Marni Hughes report : Florida’s Everglades,The Vanishing Trail of Jacob Olivier and Other Mysterious Disappearances
Full Story: https://btuatu.com/tj9k
The swamps of Florida’s Everglades are known for crocodiles, mosquitos, and treacherous wilderness. But for many families, they represent something far darker: a place where loved ones vanish without a trace. Now, a chilling connection between two disappearances in the park is raising new questions about whether the nation’s most haunting missing persons mystery could be hiding in plain sight.
In August 2011, 28-year-old Jacob Olivier’s truck was discovered abandoned near Pine Glades Lake in the Everglades National Park. The Louisiana native had no ties to Florida and no reason to be there. Inside his 1998 Isuzu pickup, rangers found an empty gun holster, pill bottles, and a hotel receipt from Daytona Beach. His laptop and gun were gone. Jacob himself was never seen again.
To his mother, Lori Durham, the discovery felt like a nightmare spiraling out of control. “I was told first there was a video of his truck entering the park, then later told the video never existed,” she recalled. “I will never give up until my last breath.”
What makes Jacob’s case more disturbing is its eerie link to another disappearance just five months earlier. In March 2011, 67-year-old Roger Sawyer vanished while on a family camping trip in the very same park. Despite an intense air and ground search, Sawyer was never found. Two men, unrelated but both with family ties in the South, gone without explanation from the same patch of swampy wilderness.
For Jacob’s sister, Courtney, the mystery has long felt sinister. “I have this weird theory he was involved with the wrong people,” she said. “Part of me feels like he was in danger.”
Jacob had left Texas for Georgia hoping to rekindle a romance with an ex-girlfriend. After learning she was with someone new, he disappeared for two weeks. His truck turned up in Florida—but Lori remains unconvinced he was ever there. “The last place anyone saw him was outside Savannah, Georgia,” she insists. “I told investigators to check toll booths, pawn shops, phone records. They never told me if they did. Instead, they gave me a so-called case file that was mostly receipts for bug spray and Subway sandwiches.”
For Lori and her husband Todd, the pain is relentless. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Todd said. “Every year around the same time, the weight of it crushes her. We just want answers.”
The Everglades National Park police insist Jacob’s case remains open but offered little beyond a reminder that tips are welcome. That’s little comfort to a mother who has spent over a decade chasing dead ends.
Meanwhile, other missing person stories continue to mount. From 11-year-old Matalina Kojakari in North Carolina to the still unsolved disappearance of Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, families across the country echo the same plea: don’t forget us.
For Lori Durham, the swamp may hold her son’s final secret—but she refuses to let silence bury the truth. “I know deep in my heart he didn’t take his own life,” she said. “Someone out there knows what happened. And I will never stop fighting to find out.”
If you have any information about Jacob Olivier’s disappearance, contact the Everglades National Park law enforcement at 305-242-7740 or visit NewsNationNow.com/missing.
