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Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Okay, it is June Saturday, June twenty first, at eleven fifteen am.

I am about to call Kay.

It's Mike Mason's younger sister, I believe, and just want to try to have a conversation with her and see if she's willing to speak with us and talk about her brother, and if there's any way that we can help the case.

And that's kind of kind of the goal.

Okay, I think it's just time to just do it.

So August seventeenth, twenty twenty one, was when I received Mike Mason's case file from the Clayland County Sheriff's Records Department.

It was the first time I had filed a FOY request, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but They made the process easy, so that first phone call to make contact with Kay was four years in the making, hence my nervousness.

The only way that I can describe how it felt was that it reminded me of when I was a teenager before the time of cell phones, trying to call a girl for the first time from my parents' landline.

Back then, you didn't know who was going to pick up on the other end.

Today the stakes are much higher.

Instead of the risk of embarrassment, there's a very real possibility of causing someone emotional pain.

It actually took me around eight minutes to call my nerves and press a send button to make the call.

Pathetic that first call didn't connect with Kay.

Instead, the voice on the other end was a friend, someone that knew Kay well enough to know that.

When I explained why I was calling, I could hear a change of tone in his voice.

It was clear that he knew Mike's story and the likely impact my call could have on k The tone felt like sadness to me.

Sensing this, I asked if he thought I should call again, and he said that I should, and then gave me the date and time that she would be available.

I had heard about Mike's disappearance in an episode of true crime Bullshit called Two Rivers.

The story seems like it should be pretty straightforward.

Mike likely slipped and fell into the river, never to be seen again.

But after reading through his file, it became clear that a story is way more complex than that.

So how do we get here reaching out to the sister of a man that went missing from the Olympic National Forest back in two thousand and six?

It's simple.

We had a theory, one that wouldn't go away, one that we felt could make a real impact in the case.

A theory that only someone that knew Mike could help us with.

So before I called Kay, I reached out to Claylham County Sheriff's Department again.

This time, I contacted Claylam County Chief Criminal Deputy Amy Bundy to see if she could connect me with the representative of Mike's family.

According to the case file, Chief Bundy was the lead on Mike's case at one point in time, so she was quick to connect me with the head of the cold case department, Detective Sergeant Waterhouse.

There was a lot to consider when deciding to cover Mike's case.

Publicly, my biggest fear has been to permanently an inco directly connect a missing person to Israel Keys.

I do not want to put a victimized family through that because of what it suggests may have happened to that missing person, as well as the chance that if there was foul play, that justice may never be served because of the misdirection.

Ultimately, after a lot of thought, we believe the information that we've uncovered has the potential to do two important things.

First, it may help determine whether Mike was the victim of a violent crime and possibly even identify who was responsible.

Second, it could shed light on Israel Key's case, either by linking him to Mike's disappearance or by uncovering another victim entirely.

As the story unfolds over the next two episodes, we'll make these connections more clear.

But what matters most is this, after nearly two decades with little movement, we believe our efforts can bring new information to light, not only to help resolve Mike's case, but also to contribute meaningfully to the broader investigation into Keys.

The mid season break, we assembled a substantial amount of new information to provide clarity to the case, answering questions that I have wrestled with for the last four years.

We will be submitting all this information to Special Agent Halla and Detective Waterhouse.

Over the course of the next couple episodes, we will show you everything that we have found.

On June twenty third or June thirtieth, two thousand and six, fifty two year old experienced outdoorsman Mike Mason was last seen at the Dungeoness Forks Campground, a secluded campground just inside the northeastern border of the Olympic National Forest, in a twelve mile drive from Swim, Washington via Palo Alto Road.

This episode, we speak with Mike's sister Kay to understand what could have led Mike to be in a vulnerable position as the week unfolded, as well as in cover a new piece of evidence that could help lead to answers in the Mike's case.

I'm Joshua.

Welcome to Somewhere in the Pines, Episode eighteen.

Missing Person Mike Mason.

Whom shall be live in the morning.

Here he used to pay too, tell us little bottle from steel till the ball came around toy Still there, They.

Got the battle.

See there in the ground.

From see me some time.

You gotta come see me, your friend of mine.

Come see the sun.

Time you gotta come see.

Me, your friend of mine.

You gotta come.

See me, your friend mine.

Hi Joshua, Hi, Hi.

Kay.

It has not lost on me that Kay and I are talking almost nineteen years to the day that Mike disappeared, almost two decades without knowing where her brother is.

The way of this fact is heard in the recall of K.

Without having the case file, she is able to remember even the smallest details of Mike's case, committed to memory, still going through the scenarios in her head, trying to connect the dots given by all accounts an unreliable witness.

On June twentieth, two thousand and six, around five pm, Mike and his wife Berwyn parked their Ford Bronco in a tiny, secluded gampground on Forrest Road twenty eight eighty with the plan of camping.

This is where the story of Mike's disappearance begins.

So, without further ado, here's K.

So.

I can understand this probably being a difficult conversation to have, but I was wondering if I could speak with you about your brother Mike.

Sure, I may choke up a time or two, but that's.

Okay, that's absolutely okay.

Yeah, and whatever you want to discuss, it's completely up to you.

I the timing of this is also I'm very hyper aware of that right now, so I apologize.

It just was really a coincidence.

And it's almost the annivers like the anniversary of when all this happened, so yeah, okay.

So do you have any theories as to to what you think happened?

Mhmm.

Well, there were a lot of conflicting stories from all the people who knew Mike and my sister in law, and a lot of it didn't make sense, and I don't I personally don't feel like somebody can killed him.

But I also there's always just been these lingering answers that nobody either, well, they lift it.

I'm sorry.

This is where it gets really emotional.

Mike was an alcoholic and living out in the woods, and my sister in law didn't call my parents until like nine days after he was missing, so all that time had passed, and then when all the stories started, stuff just didn't make sense.

I personally believe that Mike had an accident.

And that he.

He was down by the river.

And that he went into the river.

That's what I think, but I certainly don't know that to be the truth.

And like I said, there were so many conflicting stories that it was hard to get any straight answers on anything.

Originally, I like I said, I think because Mike was an alcoholic, it wasn't you know.

They just thought he went missing, that he chose to be gone.

But I can tell you, mister ash that Mike wasn't really super worldly.

He could certainly handle himself out in the woods because.

That's how he was raised.

My dad was an outdoorsman my family.

But he wouldn't have left there.

He wouldn't have gone somewhere else.

It seemed like he from just from reading that he spent a lot of time in the woods.

That's that's basically how you guys were raised.

Yeah.

Yeah, we were outside on the river and he and my dad hunted and fished.

They my dad and my grandfather and my uncles and my brother went to Montana every year to fish up in the stream outside of Missoula.

And we've been raised around guns.

I mean, Mike could shoot.

They hunted he pans for gold.

I mean it was Mike was really an outdoor day person.

I was I was surprised that it seemed like it didn't seem like it was abnormal for him to be out in the woods for several days in a row.

And is that why it took so long?

Do you think for it for?

Is it in Berwin?

Right?

Is that?

Uh huh?

Yeah?

Well, part of that was they were in a fight, according to her, that they had gone up.

This is what's so weird.

This this is the kind of thing that's really strange.

They had gone up to celebrate their anniversary and at the same time, she said, she's been telling them that she wanted a divorce and they got in a fight, supposedly or that she couldn't keep up with him, and Mike was impatient.

I mean, let me tell you, my brother was no saying.

But the family has never possessed that that was the case either.

You know my parents, I mean, we all know what Mike was like.

But then they went up and they had a fight.

She went back down, says that she broke the window to his bronco to get her purse.

Out, and right there is where one of the.

Stories falls apart because he took her purse the next day to a friend's house.

But her original story to the family, to my mom and dad, was that she had to break the window out of the bronco and get her purse, and then she walked three miles out to their freeway, the highway and then got picked up by a trucker and take him back into town.

And on top of this, and I you know, maybe I shouldn't.

Say this, I can't prove it she was having an affair.

And I mean, I know that was brought up at the time.

And again, like I say, they, I will tell you this.

My brother in Berwin had a serious love hate relationship for years.

They'd already been divorced once, so it was a.

It was a very strained relationship.

But there were lots of things that just didn't make sense.

Would it be typical for her to do something like that, actually break a window to get into the vehicle or is that out of character?

I could see her giving that she was she was kind of a she was no wallfare flower.

Believe that she was.

She was kind of a tough chick time.

I mean, you know, through their relationship, I'm you know, we really.

Liked her, but she was no saint either.

Between the two of them.

Were just I mean, my mother would be like, why don't spose two just be done with each other and move on.

So, I mean, you know, the fight, the whole thing didn't didn't surprise anybody.

Have you Have you been down to the the Dungeness campgound.

I never went to the campground.

My dad did.

When they found out.

My mom and dad went to Squim and I had an uncle who lived there at the time, and my uncle took my dad out to where where it did, where his camp was.

Okay, and my older sister has been out to the camp I was with my mom.

I didn't.

I didn't go out to the camp and she didn't either.

One thing that's very surprising about it is as soon as you leave the campground to go back towards town, the initial hill to get out of there is massive and would be it would be a pretty big hike for Berwin to take and then to go all the way back to town.

Is that kind of the kind of person that she was as well?

Or she would just storm off like that and kind of run away.

Okay, they've been drinking, and which would that would not surprise me at all.

They supposedly had a some beer and a bottle of champagne.

Now I don't know what the fight happened before they started drinking or after, but yeah, I could see her.

I could see her getting mad and hiking out.

But I don't know why she would go all that way.

I mean, I don't know, it just it always seemed odd to me, and you know, the care's office.

I believe it's been so many years ago, and my parents have passed away, so I don't have my mom to kind of.

Talk to her anymore.

You know.

I believe that they looked for a trucker.

They certainly one of their friends.

Had put signs up about my call over the place, I guess, and nobody ever, you know, came forward or said that they had picked her up.

As I mentioned before, this began on Tuesday, June twentieth, two thousand and six, around five pm.

We have reason to believe, from the case file and from Berwin's obituary, that they were actually going camping to celebrate Berwin's birthday, not their anniversary.

She was born June twentieth, nineteen fifty three.

Mike was camping in the same area the week prior, and it appears he was trying to leave Berwin to that previous camping spot where a few caches of food hidden, but she couldn't keep up.

An argument ensued and she decided to walk the twelve miles back to Swim right away.

The timeline is fractured.

There are conflicting stories of whether or not Berwin attempted to break into the bronco for a purse before her walk to Swim, but based on the timeline provided by a couple that was also camping at the campground, Mike entered their campsite to ask them if they saw anyone break into his bronco after they returned from a hike around four thirty the following day, June twenty first.

There was also a dispute as to whether or not she broke the glass or just bent the small wing window in a way that it would no longer function correctly.

On her way back to Swim, Berwin stated that she was picked up by a truck driver and driven to where Palo Alto Road meets Highway one oh one.

Here, she said she was then picked up by her brother as he just happened to be driving by and see her.

Thursday, June twenty second, Mike will go early and dropped the Bronco off at his friend's house so Berwin could come and get it.

That friend drove Mike back to the campground, where Mike retrieved Berwin's purse from an unknown location.

That same friend dropped the purse off at the swim VFW not long after, where Berwin later retrieved it.

Mike also told his friend that he planned to return to swim in a day or two.

I did read that the tip in the file about Berwin potentially having an affair.

I think it was maybe his name was Is that something that was ever looked into, you know, by the Sheriff's department, or is that something that was just always a rumor and never really or do I guess did you happen to note?

I don't know, but I know that that was his name and at one point now see time, sorry because some of it takes a while to delve into.

After the originally the Sheriff's original.

I got involved, they brought in a man.

Who had been a retired detective in LA and his name was Frank and I don't know his last name.

And he was the one who dealt.

With my mom.

And he interviewed, to my knowledge, his wife, and he was great.

I mean, my own mom really liked him.

But I know he interviewed about all of this stuff.

And he told Mom.

That she appeared to be afraid.

When they talked about everything, and she wouldn't.

He couldn't get her to go further.

He said, you know, was going to try as time.

Went on, maybe she would.

I think he told my mom to And of course, it's like I said, it's so many years ago.

Some of this is hazy to me.

My mom had a mind like a steel trap.

If she was here today, she'd be able to tell you everything.

I think that he believed if anybody talked, if anybody knew that foul play had taken place, it would be her.

But he couldn't get her to talk further.

What's odd is it sounds like her and were separated a year prior to Mike going missing, or for for this affair to have taken place, So you know, if she was scared that long after, that's just an interesting thing to find out.

Well, you know, Swim is an odd little town.

On the outside, it appears to be very quaint to me, especially back then.

One of the incredible researchers that I connected with during the mid season break is Peggy.

She was in an earlier episode, the self proclaimed bucket enthusiast who just happens to know everyone on the peninsula.

You'll see over the next few episodes how much of an impact she has had on what we do.

But one of my favorite moments over the last few months was when she heard this part of our conversation.

She sent me a text laughing.

She said that just that morning she saw a photo in the news of a man walking down the street and Swim with a deer head in one hand and a bloody knife in the other.

I've only had good interactions when I visited Swim, but from my experience living in small towns, the day to day events and local gossip can be very surprising.

There was lots of stuff going on.

I was up there with my brother a couple of times, and well, it's got quite a little underbelly, and you know, we always thought that if Michael had not run into foul play, that there was something going on that everybody was kind of involved with, and nobody wanted to talk, you know, like maybe they were you know, they were drugs going around or something that you know, maybe he hadn't met with foul play, but that nobody want to talk because they would incriminate themselves on something else.

That that was, I mean a theory with my folks.

Although my dad really felt that my brother had been.

He really that foul play.

Yeah, somebody did something to him, but I I'm not being convinced of that, you know, because his pack was found by the water.

As I recall the pictures I saw, didn't appear that the grass had been like there was a struggle, you know.

It didn't appear like he met foul play right there at the river where his pack was found.

Yeah, you're right, it's almost sort of propped up and kind of placed there.

It didn't didn't look like like you said, it was like thrown away or thrown down or anything.

I agree with that.

Yeah, it just didn't seem to me now.

And Mike was scrappy.

Oh, let me tell you, he wouldn't have gone down without a fight.

There would have been.

You would have been able to see the ground, you.

Know, if he was fighting somebody, you know, the grass.

Would have been kind of torn up or whatever you men were fighting, and he would not have gone easily.

It just wasn't his nature.

One thing that they found in the jacket was your father's belt buckle.

Is that something?

They are like different reports where people are saying that he would definitely have it on him and in his pocket, and then but he never wore it, and then other people saying that he wore it constantly, would never take it off.

Do you remember that when he was young, Mike did rodeo.

And he worked out in the farms here and he was kind of a cowboy, so back then and when he was younger, he would have worn it.

But I can tell you the last few years I saw him, he didn't have cowboy boots on, which would have been a normal thing for him when he was young, and he wasn't wearing the belt.

But it was also a connection to my dad that he wouldn't have.

He would have kept it, you know, just like he did.

He didn't have very many positions, so that would have been something he would have kept, not one I don't.

I don't think at that point in his life he would have won it.

That makes sense that he just had it with him at all times, you know, Yeah, okay, yeah, do you know if he there was another thing that Berwin had said that they found in his jacket.

It was like a cigarette cigarette roller and maybe a certain kind of tobacco, and she said that that wasn't his, that he usually only smoked to camel lights and Marlborough.

I think that does that sound familiar to you?

Yeah.

At the same time, if he didn't have a lot of money, rolling of the figurettes would have been.

Cheaper.

But yeah, the camels, I mean, in my when you started to talk about that, camel's went right into my head.

Oh.

The pact that Kay mentions here is actually Mike's jacket.

His jacket was found by Search and Rescue on Thursday, June twenty ninth, a full week after Mike dropped the Bronco off at his friend's house.

The photos picture a jacket that appears to have been placed down, as though someone held it from the top collar and then set it down so it was still propped up in a way.

It was a few feet from the river, and there was a report that was wet.

None of the contents look wet, so we are unsure if it was wet from being in the river or from the morning doing missed, especially if I'd been sitting there for a few days.

At this point, it was still dipping down into the forties at night, and Mike said to an acquaintance that crossed passed with him by the bed around Friday the twenty third, they had been very cold the previous night.

The contents of the jacket pockets were then splayed out on the ground and photographed.

In total, there was a note, a lighter, tobacco, a cigarette, rolling machine, a belt, buckle, bullets, sunglasses, a Phillips screwdriver, slash bottle, opener, fishing lures, and a shaving razor.

It wasn't until June twenty eighth, at eight am the Berwin contacted the Sheriff's Department to report Mike missing.

She had also contacted Mike's father, Donald Mason.

The Sheriff's department quickly jumped into gear and spent two days searching the area surrounding the river.

They had multiple people on land and the coast Guard brought into helicopter to search the river.

During that search is when they found the jacket.

Roughly five hundred yards north of the confluence of the two rivers and the campground.

One thing that's definitely ver very a parent in the case file is you know, you can you can really tell that yourself and your mother, like the notes that are in there, that you guys definitely were trying to get answers and trying to get help.

Did you feel like you were being heard once Frank came.

Into it, my mom was, you know, she really felt like Frank cared, you know, and my mom was very, very pragmatic.

She just wanted answer.

She didn't she didn't accept some miracles.

She just wanted to nowhere Mike was.

And yeah, until the end of his life, my dad would get really upset at the discussion because he really felt they want when he went up there, he felt that they want heard.

And that, you know, because they thought Mike left.

The area, which I'm thinking, no, he didn't, No, he didn't.

And so my dad was always upset about that.

My mom was upset too, but she was she moved on because she could then talk with Frank and she knew it was that something was happening, you know, And everybody's got their own perspective, and certainly in the height of that.

You know, the emotions for my folks were pretty run.

I'm pretty high, so that could have just been daddy's perception.

Mike's son's name is Josh right, so I'd read that Josh went in to speak with Berwin at the VFW and just try to get some answers.

And she pointed at two people across the bar or across the room, and those two people had just got up and walked away.

It seemed like a very odd interaction for Josh, and I didn't know, I do you know who those two people were or if you ever talked about that with you?

No.

Now I know that the kids went in there, Joshuain, Heather, h and Heather's husband went in and didn't nothing came out of it.

You know, there was that I didn't realize that.

Maybe the kids told me that and I'd forgotten it.

But but yeah, Heather and or Heather and Josh were not not happy.

But once they went up there, just because they felt like my folks did that, you know, it was almost a lost cause.

You know, were they close with Berwin.

They had been as a kid.

Yeah, Buwin was really funny and really, I mean she was.

She was really a lot of fun and she was good with the kids.

But as the years went on, they lived, you know, they'd moved back to Swim and the kids were both here in the Trace Cities, so they you know, they didn't see each other as much.

And then then kind of anything really blew apart after Mike witnessing.

Are Josh and Heather are they?

Are they Bruin's children or are they?

Oh?

Okay, no, uh.

Buwin had two daughters and then Mike had Josh and Heather.

Ok so they were kind of a blended lindod family.

And did they spend a lot of time at the VFW?

Oh?

Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

There was a girl named Renee oh no, not Rene ven A what was his name?

And she.

Talked with my mom.

She was the one I think who puts the signs up about my missing being missing, and she worked there at the BFW.

Did you ever meet her?

I never met her.

It sounds like at different times Berwin and Mike maybe stayed over at her place.

And is that Yeah, so they were all pretty close.

Yeah, I think so Mike really liked her.

I think I don't know about Berwin.

I believe that Venee is the one that actually submitted the tip about Berwin and having an affair, that she maybe walked in on them or something.

Yes, I didn't know if I had remembered that correctly, So now that you say that, now I know I'm not I am remembering correctly.

But yes, that was said at the time.

Well, and after Mike went missing, to my knowledge, somebody told mom that Bruin gave his that bronco to Oh really, yeah, I mean, I don't know if that's true, but that was what was said.

And I think it was Vane who.

Told my mom that.

Vene, like many of the people in the story, has unfortunately passed, but she seemed like a truly wonderful friend, even keeping a prayer chain every night at eight pm as long as two years after Mike's disappearance.

Kay just said that she had heard that Viny told her mother that Berwin gave the bronco to the man that she had been having a fair with.

There isn't known the case file to Kay's mother Sue from Stacy Sampson, another detective on the case.

In that note, she says that they were waiting in the crime lab to search the vehicle, but there doesn't appear to be any information about the search taking place.

Wow.

And they never went through that bronco to see if anything was And he had stuff in there he like I said, he panned for gold, and he was making the girls bracelets for like Christmas gills.

He had taken rocks and was polishing them and making the three girls bracelets.

So there were things in that van that he or that bronco that he had.

And I heard later on that they had a search warmth for that van or that runcle for two years, never served it.

Then they would have known for sure to me whether she was lying about the purse.

If that window had been broken out, well, then her story would be much more incredible.

It sound like a very odd.

Like a lot of odd movements altogether in those few days to the people that he interacted with, like walking up to friends homes and people stopping in to say hi.

And it's altogether very very odd.

Isn't it though?

And when you can't piece it together because you don't really you know, you live that far away.

It's not like like we had gotten over there all the time.

It just wasn't gonna happen.

My parents at that point were still in fairly good shape.

But my dad still had his parents living.

He was still going to wall while to take care of his own parents.

My mom never drove, and she had lost her vision, so she was dependent on somebody else always, and they lived with my husband and I.

You know, Mike was pretty during social I mean it really was.

When he was not drinking, he could be great.

It was funny, he could be great.

But when he was drinking, he was not so great.

But I could see where he would separate himself if he were staying there a long time, which is what it sounded like to us.

They really didn't have any place to live, and that's kind of how it was presented too.

I don't know if that was true or not.

If he was actually living out in the woods, he would have separated himself, you know, I think, and then walked in like he did, walked into that those people's campground, and there were pictures taken and they when I took my mom up just when one time, just the two of us, we went up and they showed me the pictures and they said, is that mine?

I said, oh, yeah, that's him, And I could see it was a back it was a back right side of his head.

It wasn't a facial, you know, it wasn't his face, but it was definitely the back of him.

And so he would have been like he was, you know, social and gone in and talked to people, Hey, how's the fishing going, that kind of thing, he caught anything or But if he were lipping alter, I think he.

Would have.

Made a little more private for himself.

Okay, Yeah.

It was kind of hard to really understand where he was living because I didn't know that that was a possibility that he was actually staying out there, like trying more long term to begin with.

As I mentioned before, Mike entered the campsite of a couple, there were complete strangers that had also been camping there for the weekend.

This is one of the last known sightings of Mike.

This couple submitted two photos to the Sheriff's department.

One was a photo of the back right side of Mike's head and shoulder.

We can see him wearing a flannel shirt with red and white lines, as well as dark colored squares that could be either black or dark blue in a dark baseball cap.

The other was a shot of Mike's primitive campsite, a smoldering fire with a can of soup next to it, to camp chairs, one with what appears to be the jacket that was recovered hanging from it, and the other with a full small duffel bag.

Beyond that was a lean to constructed out of tree limbs and a tarp with the denim jacket hanging from one of those limbs.

After reading in the local paper that he had gone missing, this couple sent in a fully detailed letter describing their interactions with Mike.

They spoke with Mike on the twenty first and the morning of the twenty second, before they left to return home to Squim.

There are only two more sightings of Mike, and they are a week apart from each other.

One is on Friday the twenty third, and the other is Friday the thirtieth, So either Mike went a full week in the area without anyone seeing him, or the sighting on the thirtieth was misremembered and actually took place on Friday the twenty third as well.

That windows statement was taken weeks later.

Jumping back to the morning of the twenty third, an acquaintance from the VFW bumped into Mike when he decided to stop in and check on the river in anticipation for fishing season.

Well, and Mike, why Witty be panning for gold?

The river was running high?

And they said that year it was running high and fast.

Now I don't know if that's actually true.

I didn't see it myself.

So why would he pan for gold if it was high and running fast?

Yeah, it would be difficult for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the fishing part, you know, I mean that was one of the things we just you know, was he out there fishing?

And did he step in?

I mean, it wasn't a big guy.

He was very small at that point, you know, he'd lost a lot of his weight, and so if he went in, I don't know.

Some of it just doesn't make sense to me.

It just doesn't.

I mean, he didn't have waiters that I know.

Nothing was ever said.

And he went out and sat with him out there at the river where he supposedly went missing from, or the latter where the backpack was found.

He was out there with Mike and took a six pack of beer, and he said that he and Mike had one beer and then he left, and my mother said, and I'm sorry, Josh.

She said, oh bullshit.

If they had one beer, they had all six of them.

That was my mom's free And I said, yeah, that one didn't sit with me either.

I thought, yeah, was out there with him.

And nothing was ever said about him having waiters.

And then why would he go into the water and just shoes.

Even now I don't go on the river without waiters on because it's so cold.

Yeah it would, I mean, you just wouldn't do that.

Now, if he didn't have waiters, which I don't recall, I don't think that was ever said.

And I'm not sure it said he had a fishing pole with him, because in my mind, I always think, well, he must have been fishing and he just stepped too far and went in, you know.

And I think it's some of that's almost good justification for what happened, because when I think about it now, if he didn't have waiters and didn't say he had waiters.

In a fishing pole, I think was there a chance that maybe your father went picked up a fishing pole from his campsite.

I felt like there was a report where somebody said that the lower campsite, they went there and there was like a fishing pole there, but I.

Honestly don't remember that.

I could have been, but I don't recall Daddy when they when they came home.

I don't recall him having anything.

Do you know if they found Mike's gold pans, were those ever recovered?

I don't.

We can confirm now that the gold pans were actually recovered from Mike's camping site by his father Don, and the fishing poles were found and picked up by his friend and dropped him off previously in the week.

For years, my husband went go go downtown Kennewick because the bars that they hung out and just kind of go through Kennowick and see if Mike was around.

And we had friends that owned businesses down there and they always watched out to see us if by chance he was home.

But nobody ever saw him.

It didn't sound like Mike really had the means to go anywhere else.

No, he both my sisters and or all three were girls.

No way, he would have Fourth of July was his favorite holiday.

I mean, he loved the Fourth of July and he would have come down in the squab.

He couldn't go without his cigarettes and he couldn't go without his booze and he loves Fourth of July.

So if he had been alive, he would have come down in the town.

It was just a week week after roughly.

Yeah, so we were always like, nope, you guys don't own Mike if you think he wouldn't have come down because he loved it and he was very patriotic, So he would have come down into town to the VFW.

And is that is that the place where you typically spend most of his time drinking was the vfway.

As far as we know, yes, that was.

That's where he went.

And he had, according to Vena, he had started like a little sandwich business and.

He was going to be selling you know, his sandwiches and stuff out out of the.

VSW and he helped on like the pancake breakfast, sicknessing if he got.

In and he was a cooking married he was really a good good Is that something he would have been pretty excited about then with the sandwiches, making the sandwiches for everybody.

Yeah, according to Vina, he was.

He was.

Really looking forward to it.

He was in it, and of course it was going to give him an income.

He had a back injury, so he he had been a plumber, and he was kind of a jack of all trades, but he had he had a lot of back issues, so doing physical waiver anymore had kind of he really couldn't do it.

And he had been in an accident when we were kids.

He was sixteen and he was thrown off of a motorcycle and he actually landed on a fence.

So I don't know if some of his natan backish grew from that accident, if they had just plagued him all along after that.

My mom often wondered if he had, you know, had the money to keep his medication, did he not take his medication go out into the woods and have an accident.

I think Michael would have stuck more to the water, I really do.

He said that the river was too high so he couldn't gold pen, but he was going to go look for conks like the little mushrooms on trees.

Oh h well, then he would could have been out in the woods.

Well.

And just the point that you brought up, if he didn't have waiters, he's not going to cross the river, and that's that would just be I'd be crazy because it's I mean, it's a wide enough river where you would get completely soaked.

So you know, if he was on that same side, there's really not a lot of places to go because the incline is so drastic right away.

So maybe the idea of him walking out in the woods and having an accident isn't as feasible.

I guess.

Yeah.

Well, and then they said they did that search, that infrared schearch and nothing showed up.

I really didn't think he had met out play that.

It's always been in the back of my mind that there was an accident, and really, you know, my folks just wanted his.

Body back, Yeah, because the body would have told him, you know, if there was something happened to him, they would have been able to tell.

And they found years later there was the Richeland police had or came to the house and took some stuff on my mom so that if his body showed up they would have her DNA match the mitochondria.

They could do a mitochondrial match.

And when she passed away, I had the funeral home give me hair with follicles on it so I have it in case anything or to ever come up.

After Michael missing, his family kept trying to get answers from Berwin, but I don't know.

I know that she when she called my parents, she'd be gunk.

And my dad would be serious, you know, because.

And I said to dam one time, I said, be careful with her.

I said, because you don't want to get mad with her.

I said, because you and the mon answers.

I said, so you want to keep her calling?

Yeah, he said, well it just you know, it makes me so mad because she calls here drunk, and then the questions, you know, the stories just get more confused.

And finally one day he blew up at her and said, don't call if you're going to be drunk, because your stories don't make sense.

None of the stories make sense.

So if you're going to call here, do it when you're sober.

And she never called again.

Oh m hmm, I said, oh no, I tell you guys about that, said choose your link.

And if something did happen.

To him, she knows.

Did they talk often?

It was more once in.

A while, okay.

And the other way we know that that she that Mike was gone.

This is the other thing he would call, like on my niece's birthday.

He never ever ever missed, never, And she knew.

I mean we knew that first year.

Because her dad didn't call.

And he didn't call my parents like on their birthdays.

So I mean he was gone, and that whole idea that he went out somewhere else.

Somebody said they.

Saw him in Deer Park.

I never believed that for a minute.

Do you often remember what that was about?

That was like?

And it was It was a few years later that this person supposedly I bank now and again this is total.

I don't have my notes and everything in front of me, but that he had saw that Mike was missing and said, oh I saw Mike.

He was in Deer Park.

And I thought, no, he wasn't.

How was he going to get there?

Yeah, have any money, He didn't.

Have a vehicle.

Is that a place that he had been before?

Not to my knowledge, Okay, it's completely.

That was completely.

The only place Mike had ever lived was the Tri Cities, a short time in Oswego, Oregon, and Squim and I had separated.

At one point.

He came for a holiday.

He was still living here, and he was in good shape.

He wasn't drinking, and he was in good shape and good spirits.

And then they got back together.

He fell off the way and then they had moved a squam and he was going to come.

They were going to come back so he could find a job worked in here because there was more available here.

And he came and stayed at our house for ten days.

And she.

Was supposed to come down, and she never did.

Never did, and I could tell.

I mean, my mom and I talked and I said, oh, he's going back.

She's not coming.

He's going back, sure enough, wasn't.

A couple of days later and when he came home, Mom said to him, do you have any clean clothes or any clothes?

And he said, oh no, So my mom and dad went out and bought him jeans and and fox and underwearing T shirts and stuff.

So he had clothes.

So and he still had his car at.

That he still had the Bronco.

At that time.

But then he went back and then I know that was in we'd built the house with my mom and dad, and so that was in the big house and then we moved to a condo in Richland and that's when he went missing.

And I can't remember how many years after that, but he was silber at that time, or you know, he didn't drink while he was at the house and then went back to Squim and then that was that was it.

You didn't like the idea of him going back.

There, No, no, because it was going to be the same thing.

The alcohol was going to start the anger.

There just just joint good life.

Well, I mean, you know, like I said, I really liked Berlin.

I mean, sure, a lot of fun, but they weren't good together.

It was bad on both parts.

Mike definitely had anger issues, that's for sure, and the alcohol just said all of it.

Would he be able to calm down quickly after being angry or I'm just kind of just wondering if how upset he would be, you know, if they did split up, if that, if that story is true, would he spend the next few days kind of being angry about it?

Or would he be able to move on from it?

I mean, he would have been angry, but then he would have so ridiculous start to win her back, and she'd be get it.

She'd be bad.

Just a very talk situation.

Yeah, I mean, that's a terrible way to put it, but it's true.

They just couldn't stay away from each other.

How do you think.

How do you think he would react?

If he found out about the possible affair, would that really was there like ever infidelity before that that you know of?

Yes, on both sides, okay to my knowledge, Yeah, oh yeah, I mean, and he would have been furious.

But you know, if he said anything to me, I always said, well, this is what you two do, you know.

I mean, there would have been no sympathy from the family.

We'd have just been like, well, you two deserve each other to this is what you're like.

One woman that said that they saw Mike, and it sounds like it might have been even the day that they were searching the area, because the timing was like the twenty eighth I believe, which is much later than the rest of the stories.

Yes, I think I recall that there was somebody who said they saw him.

Later, Yeah, like walking by the bridge I think, which is rapied the upper campsite.

But I mean it's really if they were if the search was happening that day, there's no way they could have missed him.

There's no way.

It's like right where they would be setting.

Up well, and as that pack was over by the river, so why wouldn't he have his backpack with him?

I mean when you don't have anything, and the one thing you.

Do have and then you leave it that there isn't.

That wouldn't make sense to me.

But I mean, I don't know.

Again, this is Mike's jacket and it was found the day before by search and rescue.

So for twenty four hours without a jacket, without a cigarettes, without a lighter, without his dad's belt buckle.

I don't know what.

I don't recall what was in the paper, you know about what he did.

They have a description of what he was wearing?

Would she say he was wearing?

No?

Hurry.

I just thought if I if there was a description now, A flannel would make sense with him.

A Chambray's shirt.

You have more Chambray's shirts.

Schambray's shirts.

Uh, I don't even know what chambre is.

Is that a material?

That right blue denim, that real lightweight shirt?

He would he would wear those like a Henley.

He wouldn't wear a collared polo, but he would wear like a Henley.

Word had button a little bit of button down.

That's one of the pictures that was printed of him.

He has a blue I can he's got a blue plaid shirt on and that one has a collar.

The other one has him in and I think a Henley and a button down just no no collar.

You know, something else I just thought of though.

When they asked her on what he was what he had with him, she said, well thought he had a jackeb She couldn't recall what it looked like.

And it sounds like he didn't have a ton of clothes or a ton of items.

So I don't think how many options could there really be?

Uh huh?

So maybe he did have on another you know, flannel or something.

I don't know.

It's so weird.

Yeah, and you know, just a ton of unanswered questions, but I know it'll always be that way.

I don't expect that.

You know, they really started searching.

So late for him, though, I don't know if there would have been.

Any clues to his disappearance as they had started on day one, and you know, like she said, he had been known to go out on two or three days at a time, and so I mean, I can only hold her accountable for I do think that she should have called my parents, Hey have you seen Mike?

Did he come down?

You know, knowing he didn't ask how many places to go?

Yeah, so.

Did the friend group from like the people from the VFW.

Was there any conversation that your father had with anybody down there or anybody that had a conversation with any of the people that were maybe his friends at the VFW.

I.

You know, I don't recall.

He probably talked of the n A and he went into the vf W because Mike, you know, worked there, helped out, and Berlin's dad was in there, and Berlin's dad wouldn't even acknowledge my dad.

Oh wow, Yeah, so you can imagine that.

But I don't recall because everybody, I'm sure once wouldn't talk to him.

I'm pretty sure nobody else spoke to him.

He just wanted Mike found Was Mike a good speller?

Okay, terrible?

We used to laugh at him all the time he had He was very meticulous, so when he wrote, everything was very even and level.

But but no, okay, there's a I guess in the jacket there's a note and I don't know if you've noticed this, but where he or somebody had written down Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, and Tony Stewart.

But all the names are misspelled, but it is it does have the same structure that you're talking about.

We're very clean, even uniform lines.

So yeah, and he loved he loved games.

And I knew about that note, and I immediately thought he was playing a game.

He was doing something with trivia.

Okay, that's when.

I saw that, And I didn't recall the the things were Misspelta.

That correct.

That to me said he was he was answering questions.

Of a game or something.

And like I said, he loved games.

He would he played games.

We always did as a family, and and he was always like that.

The first thing I did after getting off the phone with Kay, I sent her a photo of that piece of paper with.

The names written down.

It seemed to make her really happy thinking about her brother being out in the woods playing these games.

Then I went and got a thumb drive and put the case file on it so I could send it to k.

As I opened my email again to get her address, I realized that she had replied after she saw the image of the note.

She had said, that's not Mike's handwriting, and there's something else.

The reason that we called.

I was really curious to speak with you, one just about Mike, but also the the guns that went missing, Mike had two guns with him.

Neither gun was found in the search, but in the case file something about them stood out.

I was familiar with one of the guns.

I had a suspicion that my grandfather had the same gun that was described, and I knew it was a rare gun, an old gun.

What we found out by contacting k is that that gun is unique.

After hearing about how Mike loved the Fourth of July, it dawned on me that I had not been to a fireworks celebration in almost fifteen years.

Back then, we had a dog that had a difficult time with the noise, so we would always stay home with him.

We decided to go down for our local fireworks show in Bernonia.

It instantly brought me back to watching them with my parents lung the Niagara River in Tanawana, New York.

Everybody was excited, cheering, huge explosions.

Ended up being a really nice moment.

So cheers do you, Mike and the Mason family, and we'll see you next time on Somewhere in the Pines.

Next time on Somewhere in the Pines, we find out what makes this gun unique and why this is important.

As we go through all the possibilities of what could have happened to Mike, and if he did fall victim to a violent crime, how we think we can figure that out?

I can't.

She don't joke, she don't smoke, she don't care because you're hit.

Do see me some time.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Somewhere in the Pines.

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And thank you to Music from the Pines featured artist Deadwood Revival, who could be found on Instagram at Deadwood Revival duo Deadwood Revival dot net.

And if you are a Patreon subscriber, make sure you check out the Music from the Pines episode with Jason Mogi of Deadwood Revival.

And as always, a special thank you to our Patreon producers Heather Horton, Whedon, Nicole Guzman, Colleen Sullivan, Lynley Tushoff, Otturmann, Caitlin James, Stephanie, Maximo, Brian Hannah, Kathy Nation, Alie Pink, Trista Dale Axton, Corydatley, Virginia, Williams, Ahmed jeris him Freeman, and Stephanie who.

Shall be living in the morning.

He used to be to tell us for the final film Steel till the lung came round, toy steal then let me they ever get the futtle sea there in the ground.

Come see me sometime.

You gotta come see me, your friend of mine.

Come see me sometimes.

You gotta come see me, your friend of mine.

You gotta come see me, your friend mine.

Okay, well, Josh, give me a callback if you need anything else, and I appreciate it.

So I got your email and I'll look for the pictures of the gun.

Thank you so much.

Yep, we'll be in touch.

Hoy bye