Crime ‘Almost Certain’ in Yosemite Case

Three sightseers who mysteriously vanished outside Yosemite National Park almost four weeks ago “almost certainly” were the victims of a violent crime at or near the rustic Sierra lodge where they were staying, an FBI official said Thursday.

“After this length of time, it would be a miracle if we recovered the victims alive,” FBI Special Agent James M. Maddock said during a packed news conference at the agency’s command post in a downtown Modesto hotel.

But the families continued to hold out hope for Carole Sund, 42, her daughter and a teenage friend from Argentina. Francis Carrington, the Eureka woman’s father, said he and others “still think there’s a good chance” their loved ones might somehow be alive. “I just hope and pray we get some answers in the next couple of days.”

Maddock cautioned that, short of a surprise break in the case, the inquiry could take some time. “It could well be a long-term investigation,” he said, declining to elaborate on any evidence that might have been found. “I expect it will be.”

The FBI has focused its hunt on El Portal, the tiny town outside Yosemite where Sund and the two young women were last seen. Little more than a wide spot in the highway to Yosemite, El Portal has two gas stations, a few businesses and about 650 residents.

Authorities said they have failed to turn up credible evidence that Sund, her 15-year-old daughter, Julie, and Silvina Pelosso, 16, ever left the town.

Federal agents have been targeting residents in and around the town who have a criminal past, using a process of elimination to narrow the field of potential suspects.

“Some people are easy to eliminate,” Maddock said. “Others are not so easy.”

In recent days, authorities have renewed their search of the pine-studded hills around El Portal. Search crews on all-terrain vehicles have been looking for signs of anything buried or evidence of a crime. The rugged terrain is pockmarked with mine shafts, creating what Maddock called “a vast area of potential hiding places.”

Some residents have grown wary of all the attention by investigators and the media.

“The people just want to get it over with and let it get back to normal,” said Aaron Ludwig, 16, who pumps gas at the local Chevron. “They didn’t really believe that kind of thing could happen around here.”

Authorities say the last solid sighting of the women was the night of Feb. 15 at the Cedar Lodge, the rustic lodge where they were staying. Sund and the two young women had planned to return from their trip the next day.

The staff at the motel declined to talk Thursday, saying that they had been asked to remain silent by local authorities.

After they vanished, an exhaustive hunt of roads leading from the park turned up no sign of the women or their bright red Pontiac Grand Prix. Sund’s wallet insert, with credit cards and driver’s license intact, turned up a few days later on a street in Modesto, two hours drive from Yosemite.

The FBI has more than 50 agents on the case and has been backed up by scores of law officers from Modesto, Mariposa County and elsewhere in the Central Valley.

More than 1,300 tips have poured in. Maddock said FBI agents have talked to hundreds of people and he expects it will total in the thousands before the case is solved.

He also said the agency is erring on the side of caution in processing all possible physical evidence, dispatching a broad array of items to the FBI crime lab for review. In addition, numerous potential suspects have taken polygraph tests or been subjected to background searches.

Sund’s husband, Jens, held a news conference Thursday to clarify comments he made the day before that prompted speculation that the case had been cracked. After a briefing by the FBI on Wednesday night, the husband said he was “devastated” by bad news he had received and then declined to elaborate. But by Thursday morning he said the grave comments had been misconstrued.

“I’ve told you all from the beginning--I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster,” he said. “You caught me in one of my lows.”

Family members have set up a command post, along with Pelosso’s parents who flew in from Argentina, at a Holiday Inn in Modesto.

A midday march and vigil is planned in Modesto on Sunday that is to include representatives from the Polly Klaas Foundation and other missing children’s groups.

Sund’s family, which operates the Carrington Co. real estate firm based in Eureka, have offered a $250,000 reward for information that breaks the case. An additional $50,000 has been put up by the family for any tips that help authorities find the missing rental car.

The women were supposed to meet Jens Sund and the couple’s other children at San Francisco International Airport in the early evening of Feb. 16. Silvina planned to travel to the Grand Canyon with Jens and the children, while Carole and Julie would return to Eureka.

They never arrived, and were reported missing the next day.

Bailey reported from Modesto; Ingram from El Portal.