On July 1st, 2020, three teenagers set out on a hike to Black Ridge Plateau in Colorado.

It was a normal summer day when 17-year-old Pierce Murphy, 16-year-old Rose Donovan, and 17-year-old Philip Clark said goodbye to their families in the quiet town of Grand Junction and set off on an adventure.

No one could have predicted that this trip would be the last of their lives.

The Black Ridge Plateau, located in western Colorado, is known for its red cliffs, deep canyons, and network of mysterious caves.

The three best friends planned to spend 3 days here exploring the local natural wonders.

It was a trip they had been preparing for several months.

The last contact with the teenagers was that same evening.

At 9:00, Pierce called his parents to say that they had already set up camp about 7 miles from the start of the hiking trail.

He talked about the beautiful scenery and how lucky they were with the weather.

The boy’s voice sounded cheerful, and he promised to send photos when he returned home.

“I remember our last conversation well,” says Martha Murphy, Pice’s mother.

He was so happy and excited.

He said the place was incredible and that Philip had found an interesting cave that they planned to explore the next morning.

I wished him a good rest and advised him to be careful.

Who knew those would be my last words to my son.

The next day, the weather took a turn for the worse.

One of the strongest storms in a decade swept across the region.

When the children did not return home at the agreed time, their parents raised the alarm.

One of the largest search operations in the history of Mesa County began.

For 2 weeks, dozens of rangers, police officers, volunteers, and search dogs combed every inch of the plateau.

Helicopters with thermal imaging cameras circled over the desert landscape, and experienced cavers explored every accessible cave.

The only thing they found was the teenagers camp.

The tent was intact.

Their belongings were neatly packed inside, but the teenagers themselves seemed to have vanished into thin air.

“It was as if they had simply evaporated,” recalls John Taylor, the Mesa County Sheriff who led the search operation.

Their camp looked as if they had just stepped out for a moment and intended to return.

Food supplies, sleeping bags, clothes, even personal belongings.

Everything was left in its place.

We found PICE’s camera and the children’s phones, but we found no trace of the teenagers themselves.

During the first few weeks, several theories were put forward about what might have happened.

An accident while exploring a cave, an attack by a wild animal, kidnapping, or even voluntary escape.

None of these theories were supported by evidence.

As time passed, the search gradually wound down and the case of the three missing teenagers from Grand Junction became one of the most mysterious cold cases in the history of the state of Colorado.

And then 5 years later, on August 7th, 2025, a group of geology students from the University of Colorado discovered something that made even experienced criminologists shudder.

In a remote cave on the northwestern edge of the Black Ridge Plateau, in an area almost inaccessible to ordinary tourists, they found a black plastic bag.

Inside was a neatly folded human corpse without skin.

I’ve never seen anything like this in my 30 years as a medical examiner, admits Dr.

Gordon Ramirez, who performed the autopsy.

The body was completely stripped of its skin, and it was done with surgical precision.

There were no torn edges or animal teeth marks.

It was the work of a human being and a human being with some medical knowledge.

DNA testing confirmed what everyone feared.

The corpse belonged to Pierce Murphy, one of three teenagers who disappeared 5 years ago.

But what happened to Rose Donovan and Philip Clark? Who or what took the lives of these young people? And most importantly, why was Pierce’s body found in such a state? The case of the disappearances on the Black Ridge Plateau was back in the spotlight.

And this time, investigators were confronted with something far more sinister than they could have imagined.

Something that turned this story into one of the most mysterious and disturbing cases in the history of US criminal investigations.

When we started the search, we thought we were dealing with an accident or at worst a kidnapping, says FBI investigator Alex Wong, who is now leading the investigation.

Now we realize that we are dealing with something much more frightening and incomprehensible.

This is no longer just a disappearance.

It is something that is beyond our understanding.

In this documentary, we will follow the path of three teenagers, recreating their last hike step by step.

We will talk to those who knew them, those who searched for them, and those who ultimately found what remained of them.

We will analyze all the theories and try to find the answer to the question, what really happened to Pierce Murphy, Rose Donovan, and Philip Clark on the mysterious Black Ridge Plateau in Colorado? This is a story that makes us question what we know about the world around us.

A story that reminds us that some of nature’s secrets can be more dangerous than we can imagine.

Pierce Murphy, Rose Donovan, and Philip Clark grew up in Grand Junction, a small town on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

It’s a place where everyone knows each other, where life flows calmly and steadily, and where nature is a constant backdrop to everyday existence.

It was here, among the red sandstones and endless expanses, that the characters of three friends were formed, whose fate became one of the state’s greatest mysteries.

Pierce was the eldest son in the Murphy family.

At 17, he already had a reputation as a talented photographer.

His photographs of local landscapes have won numerous competitions and some have even been published in Colorado tourist brochures.

In addition to photography, the young man was fascinated by geology.

His room was filled with samples of rocks and minerals collected during numerous hikes.

Pierce could talk for hours about the formation of rocks, recalls his father, Richard Murphy.

He knew the history of every rock in his collection, could tell how many millions of years ago it was formed and under what conditions.

For him, nature was an open book.

Rose Donovan, a year younger than Pierce, was his complete opposite.

She was a quiet, thoughtful girl with an incredible aptitude for the exact sciences.

She was an excellent student, especially in chemistry and biology.

She dreamed of becoming a heart surgeon and and had already been accepted to the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Rose always knew what she wanted, says her mother, Emily Donovan.

Ever since she was a child, she said she would be a doctor.

While other girls played with dolls, she asked for anatomy books.

She had a rare combination of intelligence and empathy.

She really could have been an outstanding doctor.

Philip Clark, a 17-year-old athlete and captain of the school’s American football team, was the informal leader of the trio.

Confident and charismatic, he could get along with anyone.

Philip was never one to sit still, recalls his coach, Mike Donahue.

He was one of those people who was always on the move, always looking for new adventures, new challenges.

At the same time, he always cared for his friends and was a source of support for them.

Philip planned to enroll in the United States Military Academy at West Point after graduating from high school and dreamed of becoming a special forces officer.

The three teenagers were united not only by their long-standing friendship, but also by their shared love of nature.

From early childhood, they explored the Grand Junction area together, first with their parents and later on their own.

By the time of their fateful trip, they already had considerable hiking experience, including several multi-day hikes in Colorado National Monument and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument.

They were experienced hikers.

Martha Murphy emphasizes PICE knew how to behave in the wild, how to navigate the terrain, how to prepare for a hike.

They weren’t noviceses who were going into the mountains for the first time.

The idea for the Black Ridge Plateau hike came to Pierce in the late spring of 2020.

He came across an article about littleknown caves in the region that supposedly contained unique geological formations and rock paintings.

For Pierce, it was an opportunity to take unique photographs, for Rose to study the local flora, and for Philip to test himself in the challenging conditions of cave tourism.

Planning for the trip took almost a month.

The teenagers carefully studied maps of the area, read reports from other tourists, and consulted with rangers.

They chose a route that started from the official tourist trail, but then veered off into the less explored northwestern part of the plateau.

Philip came to me several times with their route, says Steve Johnson, an experienced ranger at the Colorado National Reserve.

He showed me the map and asked about water sources, weather conditions, and possible dangers.

I warned him that cell phone coverage wasn’t very good in that part of the plateau and that the caves there could be dangerous.

But the guy seemed prepared and I saw no reason to discourage them from this trip.

The teenagers spent the last few days before the trip gathering equipment.

Philip was responsible for sleeping bags, a tent, and safety equipment.

Rose prepared a first aid kit and food supplies.

Pierce took care of navigation, maps, and of course, his camera equipment.

They took the preparation very seriously, recalls James Clark, Philip’s father.

My son checked the equipment list several times and tested the new equipment in the yard.

Rose even made a menu for every day of the trip, calculating the calorie content of each meal.

PICE marked all the places they wanted to visit on the map in advance.

They didn’t improvise.

They had a clear plan.

On the eve of the trip on June 30th, 2020, all three families gathered at the Clark’s house for a farewell dinner.

The mood was upbeat with the teenagers enthusiastically discussing the upcoming adventure.

It was a wonderful evening, recalls Sarah Clark, Philip’s mother, with tears in her eyes.

The children laughed, joked, and showed off their new hiking boots.

Philip talked about how they planned to reach Moon Canyon as he called one of the places on their route.

Rose promised to collect samples of rare plants.

PICE boasted about his new camera lens.

If only I had known that I was seeing my son for the last time.

If only I could have foreseen it.

The morning of July 1st was clear and sunny.

At 7:30 a.

m.

, Richard Murphy drove the trio to the start of the hiking trail at the west entrance to the Colorado National Monument.

There, they registered at the Ranger Station, indicating their route, an estimated return date, July 3rd.

They had everything they needed with them.

A three-day supply of food and water, a sturdy tent, sleeping bags, warm clothes, flashlights, maps, a compass and GPS navigator, a first aid kit, matches in a waterproof container, knives, climbing ropes, and other necessary equipment.

They looked ready for anything, says Richard Murphy.

When I left them at the trail head, I was completely calm.

We agreed that PICE would call every evening if there was a connection.

I had no idea that anything could go wrong.

Pierce Murphy, Rose Donovan, and Philip Clark were born and raised in the small town of Grand Junction, Colorado.

This town, located in the western part of the state, is surrounded on all sides by picturesque landscapes, red sandstone cliffs, deep canyons, and semi- desert expanses stretching to the horizon.

It was here in a place where nature displays its grandeur everyday that the characters of three friends whose fates were tragically intertwined were formed.

Pierce, a 17-year-old boy with blonde hair and piercing gray eyes, had an extraordinary talent for photography.

His parents, Richard and Martha Murphy, gave him his first camera when he was only 9 years old.

Since then, the camera has been an integral part of his life.

Pierce was fascinated by geology and could talk for hours about the formation of different rocks and minerals.

There were more rocks in his room than in the local geological museum, his father recalls with a faint smile.

Every rock had its own story, its own place on the shelf.

Rose Donovan, a 16-year-old girl with chestnut hair braided into a tight plat, was a real prodigy, an excellent student and winner of numerous biology and chemistry competitions.

She dreamed of becoming a heart surgeon.

By 9th grade, she already knew more about the anatomy of the heart than I did, says her mother, Emily Donovan, who works as a nurse at a local hospital.

Rose planned to enroll in the University of Colorado’s medical school, and according to her teachers, she had every chance of doing so.

Philip Clark, a tall, athletic 17-year-old, was a true leader, not only among his friends, but also at school, where he captained the American football team.

He was described as a balanced, sensible, and responsible young man.

Philip always took responsibility, says his father, James Clark.

If he promised something, he always delivered.

That’s why we weren’t worried about letting them go on that trip.

Philip was the one who always kept everything under control.

The friendship between the three teenagers began in elementary school.

Pierce and Philip sat at the same desk in first grade.

Rose joined them a year later when her family moved to Grand Junction from Denver.

Despite their different personalities and interests, they found common ground and became inseparable.

They complimented each other, recalls their school teacher, Mrs.

Thompson.

Pierce was the dreamer, Rose was the brains of the trio, and Philip was the driving force.

Together, they were like one whole person.

The idea of hiking to the Black Ridge Plateau came to Pierce at the end of May 2020.

While browsing photos of local caving enthusiasts on the internet, he came across pictures of littleknown caves in a remote part of the plateau.

He came home very excited, says Pierce’s mother.

He showed me the photos and told me that there were unique stelactites and stelagmites in those caves that couldn’t be found anywhere else in Colorado.

He just had to see them and photograph them.

Planning the trip took almost a month.

The teenagers carefully studied maps of the area, consulted with experienced hikers, and read ranger reports.

They chose a route that started on a popular hiking trail, but then veered off into the less explored areas of the northwestern part of the plateau.

They were very thorough in their planning, recalls Steve Johnson, a ranger at Colorado National Reserve.

Philip came to me several times with their route.

I pointed out a few potentially dangerous areas and suggested an alternative route.

He listened carefully and made adjustments.

The last few days before the trip were hectic.

Philip took responsibility for the camping equipment, tent, sleeping bags, ropes, and other mountaineering gear.

Rose prepared the first aid kit and food supplies.

PICE was in charge of navigation devices, maps, and of course, his camera equipment.

I remember them laying out all their gear in our backyard to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything, says Sarah Clark, Philip’s mother.

They were so serious, so focused.

Rose made a whole list of everything they needed and methodically checked off each item.

Pierce tested his new lens, and Philip checked the strength of the ropes and carabiners.

On the eve of the trip, June 30th, 2020, all three families gathered at the Clark’s house for a farewell dinner.

The atmosphere was festive.

The teenagers enthusiastically talked about their plans, showed off their new equipment, joked, and laughed.

“No one could have predicted that this would be the last dinner they would have together.

” “If only we could have known where this would lead,” Emily Donovan says quietly, looking into the distance.

“Black Ridge Plateau is one of the most remarkable natural wonders of western Colorado.

Located near the town of Grand Junction, it stretches for dozens of miles of desert landscape consisting of red sandstone cliffs, deep canyons, and bizarre geological formations.

It is this wild beauty that attracts thousands of tourists every year.

But behind the enchanting scenery lie numerous dangers for careless travelers.

The route chosen by Pierce, Rose, and Philip began at the traditional Black Ridge Canyon Trail.

The first part of the trail was well marked and relatively safe.

The teenagers had to walk about 5 mi north, following the main trail and then turned northwest into a less explored part of the plateau.

Their route was quite ambitious, says Ranger Steve Johnson, pointing to a map on the wall of his office.

From the main trail, they plan to head toward Little Dolores River and from there to a group of remote caves that locals call Spirit Maze.

It’s a remote and difficult area to navigate.

There are no clear trails.

Cell phone reception is spotty and the terrain is very deceptive.

It’s easy to get lost among the identical looking rocks.

Despite these challenges, the first day of the hike went without incident.

At 7:30 a.

m.

on July 1st, 2020, Richard Murphy drove the teenagers to the trail head.

They registered at the ranger station, showed their route on the map, and set off.

They were in great spirits, Richard recalls.

The weather forecast was favorable, their backpacks were packed, and they had plenty of food and water.

PICE promised to call in the evening as soon as they set up camp.

Sure enough, at 9:00 p.

m.

that same day, Pierce called his parents.

That was the last time anyone heard from the missing teenagers.

He sounded so happy, says Martha Murphy, Pierce’s mother, barely holding back tears.

He said they had walked about 7 mi, that the weather was great, and the scenery was incredible.

Philip had apparently found an interesting cave near their camp, and they planned to explore it the next morning.

PICE said that the reception might be poor in the coming days as they ventured further from the main trail, but he promised to call if he could get a signal.

The phone call lasted about 5 minutes.

PICE said that everyone was healthy, that they had already set up camp on a small plateau overlooking the canyon, and that the routes planned for the next few days looked quite feasible.

Nothing, in his words, foreshadowed trouble.

However, the next day, July 2nd, the weather took a turn for the worse.

A severe thunderstorm swept across western Colorado, one of the most powerful in recent years.

It was a terrible storm, recalls meteorologist Jonathan Pierce, no relation to Pierce Murphy.

It came from the southwest with virtually no warning.

Our weather stations recorded wind gusts of up to 70 mph and rainfall reached 2 in in a few hours.

On the Black Ridge Plateau, with its open spaces and virtually no natural shelter, such weather could be very dangerous.

The last person to see the three teenagers alive was Ranger Michael Thompson.

On July 1st, around noon, while patrolling his beat, he encountered Pierce, Rose, and Philillip at one of the trail junctions.

They looked like ordinary, experienced hikers, Thompson says.

Good equipment, proper footwear, water, maps.

They had everything.

We talked a little about the route.

I warned them that some of the trails they plan to take might be washed out due to recent rains and advised them to stay away from the edge of the canyon, especially in the little Dolores area.

The rocks there are very fragile and could collapse.

I also mentioned that a thunderstorm was forecast, but at the time it looked like it would pass the plateau by.

The ranger recalls that the teenagers listened carefully to his advice and thanked him for the information.

Nothing in their behavior caused him concern.

They seemed cheerful, energetic, and wellprepared for the hike.

“If I had known what was going to happen, I would never have let them go,” Thompson adds sadly.

“But that day, they were just three ordinary teenagers setting off on an adventure like hundreds of others I’ve seen on these trails.

” When the children didn’t call on July 2nd or 3, their parents began to worry, but they didn’t panic yet.

After all, PICE had warned that communication might be poor.

In addition, a severe thunderstorm could have forced them to change their route or stay in a safe place.

“We thought they would just wait for the weather to calm down and then continue on their way,” says James Clark, Philip’s father.

Philillip was very responsible.

he would never take unnecessary risks.

We knew that if the weather was bad, they would find shelter and just wait it out.

However, when the evening of July 3rd arrived, the day the teenagers were supposed to return home, and they did not show up, their parents could no longer ignore their concern.

At 8:00 p.

m.

, Richard Murphy called the National Park Rangers office.

I remember that call well, says Steve Johnson.

Mr.

Murphy was very restrained, but I could hear the fear in his voice.

He asked if the teenagers had returned via the main trail, if they had left any information about their change of plans.

Unfortunately, we had no information about them since they registered on July 1st.

The rangers advised waiting until morning.

Perhaps the teenagers had been delayed on the trail by bad weather or had decided to spend an extra day in the mountains.

But Richard and the other parents sensed that something was wrong.

They knew their children.

They knew they wouldn’t cause such a commotion without reason.

“I hardly slept that night,” Richard recalls.

“I kept trying to call Pierce, but his phone was out of range.

I checked the weather forecast, looked at maps, tried to figure out where they might be.

” In the morning, when it became clear that they weren’t coming back, we filed an official missing person’s report.

On July 4th, 2020, at 7:00 a.

m.

, rangers from the Colorado National Reserve officially launched a search operation.

No one could have imagined then that the search would last for weeks, months, and that the answers to the main questions would not appear even after 5 years.

On July 4th, 2020, at 7:00 a.

m.

, one of the largest search operations in the history of Mesa County, Colorado began.

A team of 12 national park rangers led by Steve Johnson were the first to set out on the trails that the missing teenagers were supposed to have taken.

They were joined by eight Mesa County police officers led by Sheriff Robert Anderson.

We immediately realized that the situation was serious.

Sheriff Anderson said, “Usually when hikers are delayed for a day or two, they still get in touch or are spotted by other park visitors.

But in this case, more than 48 hours had passed without any word from the children.

By the evening of that day, dozens of volunteers had joined the search.

Friends of the families, teachers from the teenager school, and local residents familiar with the plateau.

Dog handlers from neighboring counties arrived with four search and rescue dogs specially trained to find people in the wilderness.

Dogs are our main hope in cases like this, explains Marcus Reed, an experienced dog handler with the Colorado Search and Rescue Service.

They can pick up a human scent even several days after the person has passed by, especially if they have a scent sample, an item that belonged to the missing person.

To this end, the parents provided the teenager’s personal belongings.

Pierce’s t-shirt, Rose’s scarf, and Philip’s baseball cap.

The dogs were given these items to sniff before being released onto the trail.

Weather conditions did not favor the search operation.

Although the storm had passed, the ground was soggy from rain, making it difficult to find traces.

Some sections of the trails had been washed away and small landslides had formed.

It was as if nature was deliberately confusing the trail, recalls Ranger Johnson.

But we were determined.

We had a clear plan to split into groups and methodically search the entire route marked on the map and the surrounding areas.

The next day, July 5th, aircraft joined the search.

Two Colorado National Guard helicopters equipped with thermal imaging cameras circled the plateau from morning to night, looking for any signs of human presence.

We covered an area of about 50 square miles, says pilot James Williams.

It wasn’t easy because of the terrain.

Numerous gorges, canyons, and cliffs created many shadows and obstacles for the thermal imaging camera, but we did everything we could.

The breakthrough in the search came on the sixth day, July 9th.

A group of rangers led by Michael Thompson found the camp of the missing teenagers.

It was located exactly where Pierce had described it during his last phone call on a small plateau overlooking the canyon about 7 mi from the trail head.

It was a strange feeling, Thompson recalls.

The camp looked as if the teenagers had just stepped away for a few minutes and were about to return.

The tent was neatly pitched, undamaged.

Inside were three sleeping bags spread out as if ready for use.

Three pairs of hiking boots stood neatly arranged by the entrance.

Next to the tent was a makeshift table, a flat rock covered with a waterproof cloth.

On it stood a gas burner for cooking, several containers of food and dishes.

A little further away, a bag of food supplies hung on a rope between two trees, a traditional way to protect provisions from wild animals.

Everything was in its place, Thompson continues.

water supplies, canned food, energy bars, flashlights, a first aid kit.

Even the teenager’s personal belongings were left in the tent.

Philip’s wallet with his driver’s license, Rose’s notebook with notes about the plants she found along the way, and most intriguingly, Pice’s camera.

The camera was found to be in working order with the battery almost fully charged.

When investigators reviewed the photos, they found many pictures of the trip.

Panoramas of canyons, photos of rocks, selfies of the three friends against picturesque backdrops.

All of these photos were dated July 1st, corresponding to the first day of the trip.

But the most interesting were the last six photos taken on the morning of July 2nd.

They showed the entrance to the cave, a dark hole in a red rock, partially hidden by bushes.

In the next three photos, Pierce was apparently going deeper into the cave.

The frames became darker, showing only the walls of the cave, illuminated presumably by a flashlight.

The last two photos were the most mysterious.

The penultimate photo showed a strange blurry figure against the darkness of the cave.

Something that resembled a human figure, but too blurry to say for sure.

The last frame showed nothing but complete darkness, as if something had covered the lens or the camera had turned off.

These photos gave us the first clue as to what might have happened, said Detective Robert Garcia of the Colorado State Police, who joined the investigation.

“It seems that the teenagers found a cave near their camp and went to explore it.

Perhaps there they encountered something or someone that led to their disappearance.

Based on the photos, the search operation focused on finding the cave depicted in the photographs.

However, this proved to be a difficult task.

The Black Ridge Plateau is known for its numerous caves and grotto, many of which are not yet marked on maps.

“We searched all known caves within a 3m radius of the camp,” says speliologist David Rodriguez, who advised the search team, but none of them matched the one in the photos.

“This suggests that the teenagers may have found a previously unknown cave, which is entirely possible in this region.

” Over time, investigators developed several theories about what might have happened to the teenagers.

The first and most obvious was an accident in a cave.

The teenagers could have gotten lost, fallen into an internal well or crevice, or been caught in a cave in.

“Caves are very dangerous places for inexperienced cavers,” explains Rodriguez.

“Even professionals die in them.

One wrong step, one rock that shifts, and the way back may be cut off.

The second version is an attack by a wild animal.

Although large predators are rare in this region, a cougar or bear could still have wandered into the area.

That’s unlikely, comments John Baker, a zoologologist at the University of Colorado.

First, large predators usually avoid humans.

Second, if an attack had occurred, we would have found traces of a struggle, blood, damaged items.

Nothing like that was found at the camp.

The third version, considered by investigators, is a criminal trace.

Someone could have encountered the teenagers in this remote area and for unknown reasons harmed them.

We are not ruling out any possibilities, Sheriff Anderson comments cautiously.

But again, if it was an attack or kidnapping, it would be logical to expect signs of a struggle.

Furthermore, in such a case, the perpetrator would hardly have left the camp untouched, including such valuable items as a camera.

The last and least likely version was voluntary escape.

Theoretically, the teenagers could have staged their disappearance to start a new life somewhere else.

We had to consider this possibility, explains Detective Garcia.

But everything we know about these young people contradicts this scenario.

All three were happy, had plans for the future, and good relationships with their families.

They had no reason to run away.

Besides, they left all their documents, money, and phones behind.

The search operation continued at full intensity for 2 weeks.

Then, due to a lack of new leads, and limited resources, it was gradually scaled back.

The number of rangers and police officers involved decreased.

Helicopters returned to their bases and volunteers began to return to their normal activities.

That’s the hardest part of any search operation, admits Ranger Johnson.

When you realize you’ve done everything you can, but it’s still not enough when you have to look the parents in the eye and tell them that the search is being called off even though their children have not been found.

By the end of July 2020, the official search operation had been suspended.

The case of the disappearance of Pierce Murphy, Rose Donovan, and Philip Clark was transferred to the Colorado State Police’s cold case unit.

It became another cold case in the law enforcement archives.

5 years have passed since Pierce Murphy, Rose Donovan, and Philip Clark disappeared on the Black Ridge Plateau.

According to the official classification of the Colorado State Police, this case has been given cold status, a term used for investigations where the active search for evidence has been suspended due to a lack of new leads.

The case remains open, but no one is actually working on it.

This is standard procedure, explains Captain Michael Henderson of the Colorado State Police’s cold case unit.

A year after the disappearance, if there is no significant progress, the case is transferred to our unit.

We review it once a year to see if there is any new evidence or information.

Unfortunately, in the Murphy Donovan Clark case, there has not been a single noteworthy lead in 5 years.

Over the past 5 years, the lives of the families of the missing teenagers have changed dramatically.

The tragedy that initially united them in shared grief has over time led them down different paths, each marked by pain and attempts to cope with uncertainty.

Richard and Martha Murphy, PICE’s parents, divorced 3 years after their son’s disappearance.

It wasn’t a sudden breakup, Martha says sadly.

It was more of a slow drifting apart.

Richard immersed himself in his work and was hardly ever home.

I on the other hand couldn’t bring myself to leave the house because I kept thinking that Pierce might come back and I wouldn’t be there.

We just became different people.

Richard moved to Denver where he works as an engineer for a large construction company.

Martha stayed in Grand Junction but moved to a new house because the memories associated with her former home were too painful.

She works as an elementary school teacher and leads a local support group for parents of missing children.

Emily Donovan, Rose’s mother, fell into a deep depression after her daughter’s disappearance.

During the first two years, she was admitted to a psychiatric clinic several times due to suicide attempts.

I just didn’t see the point in living anymore.

She admits, “Rose was my whole world.

She was so smart, so kind.

Sometimes I feel like a part of me died with her in those mountains.

” Gradually, thanks to therapy and the support of friends, Emily began to return to life.

She now works as a counselor at a support center for people who have experienced traumatic loss.

It helps me feel that Rose’s death, I call it death, even though her body was never found, wasn’t completely in vain, that I can use my experience to help others.

The most radical changes took place in the Clark family.

James and Sarah Clark, Philip’s parents, were unable to cope with their grief and guilt over letting their son go on that hike.

A year after his disappearance, they sold their home and business in Grand Junction and moved to Maine on the opposite end of the country.

“We just couldn’t stay where everything reminded us of Philillip,” Sarah explains in a rare phone interview.

“Every mountain on the horizon, every trail in the forest brought back painful memories.

We needed to get as far away from Colorado as possible from these mountains that took our son away.

Despite the official closure of the investigation, a small group of enthusiasts continues to search for the missing teenagers.

The Colorado Search team is the name given to a group of 15 people who conduct several expeditions a year to the Black Ridge Plateau area.

We can’t just forget about these kids, says Alan Peterson, founder of the group and former physics teacher at the school where the missing teenagers studied.

They were wonderful young people with bright futures.

Their families deserve answers, closure on this story.

So, several times a year, we go back there and continue searching.

Over the past 5 years, the group has explored dozens of caves and ravines in the area where the teenagers disappeared, but has found no trace of them.

However, they are not giving up.

As long as the bodies haven’t been found, there’s still hope, Peterson insists, although you can see in his eyes that he himself hardly believes it.

In the years since their disappearance, the Black Ridge Plateau has become overgrown with eerie legends.

Rumors of the Black Ridge Cave curse have spread among local residents.

Old Indian legends say that spirits live in these caves and they don’t like to be disturbed, says Ela Navaro, owner of a small motel in Grand Junction.

After what happened to those children, many locals avoid going to the plateau, especially its northwestern part.

They say you can hear strange sounds there, especially at night.

Of course, the authorities reject any mystical explanations.

It’s just a way for people to cope with a tragedy that has no rational explanation, comments psychologist Dr.

Lindseay Wong.

When something terrible happens for no apparent reason, the human psyche looks for any explanation, even supernatural ones.

Recently, a new aspect has emerged in the case, a technological one.

The FBI, using the latest image analysis equipment, decided to review the mysterious photos from PICE’s camera.

Technology is advancing very quickly, explains Alex Wong, the FBI special agent overseeing the case.

What was indistinguishable 5 years ago can now be seen.

Our new image enhancement algorithms allow us to extract much more detail from blurry or dark photos.

Of particular interest is the penultimate photo which shows a blurry figure in the depths of the cave.

Experts hope that after processing it will be possible to determine whether it was a person, an animal, or just a play of light and shadow.

We are not making any promises, Wong cautiously comments.

But if we manage to get more information from these photos, it could give the investigation a new boost.

Perhaps we will finally understand what happened to these children on that summer day 5 years ago.

5 years is a long time for an unsolved case.

Evidence becomes stale.

Witnesses forget details.

Investigators move on to new cases.

But for the Pierce, Rose, and Philip families, these 5 years have been just a moment in the eternity of their grief and uncertainty.

They are still waiting for answers.

And perhaps those answers will come soon, though not in the way they had hoped.

On August 7th, 2025, a group of six geology students from the University of Colorado, led by Professor David Hawkins, was conducting field research on the northwestern edge of the Black Ridge Plateau.

The expedition was part of a summer practicum for senior students specializing in desert geology.

We were studying the sandstone formations in the area, says Professor Hawkins, a 52-year-old man with a weathered face and a gray beard.

This part of the plateau is less explored than the tourist routts and contains interesting geological features that we wanted to document.

The students set up base camp at the foot of the plateau and made daily radial trips in different directions to collect samples and photograph geological formations.

On August 7th, the group’s route took them through a small canyon located about 10 mi from the nearest tourist trail.

It was a hot day, 95° in the shade, recalls Jessica Palmer, a 21-year-old student and one of the expedition members.

We were walking along the bottom of a dry riverbed when Mike, one of the guys in our group, noticed a dark hole in the rock, partially hidden by bushes.

It looked like the entrance to a cave.

Michael Rodriguez, a 22-year-old student who was the first to notice the cave, confirms, “I’m into caving in my spare time, so I’m always on the lookout for caves.

This one was small with an entrance no more than 4 ft high, but it seemed to widen inside.

I called the professor and asked if we could take a look inside.

Professor Hawkins, satisfied that the entrance was relatively safe, allowed a small group of three students, Michael, Jessica, and Tyler Chen, to explore the cave while he and the others continued to collect samples outside.

We turned on the flashlights on our helmets and crawled through the narrow entrance, Tyler says.

Inside, the cave widened into a small hall about 15 by 20 ft.

The ceiling was high enough to stand up straight.

We began examining the walls, looking for interesting mineral formations.

That’s when Jessica noticed a black plastic trash bag in the far corner of the cave.

At first, I was angry, she recalls.

I thought, even in such a remote place, people managed to leave trash behind.

I walked closer to pick up the bag.

We always follow the rule of leaving nature cleaner than you found it.

But something about the shape of the bag seemed strange to me.

It was structured as if there was something solid inside, not just crumpled trash.

Jessica called the guys and they approached the bag together.

Michael carefully touched it with the tip of his geological hammer.

It was definitely something solid, he says, and quite heavy.

We decided to take a look inside.

Maybe someone had thrown away some equipment that we could use or at least dispose of properly.

Tyler took out his pocketk knife and carefully cut open the edge of the bag.

What they saw made Jessica scream and the boys recoil in horror.

There were human remains inside, says Tyler, still shuddering at the memory.

A skeleton partially covered with mummified tissue, but the scariest thing was that there was no skin, not a single piece.

The students immediately left the cave and reported their discovery to Professor Hawkins, who called rescue workers via satellite phone.

4 hours later, rangers arrived at the scene, followed by a Mesa County police investigation team and forensic experts.

When I was told about the discovery in a remote cave, I immediately thought of the missing teenagers, says Sheriff Robert Anderson, who personally arrived at the scene.

5 years have passed, but this case has never left me alone.

The body was carefully removed from the cave and taken to the county morg for examination.

A preliminary on-site examination showed that the remains belonged to a young man who had died several years ago.

Dr.

Gordon Ramirez, Mesa County’s chief medical examiner, conducted a thorough examination of the remains.

The mummification process was quite pronounced which is typical for the dry climate of the caves in this region.

He explains based on the condition of the tissues it was possible to determine that death occurred approximately 4 to 5 years ago.

The most shocking aspect of the discovery was the complete absence of skin.

The skin had been removed from the entire body with extreme precision.

Dr.

Dr.

Ramirez notes, “There were no torn edges or traces of predator teeth.

It was the work of a sharp instrument, most likely a surgical scalpel with great precision and knowledge of anatomy.

” Another strange feature was the condition of the body in the bag.

The remains were neatly folded, the expert continues.

The arms were crossed over the chest.

The legs were bent at the knees.

It was not a chaotic pile of bones, as one might expect if the body had simply been thrown into a bag.

Someone had taken care to arrange it in a certain way, almost ritually.

Thanks to dental records and DNA testing, the identity of the deceased was quickly established.

We have confirmed that the remains belong to Pierce Murphy, one of three teenagers who disappeared on the Black Ridge Plateau in July 2020.

Sheriff Anderson reports a detailed examination of the body revealed no signs of violence or struggle.

Other than the absence of skin, there were no fractures, cracks, or other damage to the skeleton that would indicate a traumatic cause of death.

Dr.

Ramirez said the internal organs were largely decomposed, but what remained also showed no visible damage.

This presented the investigation with a puzzle.

What did Pierce Murphy die of? And who or what removed his skin? It is most likely that the skin was removed after death, the expert suggests.

This is evidenced by the absence of hemorrhages in the subcutaneous tissues, but this only deepens the mystery.

Another strange aspect of the discovery was the location where the body was found.

The cave is at least 3 mi from the camp where the teenagers were last seen, says Ranger Michael Thompson.

That’s quite a distance, especially given the difficult terrain.

In addition, the entrance to the cave is very inconspicuous.

Without a specific search, it’s easy to miss, even if you’re walking right by it.

That explains why we didn’t find it during the initial search 5 years ago.

The discovery of Pierce Murphy’s remains has once again raised the question for investigators.

What happened to the other two teenagers, Rose Donovan and Philip Clark? Did they meet the same fate? And if so, where are their bodies? We have reopened the investigation, says Sheriff Anderson.

Our teams are now combing the area around the cave in search of any evidence that could shed light on this case.

We will not rest until we find out the truth about what happened to these children.

For the families of the missing teenagers, the discovery was both a terrible blow and a relief.

Of course, it broke our hearts to learn that Pierce had died and died in such a horrific way, Martha Murphy said through tears.

But at least now we know.

At least we can bury him.

5 years of uncertainty has been unbearable.

Rose and Philip’s parents now live in agonizing anticipation.

Will their children be found? And are they ready to learn the truth about their fate? A week after Pierce Murphy’s body was discovered, Dr.

Gordon Ramirez completed a full forensic examination of the remains.

His findings only deepened the mystery of the tragedy on Black Ridge Plateau.

The autopsy results confirm our initial assumptions, Dr.

Ramirez said at a closed press conference for law enforcement officials.

The skin was removed after death with extraordinary surgical precision.

This is not the work of an amateur.

Someone with serious knowledge of anatomy and surgical skills performed this procedure.

According to the expert, the skin was removed in one continuous layer without tears from the top of the head to the tips of the toes.

This method resembles the process used by taxiderermists when preparing animal specimens, but it was performed with unprecedented precision for the human body.

I have never seen anything like this in my 30 years of practice, admits Dr.

Ramirez.

It raises more questions than answers.

Why would anyone do this? And most importantly, where is the skin? We didn’t find it in the cave or nearby.

The expert was unable to give a definitive answer as to the cause of death.

The condition of the tissues does not allow us to determine the exact cause.

There are no obvious traumatic injuries, fractures, or signs of strangulation.

Toxicological analysis is also impossible due to the age of the incident.

I can only say that death was probably not caused by violent actions.

Simultaneously, with the examination of the body, a large-scale search was launched in the area of the cave where PICE’s remains were found.

Teams with search dogs, speliologists, and forensic experts thoroughly searched the area within a 2-m radius of the discovery site.

It’s a difficult area to search, explains Ranger Thompson.

numerous ravines, sinkholes, small caves, lots of places to hide something or someone.

On the third day of the search, in a small grotto 50 yard from the main cave, the team made an important discovery.

A backpack with the initials FK, Philip Clark.

Inside were the teenager’s personal belongings, a notebook, a compass, several energy bars, and a small first aid kit.

A day later, a scarf was found in the same area, which according to the parents belonged to Rose Donovan.

“We found things, but not bodies,” says Sheriff Anderson.

This could mean that Philip and Rose either survived and left the area or their bodies are somewhere else.

The most surprising discovery awaited investigators during a thorough examination of Pierce’s clothing.

In a secret pocket of his pants, they found a small waterproof capsule containing a flash drive.

“We immediately sent the drive to our digital forensics lab,” said FBI special agent Alex Wong.

“There were several files on it, but they were all encrypted.

Our experts are working on decrypting them, but so far without success.

It’s a very complex encryption algorithm, not typical for an ordinary teenager.

” This mysterious find has sparked a new wave of theories about what really happened to the three teenagers.

As the investigation unfolds, experts and the public have divided into several camps, each with its own version of events.

There is a theory about ritual murder, says criminologist Robert Garcia.

The way the skin was removed is reminiscent of some occult practices.

Perhaps the teenagers accidentally stumbled upon a place where such rituals were performed and fell victim to fanatics.

Another theory suggests the involvement of unknown government experiments.

There are several military bases and research centers in the area, says journalist David Martinez, who is investigating the case.

Some sources hint at possible secret research related to human survival in extreme conditions.

Perhaps the teenagers accidentally witnessed something they shouldn’t have seen.

Dr.

Lindseay Wong, a psychiatrist specializing in cases of missing persons, says, “Most often there are entirely earthly, albeit horrific reasons behind such cases.

Serial killers with special rituals, mentally ill people with delusions of grandeur.

Theories about aliens or paranormal phenomena usually arise because of the human psyche’s difficulty in perceiving particularly violent crimes.

However, one discovery made on the last day of the cave search gave even the most skeptical investigators pause.

On one of the walls in the farthest corner of the cave, under a layer of calsite, investigators found a drawing made with a substance that upon analysis turned out to be human blood.

The drawing depicted three stylized people standing in a row, describes forensic scientist Emily Jackson.

Two figures were drawn normally, but the third clearly lacked skin, revealing the muscle structure.

Above them was a strange symbol similar to a spiral with rays.

The most shocking thing was that DNA analysis of the blood used to draw the picture showed that it belonged to Pierce Murphy and dating indicated that the drawing was made around the same time the teenagers disappeared.

It’s very strange, comments Sheriff Anderson.

It’s as if Pierce drew this picture himself foreseeing his fate or someone used his blood to create this message.

Even more questions arose when upon reviewing the restored photos from PICE’s camera, the same symbol, a spiral with rays, was discovered in the last frame, barely visible on the wall of the cave that the boy had photographed after the image quality had been improved.

We are continuing the investigation, concludes Special Agent Wong.

But honestly, this case is becoming more and more mysterious with each new discovery.

We are not ruling out any versions from the most rational to the most fantastic.

While law enforcement officials try to untangle the confusing details of the case, Rose and Philip’s families live with a double hope that their children may be alive, but also with the fear of learning about their fate, which may turn out to be as horrific as Pierce’s.

I don’t know what to wish for anymore, admits Emily Donovan, Rose’s mother.

Part of me still hopes that my girl is alive somewhere.

Another part fears that she is suffering.

Sometimes I think it would have been better if we had never found Pierce so we wouldn’t know what might have happened to our children.

The mystery of Black Ridge Plateau remains unsolved.

What happened to the three teenagers on that summer day 5 years ago? Why was Pierce’s body found in such a state? Where are Rose and Philillip? And what does the mysterious symbol painted in blood on the cave wall mean? Perhaps the answers to these questions are hidden on the encrypted flash card that Pierce carried with him.

Or perhaps the truth is so horrific or unbelievable that the human mind refuses to accept