KallMeKris

But what it had not focused on in any meaningful way was the terrain to the south, in the direction of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center.

And the search teams appeared to have treated that direction as a low priority on the assumption that if the family had walked toward the naval base, they would have eventually reached the perimeter and been helped.

So they assumed if they walked that way, they definitely would have been found.

Mahoud understood why that assumption had been made.

He also understood that it required the family to have accurate knowledge of what China Lake actually was.

And there was no particular reason to believe that they did.

Because the China Lake Naval Weapons Center is the largest land holding of the United States Navy.

Over a million acres of high desert that exists primarily as a testing and bombing range.

And unlike other security models that are usually like fences and patrols, their security model was just geography.

because the land surrounding it is so remote and inhospitable that the Navy has historically relied on the environment itself to deter unauthorized access.

Because this place is called Death Valley for a reason.

And there were actually no regular patrols of the outer perimeter.

But on the map, particularly on the map being read by someone from Europe, where military installations are fenced, guarded, and staffed, what it looked like was a military base.

And military bases meant people.

and people meant help.

And if the family had read the map that way, South looked like the best direction that made the most sense, which meant that was almost certainly the direction they had gone.

And if that was the direction they had gone, a search that had focused everywhere except the South had not actually looked for them at all.

So Mahud booked a trip to Death Valley.

So in late October of 2009, 13 years after the family disappeared, Mahud drove out to the area alone and made what he later described as a pretty stupid day hike to the van's last known position.

And he wanted to stand where they had stood,