Coworkers say Kearns is
an accomplished day hiker,
but it would be very unlike her
to go out and stay several days.
That adds to their worry and
the urgency of the search.
She was beautiful. I mean,
she was absolutely beautiful.
She was so happy and it's
just that glow on her face.
She had like these very,
very clear eyes that to me,
like reminded me of.
You know, the mountain
streams that we had up there,
the person they're describing is Sheila
Kearns, a woman they worked with at Mount
Rainier National Park.
This was the summer of 96.
Around August, most of the
kids go back to school.
So the crew is kind of down,
but we still need to finish
up for about 6 weeks.
That's when Sheila came on.
She worked the front desk,
but she always would say hi to me
and we would talk and she just had
this infectious smile about her.
She just glowed,
you know, You definitely got the
sense that she loved.
Being up at the park and at Rainier
and I always throw a
going away party or farewell
party for everybody.
I'd build a great big fire and
get a keg of beer and of course
some food to feed them and.
They're just saying goodbye to everybody.
And Sheila came up.
I'll never forget that.
She came up to the fire and just the
glow on her face and she goes, jewels,
I got hired on for the winter crew.
She goes, I'm so excited.
We'll be working together.
And I was just like, wow, that's great.
And that's the last time I saw her. Sheila
Kearns went missing in October of 1996.
She dined here with friends
and coworkers Friday night.
And that's the last time anyone saw her.
Now we're looking for is just anything
that will give us some kind of direction,
Multiple law enforcement agencies
responded once Sheila went missing,
including the National Park Service.
But the FBI took over the case because
it happened in a National Park.
At the time that she was reported missing,
she was moving into some new housing
at Mount Rainier National Park.
The manager who?
Tried to find her the next day.
Went to her room because
she didn't show up for work.
They said that her slippers
were real nice and tidy there,
right by the bed.
And her bed was she hadn't slept in it.
There was apparently like this
massive three day search.
Like with dogs.
How could they not have found her?
I find that strange.
I think she was under
the snow at the time.
It wasn't until May.
Of 97 her remains were located.
Right now we're looking at
the community building.
This is the old Longmire campground.
This is where Sheila's
remains were initially found.
Her remains had been scattered
around about a 300 yard area.
And then when I found out a
couple of months later that this
is where her body was found,
I mean, that was just, I mean
like a visceral gut. Hit
Until this day, I have never come back here.
When Sheila went missing,
the FBI spoke to a number
of possible suspects,
including some of the people
we spoke with for our story.
However, investigators say
everyone they spoke with was clear.
Just because a person was
cleared in an investigation
a number of years ago doesn't mean that
new information might come to light.
Which makes them a subject or suspect. Again,
it's just the sinister type aura
around what had happened to her.
And it made you wonder, like,
you know, is there somebody out there?
I didn't want that fear to
limit how I lived my life.
And simultaneously it it did.
Limit how I lived my life.
I mean, even to this day
when I look at Mount Rainier,
it's a haunted place for me because of that,
because of what happened to her.