Betsy Shepard

He was working at the elite unit of the department.

He was an animal.

Ajay got his kicks by going on long runs through California's backcountry.

He'd go out deep into the wilderness to conquer the only obstacle course that still challenged him.

And that's how Ajay was spending his day off, on June 11th, 1998.

He woke up, put on his running gear, and drove to one of his favorite parks, the Devil's Punchbowl.

It's a rugged canyon where the Angeles National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Mojave Desert all converge.

Ajay entered the park just before noon, used a payphone to call into the sheriff's department, and then he took off running.

He never listened to any music, just the sounds of nature as he jogged along a maze of switchbacks and up a nearly 10,000-foot mountain.

By early evening, he looped back towards the parking lot.

But as the sun began to set, the shadows of trees and rocks grew until night engulfed the park.

That evening, I got a phone call saying that Deputy O.J.

is missing, that he didn't come back to his vehicle, and that they were gonna start some more extensive searching for him.

It's a pretty unique situation.

The sheriff's department is called in to look for a missing hiker who's one of their own.

So the search and rescue team sent out to look for Ajay consists of his friends and colleagues.

But searchers find no trace of Ajay.

It was as if he just vanished into thin air.

And now, nearly 30 years later, the deputy is still missing.

I guess I'll open a box.