly, a little boy wandering alone would be easy prey for an animal. That would explain him being found so far up, bc the lion took him up there. As far as not hearing him scream, several people DID report hearing a scream, including Jared’s sister, Jocelyn. But even if no one else heard it, it’s a huge area and he was a little guy with a little voice. I can totally see him yelling out but no one hearing. Or being so afraid that he completely froze and didn’t make a sound. Or, if the lion grabbed him by the throat, he probably wasn’t able to get out a scream. I also don’t discount him actually getting up there by himself bc kids can surprise you. Then he maybe fell and knocked himself out or just wandered as long as he could. And then the elements got to him. Paradoxical undressing is extremely common in people that die from exposure and hypothermia. And don’t forget how wrong things went with the search. The rescue helicopter crashed the following morning. It only got 100ft up before it stalled out and came crashing back down. Who knows what kind of clues could’ve possibly been underneath that wreckage and was destroyed. I also want to add that I see people commenting on here and vilifying his father, Allyn Atadero, and that is completely unwarranted. He didn’t just let his kids go off with some strangers he had just met. This was his church group. This particular group of people from his church made up a club within the church, which was The Christian Singles group. And Allyn was a member of this group and had been for quite some time. He was very close with most of the members and they frequently helped him out as a single father by watching the kids, cooking them dinner, etc. They were actually up there helping him close it down for the winter. So, he definitely trusted them to look after his children. This impromptu hiking trip up to the Big South Trail was never discussed with Allyn. They told him that they were just going to the fish hatchery, which was just down the road. That’s why he let Jaryd and Jocelyn go. He never would’ve given the ok had he known. But he didn’t know and it seems like the group didn’t at that time either, just deciding to go on the spur of the moment. So they went to a “moderate” trail, 15 miles away, and didn’t pay attention to Jaryd. When “everyone” is helping, often times that means “no one” really is. Which is what happened here. The group had split into 2, one faster and one slower. The fast group assumed that Jaryd was back with the slow group. And the slow group assumed he was up with the fast group. But, unfortunately, he was with neither. According to the 2 fishermen, who are the last ones to see him (that we know of) Jaryd came up to them and asked if they saw any bears. They men didn’t think much about him running around alone, as they could see one of the groups about 50 ft away coming up the trail. No one knows for sure which group they saw, either the fast one or the slow one. But I have to assume it was the fast group, which would explain why no one else saw Jaryd after he spoke to the fishermen. He had somehow gotten ahead of both groups, without them realizing it, and then whatever happened was able to happen with no witnesses. *Edited to delete an emoji that I guess I had pressed by accident.

Okay, there is no way in hell that I would let anyone take my young child anywhere, let alone on a hike. This entire scenario is just crazy!

There is a bizarre mentality of parents when camping. Have had people leave their toddlers at a group campsite to go hike, assuming someone will watch their kid! Happened too many times- now refuse to share campsite with any young kids and in large groups, make sure to say, “I don’t watch kids”…

The poor wee lad, so very many adults around and no one cared enough to look after him or savvy enough to know a 3 year old can’t look after himself. He was even given a second chance and they also let him go. Very sad story. Would have been devastating for his family. I totally understand why his father keeps the portion of the skull found and his bedroom as a shrine. Everyone let him down.

I want to know who suggested that day hike as a sudden change of plans once two small children were involved. That'd be the first place I'd look.

Taking photos of the child's clothing was fine, but they should have left everything there and let law enforcement touch the items.

When my daughter was young and we went hiking, I would always tell her to not get far away from me because a mountain lion might see her as prey. That group was very irresponsible to let that small boy get separated from them. Truthfully, they shouldn’t have taken him and the sister at all. Especially without the father’s knowledge and approval.

8:06 nope, you did buddy. You lost him. NEVER EVER EVER let someone you barley know take your kid. Never ever.

I think it was a cougar. I've seen animal attacks where pants get pulled off inside out. It was probably the weather over 4 years that left no sign of anything on the clothes. Definitely one of those cases where you can see how easily it could have been prevented. RIP little man

What the HELL were these adults thinking. When I would hike with my children when they were young, I kept a very close eye on them because anything can happen. Such a sad story.

I really believe it boils down to the fact that the kids were probably just tagging along. No one probably ever actually communicated that, "hey these two kids are coming, we need to watch them". They were, just there.

Years ago in Dallas,TX, my father, who was a young professional at the time, was riding the bus to work towards downtown. It had rained a lot recently, and as he gazed out the window, approaching the next stop, he saw some boys playing near a small canal full of water. He chuckled as he watched their boyish antics. But then he saw a baby, a toddler, stumbling around in the yard, wearing only a diaper. It was warm out, but what struck my dad was how he was headed towards the big boys playing by that canal. For a brief moment, he thought maybe I should get out here and do something, get the little one and make sure he’s going to be okay. But he thought of how he’d be late to work and how his company frowned greatly on this. How he had no idea when the next bus would come through, if at all until the evening. How he was wearing a suit and tie and shoes not fit for walking in the muck and mud all around there. And all this took place in about a minute as he debated this while people boarded the bus. In the end, he decided to stay on the bus and just get to work, that someone would get the baby and it would be okay. That evening, he was stunned as he watched the local news. A story about a toddler that drowned in a canal just outside the family home was one of the top stories. He watched in silence as he realized that was the same place he saw on his commute. He’s in his 80’s now and still remembers that incident, how he wished he could go back and get off that bus. I pointed out to him once that many people saw that and anyone could’ve jumped out to help. I’m sure these people who were on this hike, and the fishermen, have had to deal with their choices, as innocent or negligent as they were. Many people’s lives were changed when Jared was lost. May we not be afraid to inconvenience ourselves in those moments of decision.

I was a Search and Rescue member for 17 years on the winter survival team. Yes, in the late stages of hypothermia you might experience the sensation of being hot and remove clothing but I’ve never heard of anyone changing their confused mind and put them back on again. The fact that his pants were on inside out is very disturbing. No wild animal did that.

Pro tip, if you encounter a young child who appears ahead of a larger group, try and get the child to wait til the group catches up? What are we doing otherwise people?

What father let’s his two young children go off without him with a group he really doesn’t know??? Him saying “they” lost his baby, no he neglected going & caused his baby being lost & his demise. So sad.

I would have never assumed the child was with a group of people without keeping the boy with me until I made contact with them, and made sure he was safe! The fishermen really dropped the ball, as well as the people watching him.

Poor baby boy! May he rest in peace.

How absolutely horrifying 😢 no matter what caused his death, the poor wee boy would have been terrified. I cant imagine what his family have had to endure all these years. My heartfelt condolences to his father and sister 🙏 😢 💔

Who in their right mind encounters a child like this and let’s him continue on his way! I would’ve made sure he stayed with me until the party they could see caught up. They could’ve saved that little boys life 😭

A 3 and 6 yo on a 15+ mile trek? The group should have returned the children to their parent. The 2 fishermen should have kept the child until the group caught up. The group was neglectful in surmising who was guiding the children. So many mistakes made.

I love that you talk about the 'variety' of fact available online about this case. I'm always suspicious of what I read about true crime cases because incorrect facts can get around and become accepted as true. I listened to a speaker from the FBI talk about crimes and he asked the law enforcement people there if anyone had worked on a particular case before he talked about it because he said invariably someone in the back of the room would pipe up and say that the facts he stated were not true, and law enforcement had no idea how there things got into the media. This was before the internet.

Been watching your videos and started exercising. Somehow I felt the will to stop smoking and go hike again. Thanks man.

Kinda sounds like literally every adult in the story plays a role. There were so many chances for someone to step in and stop this. I’m shocked that no adult did anything here.

Here's my best guess as to what might've happened to Jared. He was ambushed by a mountain lion which caught him by surprise. He screamed as the mountain lion pounced but was knocked unconscious immediately upon being knocked down by the mountain lion. The mountain lion proceeded to take hold of Jared, perhaps by the head or arm, and began to drag him - unconscious - up the mountain to its den. As Jared was being dragged, his shoes were pull off his feet as they caught on rocks, trees, and other vegetation and elements of the terrain. The same with his pants (the sweat pants could've easily been pulled inside out as the were snagged on rocks or branched and pulled from his body and likewise, this could also account for the condition in which his pants were discovered, at least in part). Now because Jared's legs and feet were repeatedly getting snagged and perhaps wedged between rocks and trees even after his shoes and pants were off, perhaps the mountain lion ended up repositioning its grip technique by taking hold of a leg or a foot and continuing to drag Jared's body up the incline, now with Jared's upper body dragging behind and below his legs and feet (now in the jaws of the mountain lion), causing the shirt to be pulled off his body similarly to how his shoes and pants were with the terrain, vegetation, as well as gravity playing a role. Eventually, by the time the mountain lion arrived at its den near the summit of the peak with Jared in tow, all of Jared's clothes had been pulled off of his body. Over the following four years, the elements further deteriorated Jared's sweat pants; perhaps small animals picked them apart for bedding materials, as well as moths, many species of which are in Colorado (moths eat organic materials such as cotton, wool, silk, etc. so if Jared's sweats were made from 100% organic materials but his shirt was a polyester blend, this could help explain the difference in the level of deterioration). The good news is that in this scenario Jared likely would've been knocked unconscious immediately and not have likely regained consciousness during this tragic ordeal so he wouldn't have likely experienced any pain or terror (aside from the very brief initial moment when Jared saw the mountain lion as it pounced causing him to scream). Either way, Jared is now with our Father in heaven and his family will see him again. Jared is in a place that is far beyond anything we can imagine and his joy and fullness will never be taken from him. As Christ Himself said, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Luke 18:16). God bless.

This is crazy. If someone let there kids go with me that means they are as important as if they were mine. They will be in my sight always.

I think when you are out in the wild you should assume that mountain lions and bears are watching YOU ! The trails are used by wild animals as well. The animals know the area better than ANY hiker.

I can't imagine taking a 3-year-old on a long distance hike period. This is major neglect and incompetence on the part of the adults. Having lived in that area decades ago, I know just how much it has changed over time. In 1999, Ft Collins had exploded in population and was more of a tourist location than it ever was when I was there. I also know that there is abundant wildlife around there and I would opt for a mountain lion as the cause of his disappearance too. There are also bears there and there have been some problem bears that come into Ft Collins. I can only hope that hypothermia was the cause of death instead of becoming a tasty treat for the wildlife. So sad when adults don't think about all the possibilities with a 3-year-old in tow.

Yes! This video was great! I saw the “news” about the “abandoned hiker”. I was appalled!!! Thank you for following through and setting the record straight as much as you can in today’s crazy headline society. You are a good kid (sorry- my youngest son is about your age) and I appreciate the lengths you go to for the hiking and backpacking communities and humanity itself ❤

Wait so a group of strangers takes 2 children with them on a hike where noone took responsibility for the wellbeing of the children in the group in the woods near water on 15 miles of trail?...who does this? How can a whole group of adults lack forethought! Wow this was a completely preventable horrific disaster.

I don't blame the parents, but why do you take other people's children with you as a group and why change the route without informing the parents

I can’t imagine letting 3yrs old continue to walk alone.Id keep him with me until his mom or dad came.No matter if I saw 100people on the trail,that would actually made me feel worse😢 Rest in peace little angel 👼🏼,fly high🕊️ Edit: 15miles for a 3yrs old …were they out of their minds😮?For G.sake ,there were mountain lions,wolves and who knows what other beasts lurking in the woods and you let 3yrs old,3 ffs ,to walk away from you alone.Even his sister(6yrs old)was way too young to be alone ,let alone 3yrs old.Thats still a baby,I can’t …I have so much anger! Also I never heard of animal who would pull off your pants upside down.Yea,there was a beast,but human beast….THE WORST KIND!I can’t help but see my daughter and other kids around me,thinking how vulnerable they were at the extremely young age of 3 and think about Jared parents who were robbed of that experience,to see their beloved baby boy growing up.Sorry for the long essay but my heart is broken and I’m in so my anger,couldn’t even think straight,there comes the multiple mistakes I made.Dont care!My heart goes with all the people who knew this amazing angel and hoping ONE DAY THEY GET JUSTICE

How does the group of 11 hikers sleep peacefully at night? After taking a 3 YO on a treacherous hike without informing his family and then not even taking responsibility for his safety! Heartless monsters

It’s very possible an animal turned the clothes inside out. Watch videos of running of the bulls where the runners don’t clear out of the way, or anytime a bull attacks a human, often the person is picked up and tossed and their pants are pulled down or off and end up inside-out. A cougar scavenging a small child’s body can easily pull the pants off inside-out.

So the dad just handed over his kid to strangers and something bad happened? Well that just sounds too unreal to be true. 👀👀

I’ve heard this story before. You were very thorough with it! Being in the woods scares me bc of stories like this! *subscribed now. 😊

not even 10 minutes into it, and I'm like "why/who would take a 3 year old on a 10 mile hike????"

I’m so heartbroken by this. I can’t help but wonder if he walked past 2 women fishing if they wouldn’t have stopped him. It’s hard to imagine the fisherman just letting him go. Even with a nearby group. Once when camping I was cooking breakfast and my husband took my oldest to the bathroom, my youngest wondered behind my husband unknown to him. He quickly out walked her and she just continued to walk. A lovely lady found her, grabbed her by the hand and started walking in the direction she came. By now we’re franticly looking for her- I ran in one direction, my husband in the other. The lady found my husband first but wouldn’t leave until she verified with me he was the dad. I’m so thankful to that amazing women to this day, for finding my daughter and caring enough to verify her dad. Of course my daughter yelling “Mommy!!!!!”

Why did the father let his kids go themselves? He should’ve have gone with them. It’s irresponsible to assume or even ask anyone else to look after his children.

I'm really sorry to hear about Jaryd Atadero's tragic death. Losing a young child in such circumstances is devastating and my thoughts go out to his family and loved ones.

I have always thought that it was most likely a mountain lion attack. The lion tracks near the boys footprints is what really solidified that theory for me.

A 3 years old child should be with his parents not with bunch of other people.

I cannot fathom how a parent lets their children go off with strangers.

Here's what everyone seems to be overlooking - why, if this was a remote trail, sparsely traveled, why would the 2 fishermen let a 3yo kid wander off alone?? Why did they not insist on the boy staying with them til the group caught up with him?

This tragedy has always haunted me. Especially when my son was young, I always made sure to keep him within sight. I hope the father has found some peace. And shame on those couples, they didn't take any responsibility for the child when he was with them.

The inside-out pants and the condition of those clothes, particularly the cleanliness of white shoes do not lend themselves to a mountain lion attack and then subsequent exposure to the elements for 4 years. I have major doubts that those items had been sitting out in the elements for that amount of time and remained as intact and clean as they are in the photo. Furthermore, lack of trace mountain lion saliva or hair is pretty telling. And we know that a human’s worst enemy is another human. Poor Jaryd. Rest easy, sweet boy.

I have heard this story from multiple sources and the thing that sticks out the most was the giant lack of common sense. Walking around a mall is more than most 3-year-olds can handle. Taking a boy that young on a hike with strangers is just plain idiocy. I'm sorry to all the churchgoers that have their heads in the clouds but a church group is the last bunch of people I would ever leave a small child with.

Holy moly, it’s insane that I just stumbled upon this video randomly. Jaryd Atadero was my former boss’ nephew. He told me about how his nephew went missing years ago, and that he and his twin brother (Jaryd’s father) wrote a book about the nightmare ordeal. He loaned me the book and I read it. I had never heard about what happened, nor have I since I read the book. I can’t watch this video in its entirety because of it. I watch TrueCrime stuff all the time, but it hits different when you know the actual family that went through this. 💔

It seems to me that the most likely reason for his pants being inside out is the phenomena of feeling super hot when you reach a level of extreme hypothermia. I can't recall the technical term, but it's common for people with hypothermia to suddenly become delirious and feel like they're overheating. So he probably took his own pants off and that's how the pants were inside out.

This is the first one of your videos I've seen. I subscribed. Keep up the intriguing content....

I've just completely enjoyed two of your videos for the first time. You have a great knack for telling a story. I would feel very guilty if I didn't subscribe. I wish you all the best in meeting your goals with many new subscribers. You deserve it. I'll be watching for more new stories soon!

So freaking sad! How are you going to say a) ”Run along tiny boy! We are adults but take no charge of this situation”. Or b) “run ahead little man! We love you but can’t possibly watch you closely out in the rugged wilderness!” Kids are precious, need to be taken care of . Poor parents and poor sister, prayers.

You're awesome dude.. thanks for sharing this video.. I hadn't heard of this case before.. great content.. keep it up .

You are a great storyteller! I haven't been able to hike for years due to a fall which was devastating. A friend referred me to your channel and I am so happy she did!

I have read a lot of these comments. The church group was entrusted with 2 children for an outing. At some point, the group members decided that a 15 mile hike would be more fun. As adults, they should have recognized that this plan was too hard for a 3 and 6 year old child. The group should have contacted the father and returned the children to him before leaving to hike. They neglected to do that. Then this group of people started up the trail. The girl stayed close to the adults, but the boy was allowed to run ahead of the group. No one person who was present at that event told the child to stay with the adults. The child was on a great adventure and along the way, two men spoke to him, but because they could see people on the trail, assumed they were aware of the child’s location. Many people would have stayed with him until the group arrived, but they felt confident enough that he was being watched that they continued their journey. They did see the child go in the direction of campsite 2. The men never spoke to the group on the trail. Eventually, the group realized that the child was missing. Instead of leaving someone behind to search and direct searchers, they all chose to leave and go report the child to authorities. Said authorities did some searching and found nothing. A helicopter crashed, injuring one person and killing the crew of rescuers. Attention was now focused on the crash. The father and volunteers with trained dogs were denied access to the area. The search was called off because of hunting season and the child was presumed dead. Remains and clothing were recovered 4 years later in a rockfield above campsite 2. This was a series of mistakes by every single adult involved that day. I’m not sure why the father allowed his kids to go with the group without his supervision. I’m not sure why the group decided that 2 kids could hike 15 miles, and why they didn’t contact the father. I’m not sure who was responsible for the group dynamics, but someone was organizing the hike. I’m not sure if a person was asked to help watch the child. What I am certain of, is that a 3 year old boy died horribly and everyone involved was responsible. Each bad decision was a nail in his little coffin. I believe that when we die, we answer for our actions in life. I pray that in the end justice will come for all those involved. 😢

I moved to Fort Collins the first week of Oct. 1999. Immediately I heard about Jerod's situation. I don't have any further info, but I've heard a lot of speculation about it. I personally believe the mountain lion theory. Upon catching his prey, the boy, a cougar will take their "kill" to a cave or secure place which is almost always very hidden. Over the years, the clothes could have been dragged by any number of animals. Also, with it being the beginning of winter, the blood would have been rinsed off by rain and snow. I've never forgotten this little boy or the very sad situation that occurred.

I distrust that group even more knowing they were trusted church members. There were some real slimy church cults in rural Colorado in the 90s and child abuse and other gross behavior was assumed.

Usually I would say this was clearly an animal attack but the groups behavior was just so weird - they had an unsupervised child with them and spontaneously decided to change their plan without telling the parent and took a 3 year old hiking on a trail without an obvious endpoint as Kyle said. It would be interesting to know how they decided to change plans, who suggested it. Because this reads as if a different kind of predator might have seen a chance to attack the boy and then act as if he went missing on the trail. The adults didn't know each other and didn't stay together as a group so no one might have noticed if one of them disappeared for a while.

Dude!!! Your videos are awesome. I love how you tell their stories. Good job!

Since there were cougar tracks nearby, my guess is that a large cat got him. It would only take a few seconds for the cat to grab the 3 year old by the neck and run with him. The little boy would be easy game for a cougar to stalk and grab. The cougar would not attack groups of adults, but a child would be the right size. A 3 year old should always be closely watched in the wilderness, they are too small and young to take care of themselves. Double this in an area with large predators.

Keep your children close by.

I came across your channel maybe about a week ago, so far I am very impressed at the amount of effort you put into your videos amazing work my guy. also LOL for for just the sheer amount of times I have had to explain to people that yes Wyoming is actually a state, it does exist 🤣🤣🤣 it is kinda nice and strange all at the same time to hear someone talk about some of the surrounding towns I grew up in such as Cheyenne, Ft Collins etc

I love how humble you are in your telling of the stories. You don't assume anything, just tell the story very well.

This is so so sad. I can't help but think of my daughter who is around that age and how terrifying it must have been for the little guy. Why would his father allow his three year old to go on a hike in that kind of wilderness basically by himself. Never would I let my daughter go by herself even if she was with her brother.

Thank you for another well told story. It’s a sad one, but it was tactfully told. Your storytelling gets better and better.❤