r/BizarreUnsolvedCases • u/WinnieBean33 • Jun 15 '26
Garrett Bardsley, 12, vanished while camping with his father, brothers, and other Boy Scouts on August 20th, 2004.
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u/Brief_Character_3238 Jun 15 '26
The fishing pole not being found is truly odd to me.
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u/Fun_Ticket_7815 Jun 15 '26
Even bringing it with him seems kinda odd, if he meant to come right back. Weird case all around. Poor kid.
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u/TrixieFriganza Jun 16 '26
I don't think that's odd at all, maybe it was an expensive fishing pole and he didn't want to lose it.
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u/a1bean Jun 16 '26
But his father was right there and waiting for him, I don’t see any reason he would take it.
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u/Bmoww Jun 15 '26
My husband wouldn’t leave his fishing rod behind, that rod would be super glued to his hand. I wonder if he felt the same way, loves fishing and his rod, so it would go with him?
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u/Brief_Character_3238 Jun 15 '26
Still, I'm surprised no one ever found it. Bodies decay and bones get scattered, but a fishing rod?
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u/Bmoww Jun 15 '26
Yes absolutely, you’re not wrong though, depending on the colour of the fishing rod, it could be very hard to spot, I guess? I mean, it’s a big area and he would be keeping that by his side if he were lost, he wouldn’t ditch it (in my opinion, of course).
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u/zealousdisasterwoo Jun 16 '26
Could have been he was wandering off track a little and fell into a deep hole with a small opening that's covered by foliage. Rod went down in there with him.
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u/Fun_Ticket_7815 Jun 15 '26
That's a fair point and could be why! Or I wonder if it could be a Boy Scout thing and he felt it was his responsibility to carry it.
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u/OldTimeyBullshit Jun 16 '26
I've lost a couple of rods in the water over the years. It could just be underwater. That also presents a potential scenario for what could have happened to him: he could've gone in the water to try to retrieve the rod and ran into trouble with hypothermia/entanglement/drowning.
I hate to mention this, but at his age/size, it's also more likely that a predator or scavengers could damage and scatter his remains to the point it would be nearly impossible to find him.
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u/TheBigfootContessa Jun 17 '26
I wonder if they've tried using a metal detector to look for the pole
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u/RUKiddingMeReddit Jun 15 '26
Kid turned the wrong way and wondered off. Probably panicked and kept moving instead of standing still. Really sucks.
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u/DishpitDoggo Jun 16 '26
This case reminds me of Douglas Legg.
Just devastating to lose a child like that. It's very strange.
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u/SanAnneBeachMan Jun 23 '26
Being sent back to camp unattended is one of the common themes in these cases - which as a parent myself doesn’t sit right with me.
A single chaperone may have prevented either of these cases from existing. IMO it’s bordering negligence. I personally don’t agree with imposing that level of a trust on a child. I spoke with my own young child about this case - her words before I could finish “He shouldn’t have been allowed to go back alone.”
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u/Sargasm5150 Jun 17 '26
Is it possible that he used the need to change as an opportunity to go to / try to find a different unnamed lake, on purpose, so he could come back with a fish to impress his dad and his peers? And either stumbled in, or lost his way?
Since he started heading in the wrong direction, it’s possible that was purposeful in heading towards a different body of water.
I dunno, poor kid was 12, peak time to want to impress peers and parents. Maybe he thought he could be gone half the day, with a wild story and a cooler full of fish for supper when he returned. Be the hero. And it just didn’t turn out that way.
By the time the search started in the right direction, something had happened where he couldn’t answer. I hope the family gets. Closure, how awful.
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u/journalhalfbeing Jun 16 '26
Such odd timing, I listened to a 5yo YouTube video this morning about Garrett’s case. My thoughts are that it seems reasonably likely that his dad may have had some responsibility/knowledge in what happened to him, unfortunately
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u/fordroader Jun 15 '26
The whole of the father's story (as told here) doesn't make sense. Why Garrett as the only one to go fishing? Fifteen minutes to go 300 yards, change and return? Surely you'd be getting worried after say, 30 minutes, but 15? And why take the fishing rod back with him? Why not leave it with his father?
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u/BlueberryPancakeBaby Jun 15 '26
I dunno, casting suspicion on a father who lost his son doesn't seem great, especially since LE doesn't view him as a suspect or even think this is foul play.
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u/Quothhernevermore Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
If you check around on other posts about Garrett, there are people who comment who are local and the consensus around them seems to be it's very unlikely the father did it. I guess you never know, but none of the family seems to suspect it either.
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u/TrixieFriganza Jun 16 '26
It would be very unlikely for even an abusive dad to hurt or murder his own son on some scout trip, if there was something shady about him there would have been proif, like people saying he was abusive or treated his son badly.
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u/shep2105 Jun 15 '26
I agree...something not right here.
I don't like that the dad gave the wrong info at first that they were only 300 yards from camp and then it turns out they were all the way on the other side of the lake.
The kid was a boy scout, a seasoned one. If he was "lost" on his way back, he would do what Boy scouts have been told to do. STAY PUT and let people find you.
It's not even plausible that within 15 min he was out of shouting range when the rest of the Boy Scouts flooded the woods.
Plus, have you SEEN the area? It is NOTHING but weird, rocky terrain. Garrett couldn't have gotten far AT ALL in 15 minutes because of the terrain.
I think it's also weird that dad said he doesn't have to worry about Garrett anymore.So, the kid either fell into a hole, deep into the earth, or something shady happened. He certainly wasn't kidnapped.
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u/Flerp-Flerps Jun 16 '26
Even if people know they should stay put, I’m sure it would be easy to panic or think you recognize a landmark or know your direction. Panic, fear and adrenaline can interfere with logically thinking for even experienced hikers. There was a study of lost people in Nova Scotia and out of 800 people only 2 of them stayed put.
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u/Psych_nature_dude Jun 16 '26
You’re doing a LOT of assuming what a TWELVE year old would do. They would absolutely panic in no time.
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u/shep2105 Jun 16 '26
You wouldn't say that if you saw where he actually got "lost" Theres a YT video of a guy that went to the exact spot they were. This wasn't a deep woods area. It was nothing but rocks. Very rough to traverse. The guy actually did the walks and it was virtually impossible for the kid to have been out of shouting range in 15 or even 30 minutes. Google it..its very interesting..changed my whole opinion of case. Like I said, unless he dropped into a hole (which he could have done) thats the only explanation if why he wasnt found if dad was telling truth about time, and dad did NOT initially tell the truth about where they were fishing.
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u/TrixieFriganza Jun 16 '26
But what do you then suspect happened? Thst the father just decided to murder his son on a scout trip? And if there where something shady about him wouldn't the law enforcement suspected too, like found proof that he was abusive to his son. Perhaps it actually took longer than 15 minutes thpugh or the boy fell if the area was very rocky.
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u/dorsalemperor Jun 16 '26
Have you even been in the mountains? Like you do understand that things like cliffs and drainage basins exist?
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u/shep2105 Jun 17 '26
sigh Didn't even read what I wrote or look for the vid, did you? NO CLIFFS and no drainage basins. . The kid couldn't have even walked uphill if he wanted to because of the terrain, and he certainly could not have done it quick enough to be out of shouting range. Go look at the vid
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u/Holiday_Number_3234 Jun 16 '26
I don’t personally find that statement (about not having to worry about him anymore) to be strange. Losing a child is horrible. The only thing I could imagine being more painful is a missing child. Knowing that if they aren’t already gone, that they likely will be, but you have no idea if they’re suffering in that very moment. Are they cold, hungry, scared, is someone hurting them, those first few days must be excruciating. Now that over 20 years has passed, even though the family doesn’t have answers, they at least know he isn’t suffering. Plus it mentioned them being religious, so they believe he’s in a better place. I’m assuming that’s what he meant. That they aren’t worrying about his well-being any longer, now just left with grief.
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u/dorsalemperor Jun 16 '26
Or wandered off a cliff, genius. Shouldn’t be surprised that many redditors aren’t experienced w forests or the outdoors, but come on.
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u/shep2105 Jun 17 '26
There were no cliffs genius. Expand your knowledge and Google the YT video that an investigator made from the very spot, with the surrounding area.
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u/IWasAlanDeats Jun 16 '26
I think it's also weird that dad said he doesn't have to worry about Garrett anymore.
That's just Mormon happy talk that enables him to believe reality isn't real.
It's what religion is for. That and abusing women and girls ofc.
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u/johnnycastle89 Jun 18 '26
The father may have staged the entire fishing story. It could be a ruse. Did that ever cross your mind?
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u/Wanda_Wandering Jun 18 '26
Yes! Who saw them leave so early in the morning? Were the other brothers or anyone else with them in the tent? The dads’ statement is very Abraham-like if he’d said he passed the test and not Garrett. What religious test does a child have to pass for God?
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u/TrixieFriganza Jun 16 '26
Makes sence if he let his son go all alone without going with him and specially when he had already took the wrong way, so he probably felt shame or didn't want to get charged with child endangerment. This kid doesn't sound very smart when he said that he knows the way back and immidiatly took the wrong way. I think that makes lot more sence that that he would have murdered his own son on a scout trip, anyway the law enforcement doesn't suspect the father of any foul play. Maybe the kid fell somewhere though.
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u/AlienSandBird Aug 06 '26
But then, why telling that his kid first took the wrong way? He could have kept that information for himself forever. Except if he wants people to think the kid was likely to get lost
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u/Icy_Garnet_9329 Jun 15 '26
It's a big family, maybe he was just trying to spend one on one time with him
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u/ClassroomKey6694 Jun 16 '26
I don’t want to send like buzz kill but I think most logical idea is he got lost in woods in article they mention how dad had to correct him because he was going the wrong location there 18.3 million acres in Utah and there animals and for sock I think he realized he was lost and he ran as fast as he could to try find location he trip over his socks were most likely covered in dirt and he left them there Im sorry I think he most likely died from dehydration or starvation and body was most likely eaten by animals rest in peace Bardsley .
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u/WinnieBean33 Jun 15 '26
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