BACKSTREET BOYS PRESUMED DEAD
Fans of the missing boyband cling to hope, as searchers shift efforts from rescue to recovery
ROSEBURG, O.R. – The search for the missing members of the pop music group The Backstreet Boys is no longer being considered a rescue mission. “At this point, we’re just hoping to recover any remains,” said Douglas County Sheriff John Hanson.
In a statement released Monday morning, Hanson added that evidence recovered from the area near Interstate 5, where the Backstreet Boys’ tour bus was found abandoned last week, suggests foul play. Although Hanson would not elaborate on what that evidence was, an unnamed source reports that a cell phone belonging to one of the Boys was found by a volunteer in the search party. The iPhone, capable of taking pictures and recording video, may contain clues as to the fate of its owner and his companions.
The Backstreet Boys were reported missing last Tuesday, after failing to show up for a concert in Seattle. The group had last performed the previous night in Sacramento, one of fifty shows scheduled for a summer tour that celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the group’s formation and reunited its five members: Nick Carter, 33, AJ McLean, 35, Brian Littrell, 38, Howie Dorough, 39, and Kevin Richardson, 42, who left the group in 2006.
Fans around the world were shocked and devastated to learn of the group’s sudden disappearance. Prayer chains swept across social media sites, with users from hundreds of different countries logging on to share their concerns in a variety of languages. Supporters closer to home showed up in droves to help with the search efforts, which continued over the weekend. Despite the grim prospects for finding all five men alive after six days in the wilderness, the fans refuse to give up hope. “We’re just going to keep praying,” said Laura Fisher, a longtime fan who came from Canada to join the search party. “We won’t stop looking until our Boys are found.”
Article published in the Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2013
STRANGE SIGHTING
Woman reports seeing ape-like creature along rural roadside
CANYONVILLE, O.R. – Cheryl Winters, 62, says she was just enjoying a Sunday drive through the country, when an animal ran out in front of her car. Winters slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting the animal, which she says escaped the encounter unharmed and quickly disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road. Close encounters and near misses (as well as the occasional hit) with wild animals are a common occurrence among motorists living in rural areas, but what makes this one remarkable is the type of animal involved. This was no ordinary raccoon, opossum, or deer; according to Winters, it was an ape. “I didn’t get a good look at it, but from what I could tell, it looked like a chimpanzee or maybe an orangutan, only its coat had more of a greenish tint than a reddish color,” Winters described, when reporting the strange animal she nearly struck with her car this past Sunday, while driving eastbound on County Highway 1 outside Canyonville.
Canyonville lies just north of Canyon Creek Forest State Park, which is home to a wide variety of wildlife. However, there are no species of ape or monkey native to Oregon. Jeff Tiller, a park ranger at Canyon Creek Forest State Park, believes Winters must have simply misidentified the animal she saw. “What she saw was probably a dog or possibly a bear. We certainly don’t have any apes in the park, and no zoos in the area have reported any of their animals missing. Then again,” Tiller joked, “this is Sasquatch territory, so stranger things have been sighted.”
Could a cousin of Bigfoot really be monkeying around in Douglas County, or is this just a case of mistaken identity? No matter what the experts have to say, Winters stands by her story. “It may have only been for a second, but I know what I saw. And it wasn’t a dog or a bear.”
Article published in the Douglas County News Review, 17 July 2013
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